Joan feels remorse for having hated her toes most of her life. She inherited them from her grandmother, who had hated them too. Her grandmother had cried at the swimming pool on Joan's 11th birthday
...
[+]
Short Fiction
Short Fiction
Out of Reach
He was reaching for the top shelf then stopped. He moved his eyes to the next, lower shelf down and chose a jar. His hair was sheet white and his body frame resembled my father, tall and heavy set
...
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Short Fiction
Trespassing—a Criminal Offense
The dryad who lives inside the oak tree has been terrorizing the condo building dwellers for generations. She throws acorns and pours sap and drops pollen on their cars, and causes severe allergies
...
[+]
Short Fiction
God is Greater
"In their search for ‘devil's gold,' as they call it, about 300 miners make a daily climb two miles up the mountain, then head downward more than 900 yards into the volcano, where the sulfu
...
[+]
Short Fiction
Chaim's Golem
I got the idea from one of your old stories. Building golems out of river mud and whatnot. Except I didn't want a golem. I just wanted you back by my side.
Peddling clayware in the sweltering ... [+]
Peddling clayware in the sweltering ... [+]
Short Fiction
Long Shadows
I sat staring deep into the flames, listening to voices stirring the wind around me. Soft footfalls pressed through the grass stalks, rustling gently. Though I couldn't see them, I knew they were
...
[+]
Short Fiction
Just Enough for Jenny
While pulling lobster pots from the bay, Finn chanced upon the mermaid. His mind was on Jenny, dark with worry, when the mermaid appeared alongside his boat. An old friend once told him of a legend
...
[+]
Short Fiction
Curious Facts About Octopuses (And You and I)
1. Octopuses have nine brains.
Me? I wouldn't want so many organs with which to overthink and fly into hysterics. You always ran from those—took the car and left me alone for hours, sometimes ... [+]
Me? I wouldn't want so many organs with which to overthink and fly into hysterics. You always ran from those—took the car and left me alone for hours, sometimes ... [+]
Short Fiction
Truth, Justice, and the American Way
Once you become visible, it's hard to disappear into the shadows again, but Hank White was doing his level best. His life depended on it. People looked right through you when you were flipping
...
[+]
Short Fiction
The Secret Rules for Children of Priests
Rule Number 1: When asked about your parentage, give suitably vague answers.
It was Jimmy Doogan, a boorish kid with freckles spread like flak across his face, who had been the first to ... [+]
It was Jimmy Doogan, a boorish kid with freckles spread like flak across his face, who had been the first to ... [+]
Short Fiction
My Father the Somniloquist
My father was a somniloquist; he only talked to me in his sleep. Lured at night by his one-sided conversation one room over, I would escape the cot I'd grown out of, gaze at my sleeping mother, and
...
[+]
Short Fiction
Francis Valencia Ortiz
For all his life, Frank had been at war with the willows. They sprouted in and around the stream, clogged the irrigation ditches, and choked off the water flow.
His land, a narrow plain between ... [+]
His land, a narrow plain between ... [+]
Short Fiction
When the Door Is Blue
The second house on the left. If the door is blue, you're welcome. Red, you've come too early. Green, too late.
The meaningless chant comes to me whole. I can't remember where I've heard it, but ... [+]
The meaningless chant comes to me whole. I can't remember where I've heard it, but ... [+]
Short Fiction
The Pugilist in Repose on His Porch, Most Sundays
The moments of lucidity were rarer and rarer, but when they came, he regaled me with tales of swallowed teeth, basement brawls, and AIDS tests administered at midnight in ramshackle midtown health
...
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