Fiction

/Tag:Fiction

Suburban Median

By | 2023-12-09T12:30:55-08:00 December 13th, 2023|Categories: Issue 142: December 2023|Tags: , , , |

By Myna Chang   We see the body on the way to drop our kids off at school. It’s in the median at the Parkway stoplight. We don’t recognize what it is, at first. Understanding comes in pieces: leg, arm, slender foot. Naked, of course. We try to look away. But is it someone we know? [...]

Hi

By | 2023-06-15T09:56:43-07:00 June 15th, 2023|Categories: Issue 140: June 2023|Tags: , , , , |

By Rachel Rodman “I’m just saying. I’m a nice guy. I just want to say HI. And you’re going to accept this greeting whether you fucking like it or not.”     —Elon James White, from a now deleted Twitter account   “Hi,” he demanded. He waited, while everyone watched; he waited with a smile, because this [...]

A Moon Is a Moon Is a Moon

By | 2023-06-15T07:12:31-07:00 June 15th, 2023|Categories: Issue 140: June 2023|Tags: , , , , , , |

By Mandira Pattnaik Warning: domestic violence Because you’re the moon, Mother thinks you’re full of circles and spots, and never consistent — rebellious and sulking, often hiding in hoodie jackets, known to break china even with a sponge scrubber, and mostly saying what is best avoided, making mistakes. Sister is better. She poses no troubles, hangs [...]

A Woman of Good Manners

By | 2023-03-15T21:09:14-07:00 March 15th, 2023|Categories: Issue 139: 16 March 2023|Tags: , , |

By Nikki Blakely   It is a universal truth that a man of good fortune must be in want of a wife, and Jayne set her sights on Edward, despite his reputation for being of a most disagreeable character. On their first date, they went to Possum Pond. Jayne had always been told the way to [...]

Sunny Is Going Through a Depressive Episode

By | 2022-12-06T14:35:21-08:00 December 7th, 2022|Categories: Issue 138: 08 December 2022|Tags: , , |

By Livvy Krakower “The Manic Pixie Dream Girl exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures.”   – Nathan Rabin   When Sunny was eight years old her mother fell down the stairs. That doesn’t seem important now as you sit [...]

Joelle Cantrell’s Fanfiction

By | 2022-12-07T09:25:24-08:00 December 7th, 2022|Categories: Issue 138: 08 December 2022|Tags: , , , , , |

By Holly A. Stovall Until the paper that Joelle Cantrell wrote made it to the top of my stack of To Kill a Mockingbird essays to grade for sophomore English at Jackson High, I had been eating clean and feeling good. I was slouching deep into the couch, a pint of Clean Cream sugar-free-non-fat frozen balanced [...]

Sticky Singles

By | 2022-09-16T14:51:27-07:00 September 29th, 2022|Categories: Issue 137: 29 September 2022|Tags: , , |

By Jennifer A. Swallow   After several dozen first dates over beer and mozzarella sticks—none of which had led to a second—I decided to change the format. I planned to meet a guy in the park for a midmorning stroll. No pressure. Just a walk and a chat. I told him we could meet at the [...]

LipStick It Couture Du Jour

By | 2022-09-16T16:38:30-07:00 September 29th, 2022|Categories: Issue 137: 29 September 2022|Tags: , , , , |

Because Extraordinary Times Require Extraordinary Adornment   By Tracy Rose Stamper Welcome to RevlOff’s Lip Couture Counter, where science blends with art, topped off with attitude, to bring you colors to carry you through dizzying days. Our makeup counter’s mission is to challenge the slippery slope into post-truth society. By offering an honest line of honest [...]

A Simple Act

By | 2022-06-15T13:43:25-07:00 June 23rd, 2022|Categories: Issue 136: 23 June 2022|Tags: , , , , |

By Erin Edwards   It is a simple act to stand in the middle of the road. Simple, but effective. A car either has to stop and wait or run you down—and it just wouldn’t do for a hearse carrying the body of a former government official to accelerate towards a woman in the middle of [...]

The Failed Real Estate Caper

By | 2022-06-18T12:09:26-07:00 June 23rd, 2022|Categories: Issue 136: 23 June 2022|Tags: , , , , , |

By Sue Katz   The first thing Miriam noticed when the taxi dropped her off at Ruby’s house was the For Sale sign on the lawn. She took a magic marker out of her handbag and wrote “NOT” in capital letters, but it turned out too faint to be easily seen. “It’s the thought that counts,” [...]

Search Terms

By | 2022-06-18T12:08:39-07:00 June 23rd, 2022|Categories: Issue 136: 23 June 2022|Tags: , , , , |

By Holly Stovall    I opened the search bar, typed in "middle-aged women support Black Lives Matter" and narrowed the results to "images." Google spit out a white couple, on the stairway in front of their mansion, pointing guns at protesters marching by. It's not what I was looking for, but Google taunted me—Aren't you curious? [...]

The Wizard of Roz

By | 2021-06-18T15:13:29-07:00 June 19th, 2021|Categories: Issue 131: 19 June 2021|Tags: , , , , , , |

By Marleen S. Barr   "I thought the Donald would evaporate in a poof of orange smoke, ending a supremely screwed-up period of history. But the loudest mouth is not shutting up. And Republicans continue to listen, clinging to the idea that the dinosaur is the future." – Maureen Dowd, New York Times, May 9, 2021 [...]

Five short stories by Amirah Al Wassif

By | 2021-01-20T18:03:18-08:00 January 21st, 2021|Categories: Issue 127: 21 January 2021|Tags: , |

Running away My mouth is full of mice. I can't talk or protest. I was born in the darkest spot of the world. My people hate the sun. They put the weight of the world on my tiny shoulders. When I was young, I was a great talker, but when I became 12 years old, they [...]

The Woman in Elmina

By | 2021-01-20T18:34:21-08:00 January 21st, 2021|Categories: Issue 127: 21 January 2021|Tags: , |

By Nicole Tanquary   There is a coastal village called Elmina. An abandoned slave castle sits at the village’s highest point. The castle walls stand in stark white stone that burns in the sun, the paint achingly fresh—the castle is now a museum, and it has money to keep itself restored, more than can be said [...]

After the Splat

By | 2021-01-05T12:20:09-08:00 January 7th, 2021|Categories: Issue 126: 07 January 2021|Tags: , , , , , |

By Kate LaDew   In 1867, the first instance of a hero saving their sweetheart from an oncoming train after a dastardly villain tied them to the tracks debuted in the last scene of a New York stage play. The hero's sweetheart calls for help, while the hero, locked inside the train station, watches from a barred window, searching for [...]