Fiction

The Soul of This Land

by Julian Zabalbeascoa

When we arrived at Otxandio, I hoped to sleep, but the priest was trying to take the three women’s confessions, and The Butcher, spotting our uniforms, pulled us from the crowd and asked if our rifles still had bullets. We … Continue reading

Sylvia, on the Night Shift

by Evelyn Somers

The people who think they know best rarely do. Sylvia Fitzgerald, who thought she was smarter than everyone, should have known better than to take her younger sister, Peregrine, out driving. Sylvia’s best ideas always led to trouble. The more … Continue reading

Paradise

by Melissa McCaul

All along Hotel Street that morning, the men waited in lines for bad whiskey, for tattoos, for their pictures to be taken with the kitschy hula girls.  Last night there had been a brawl at Mom Mabel’s dance at the … Continue reading

Dove Hides

by Ryan Rising

Dust had spread over the shanty like its children across the continent.  A spurned bridal veil tossed to the altar, it settled in eddies over bone-colored cedar left to the weather.  Boots without men, dry and cracked in their skin, … Continue reading

The Last Poolfish of Ash Meadows

by Michael Devens

In the early morning sunlight, the pockets of calm water across the Rock River shone like wet spots on a drying canvas. From a lawn chair in her backyard, Maya watched a heron toil up from the riverbank—its shadow blooming … Continue reading

Blue Vase

by Trudy Lewis

1859 Lucy never came to Amesbury without checking its position on the mantle, secretly fearing that her poor offering would be relegated to a less conspicuous spot.  But there it was, still standing in a pure column of color, the … Continue reading