Short Fiction and Poetry

After Dad left, Mom took a black pill every day. Before she drank her morning coffee, she went into the bathroom, took the pill, and came out [...]

Some of it started with a dream. Lots have started with dreams. The sublime and the profane of it. Starring in this dream was an articulate worm. [...]

At fourteen, my friend Eddie and I decided we were ready to lose our virginities.  To each other. [...]

The old stove smoked as she pulled the muffins out and placed them on the table. It had probably been there since the house was built [...]

I’m in a casino watching lots of people playing different games and they all have that desperate, grim look upon their faces. [...]

Chelsea always had a cigarette clasped between her fingers.  That day she’d chosen Marlboros, courtesy of her five-finger discount. [...]

It looked like a normal Henry, only in black. Same tub-shaped vacuum cleaner, with the same friendly smile and upward looking eyes [...]

Alister McNeal stood close to the roulette table. This was his fourth visit to the newly opened casino. His fists dug into his side. [...]

I was there the day Meena and Batoul brought Said into the women’s hammam, carrying him between them in an enormous plastic bucket. [...]

In the night, two blue orbs hovered above Boe’s bed. The snakes were watching. What did they want? In the morning, Boe crouched outside [...]

Emma’s baby cousin, Becky, is an extraterrestrial on earth. Emma has known this since Becky’s birth and intends to prove it today, [...]

Again, Mary Maker's hands tore apart the layered ribs of my cardboard promises. Her lips embered breaths swelled within me [...]

Experts say stars create complex carbon-based molecules that propel into space. They float about and occasionally find their way to planets

“Sarah, you know I can’t watch the apocalypse without my morning coffee,” Jack said as he stumbled into the kitchen. [...]

“Thanks so much for stopping for me,” the out-of-breath woman panted as she stumbled up the steps of the bus [...]

The ‘Glub-Glub’ was something that filled my mind with horror tonight. It had been swallowing at various intervals throughout my sleepless hours [...]

On these steps, on the third step to be precise, it's the best place to observe what's going on.  First, it's a location in perfect balance. [...]

At the end of the Overseas Highway lies the island city of Key West. Where, at the Manatee Bar and Grill overlooking Key West Bight, I sat sipping and savouring a Mojito [...]

The car almost hits me. I say “the car.” I should really say “the man driving the car” or even just “the man.” [...]

It’s not that you loved her or felt she saw the best in you. It’s not that you’re sad she’s gone. It’s that she’s gone to Scott McConnell [...]