Flash Fiction

Wartime Tango

by Leslie Tucker

Mine would be just another story about a menopausal woman leaving a thirty-year marriage to an orthopedic surgeon for her tango teacher, except that I’m a surgical nurse, joined the US Army, and ended up in wartime Iraq. I’ve almost … Continue reading

Conjugation

by John Ruemmler

In their first conjugal visit, Ray couldn’t perform, so they talked.  The trailer had no windows and one door from which the lock mechanism had been removed, the hole stuffed with a rust-colored rag.  On the dresser beside the bed … Continue reading

From Angola to KFC

by Jackson Lassiter

The Spirits at Nzinga’s Feet Twilight settles along the coast of Angola, where Nzinga has been placed at water’s edge.  A village, home for all her thirteen years, lies behind – she can sense its dying fires flickering against her … Continue reading

Lady with Violets

by Vera Korshunova

Thick Russian night is shifting, sighing underneath the windows, asking to be let inside. She’s sad to be all by herself on the streets, lonely. You can’t see anything through the windows – they are covered with ice, dusted with … Continue reading

A Postcard for Regina

by Laura Long

Oriole Street curled back from Light Avenue, rose and twisted, fell, twisted again, and ended at the edge of weeds, an old grape arbor, and a ramble of wild roses. Regina lived at the end of the Oriole Street in … Continue reading

As Dawn Brightens

by Paul Weidknecht

Morning was still gray with fog when the boy walked down to the harbor. A bigger boy had taken his favorite sleeping spot last night and he had not slept well, so he started this day early. He passed the … Continue reading

Three Scenarios in Which Hana Sasaki Grows a Tail

by Kelly Luce

[audio:http://shenandoahliterary.org/612/files/2011/08/Three-Scenarios-Luce.mp3|titles=Three Scenarios in Which Hana Sasaki Grows a Tail] I. It is her thirtieth birthday. She wakes alone. Her right hand reaches around to feel a soft length of hair that wasn’t there when she took her bath the night … Continue reading

Vindaloo

by Sharon Hashimito

           Hank Teraoka looked around the Middle Eastern restaurant filled with the smells of curry. He felt uncomfortable in the dark room, sitting next to the curtained window and fingering the one-page plastic menu. He couldn’t … Continue reading

Love, Creusa

by Amina Gautier

[audio:http://shenandoahliterary.org/612/files/2011/08/AminaGautierRecording3.mp3|titles=Love, Creusa by Amina Gautier] The hardest part is the telling. Courtesy makes him tell you his story. Good favor is hard to come by; he cannot risk enemies. Seated before your guests, cloaked in homage that is your due, … Continue reading