Category: Fiction

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August, 2019

A Writer in the Sun

A verb is a nation. That’s what I’d tell you over coffee. I’d also tell you that writing has its own economy. Supply and demand...
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August, 2019

Friends of Ferry Point Park

Condolences, the card read and—she flipped it over—nothing else.  Tara Contreras opened the door to her apartment and, without meaning to, thought: Better late than..
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August, 2019

I Know You Rider

Ryan and Walker stood in the doorway of the railcar as the train chugged through a crossing in Homerville, Georgia. The town, like many along..
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July, 2019

Chili Man

Once I came across a homeless person in Seattle. He asked for money. I gave him a dollar. He said, “Don’t you have five bucks?”..
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July, 2019

Food Baby

I knew, from the moment I woke up in Akihabara, in that spare white hotel room overlooking the five-story mall full of flashing red robots,..
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July, 2019

An Approximate Accumulation

Things were desperate. The editing work had all but dried up. No matter how many writing-related jobs I applied for on the freelancing websites I’d..
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July, 2019

Bridal Palanquin

Bhaggan had told me many times why Saffiya had been traveling on the train the day they found me. Bibi Saffiya’s husband had died, and..
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July, 2019

Double Date

He wasn’t as good looking as the man she’d always hoped to marry, but she recalled her therapist’s unsubtle hints that she shouldn’t wait aimlessly..
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July, 2019

The Sow

The old sow glared at Elrod with a sort of benign insolence. It was perhaps the ugliest thing the boy had ever seen. Its skin..
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June, 2019

Fade to Gray

I always sat in the chair by the window. That had become “my” spot during committee meetings. From my chair, I could look out the..
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June, 2019

Different Lives

Chris My alarm shrieks. It’s 6:57. Out of bed and into yesterday’s clothes. Dizzy from alcohol and insufficient sleep, I step into the morning under-dressed. ..
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May, 2019

Tarla’s Homecoming

Nakul sat straight in a vest with two holes in it and old pajamas. He didn’t make eye contact with his wife Tarla who was..
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May, 2019

Dharavi Dreams

Hi. My name is Abdul. Abdul Sheikh. I work at a cyber café not very far from where I live. But don’t bother. Not very..
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April, 2019

One Fainting Robin

The first time I saw her, my heart stopped. I mean, it really did stop, I died. Me? Who could believe that? I was sixteen..
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April, 2019

Votive Candle

“Caminante, no hay camino. Se hace camino al andar.” – Antonio Machado One dollar Australian only buys Barb one votive candle, or so goes the..
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March, 2019

So Far

Shankata­hara Chathurthi: auspicious day dedicated to Ganesha … is observed … on the fourth day of … the waning lunar phase … – Internet Sarasu..
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March, 2019

Fight Night

Cleveland woke to roosters crowing at daybreak downstairs in one of the hotel garden courtyards. He and Anong had left the balcony door open by..
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February, 2019

Almajiri

AThe woman standing outside in the drizzling rain without an umbrella is Suspect X and has been under surveillance a while now. A black leather..
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February, 2019

Three Nights to Marriage

Tell her, just tell her, I told myself. She towered over me on Broadway as we crossed in front of traffic, her long legs stretching..
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January, 2019

The Painting

She could not reconcile the large oil painting hanging in the shadowed hallway of the assisted living suite with the frail woman lying on the..
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January, 2019

Manasil

Your mother, unbeknownst to you, tries to reach you. With a barren heat mere inches from her scented palms, she breathes deep unthinkingly at home...
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December, 2018

The Saga of an Unusual Friendship

We sit at the open courtyard, around a small, round table in bamboo chairs gazing out at the passing heads. The garden would gift us..
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