A new kind of literary pulse

Royals Primary has the second grade corralled into the gym. 
“What you want to do,” I tell the kids, “is draw a mask that looks a lot like your face. As close as you can get it, except... [+]

August brought with it a new easy-swallow scheme by a new self-improvement mentor. Luna Rojas had measured out her life with the likes of them – detoxes, spiritual awakenings, fad diets. She... [+]

When she left, Anita took Mom’s valise, the round one with the wooden handle from Eaton’s department store. Mom was furious. She’d had it on hold at the store for weeks while she earned enough... [+]

I remember when my world divided into male and female, when the girls screamed “Shaun has cooties!” across the playground and flushed with what I thought was anger. I remember being in a... [+]

The name on the chart, Winnaker, tightened my throat. Funny how, decades later, a word can evoke a memory that evokes a physical response. It’s a good thing the evil woman’s name hadn’t been... [+]

Jess was only ten when the first pods washed up on the shore. She’d been standing with her toes dug into the sand, letting the cold Atlantic Ocean swirl around her ankles, daring herself to venture... [+]

Jake lay in the darkness, the sun creeping under the shade...thinking why should he get out of bed. He had no place to go, no one to see and nobody would be coming to visit.  He probably wouldn’t... [+]

First thing every day, I count out the same colorful cocktail of medications into Mother’s four containers: morning, midday, evening meal and nighttime. Two pink pills shortly after waking up, and... [+]

I was licking salt from the rim of my glass when Asli told me that elderly pelicans are often blind. She claimed that the force generated from smacking the water during a dive (and the fact that... [+]

Mr. MacInnes had decided it was time to talk to Brian about his appearance. He didn’t want to, lord knows he wasn’t a stickler for such things, but lately it had all gotten a bit out of hand. It... [+]

Probably I shouldn't have looked in that NO ADMITTANCE HIGH VOLTAGE DANGER OF DEATH door. I was loitering on the ramp to the #7 subway train at Grand Central Station. I didn't want to go home to... [+]

There was a man on the doorstep, all leatherette shoes and easy iron trousers. When I say doorstep I mean the pavement between the threshold and the hazard lines of a busy junction.
His head... [+]