Category Archives: Fiction

C.G. went to the forest. She lied about going on a sleepover―at Eleanor’s, Ma, and found her parents’ trusting, Okay, Cee, maliciously benign. She slammed the front door, shouted an apology and left, to pedal furiously along the road winding … Continue reading →

The deserted farmhouse had been home to a family once, witness to their joys and sorrows, meals and squabbles. All had a place within the walls of this home. The walls were bare now, some riddled with holes from the … Continue reading →

Dear Readers, It was a great honor and a great time guest editing for Whistling Fire this month. My theme was steampunk. If you don’t know what that is, don’t worry, our first piece, “After Crystal City” by Andrea Myer, … Continue reading →

She found herself in a rented an apartment on the North side of the Chicago where she knew she could easily get her bearings—as if that were a metaphor for getting her bearings in the whole of her life. That … Continue reading →

How a Nice Girl From Mississippi Ends Up a New Yorker, with a Bad Haircut and a $700 a Month Therapy Habit, Shacked Up with Hazel Kitchen My therapist, who always smells like triangles, says I’m not a lesbian, I … Continue reading →

Sitting on the top step of the porch of our brick and flagstone house on May Street. It had rained earlier in the day and the air was thick with the muggy smell of wet grass. Small puddles filled the … Continue reading →

“Ain’t nothing much harder to get at than the truth.” Samuel sat on the edge of the couch in my office, rubbing his huge hands together and shaking his head. I was often distracted by those hands, giant upholstered creatures … Continue reading →

We agreed to meet in a downtown bar. Not a bar I’d ordinarily go to. In fact, I’d never been there at all. A little too rough a part of town for me. But this was churning around in my … Continue reading →

Jude, It’s fitting to end this latest round through email, the medium you used to contact me after twenty-four years. At first I thought it was a matter of convenience; you Googled my name, found some essays I’d published, discovered … Continue reading →

A stranger text-messaged me. I started to press delete before reading any of the content. I’m quick that way, unless it’s a familiar name. I don’t have time for bullshit. But then, I read the beginning: Hey sexy, Bet you … Continue reading →