Here was the deal: William’s mother would pay for him to go to law school if he enrolled no later than the fall of next year. She would give him an apartment in one of her buildings in Bucktown. Carol knew from being in real estate that all the hip young people wanted Bucktown. They […]
Fiction
A vending machine that dispenses short fiction?
A recent article posted in The Guardian describes new vending machines that have popped up in France—and rather than dispensing snacks, they’re dispensing words. French publishers Short Édition has introduced short story vending machines around the city of Grenoble. The stories are free and readers can select the length of the piece they want in […]
Cameron Stewart: Mr. May or: Waiting for Love in a Chain Restaurant
The kids leave in a belch then everything’s quiet. Just Mr. May at his desk (oval) rubbing his temples (tense), clearing his mind (disemboweled). There’s a lone, acrid leaf of spinach in his Tupperware and, removing it, he catches himself thinking, If only I had a wife, then I’d have someone to send me to […]
Nathan Leslie: It Can’t Hurt, Can It?
When I say “testify” I don’t mean this in any traditional slash Christian sense. No baptisms or the like. Nor do I mean this in the legal sense. I simply and directly am implying a simple and direct statement testifying as to the truth-quality of my position. I don’t mean to sound pretentious; I am […]
B.G. Firmani: How I Married Philip Glass
Actually I was thinking that I probably shouldn’t write about how I married Phil, because he was married four times before I ever met him, which isn’t exactly what you’d call a model of single-mindedness, and what if I accidentally provide other women with a kind of instructional manual on the subject? But you know […]
John Estes: Density
Patrick wanted some room to let the story stretch its legs a little, didn’t think a screenplay would be enough, not with five main characters and the memory of a dragon lady. After finishing the course at Bennetville Community College, with the approval of Mr. Leonard Strichnine in hand, however, he felt amply able to […]