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FICTION

Image shows a rhinoceros standing in a field of brown grass, with woods in the background; title card for new microfiction by Shih-Li Kow.

Sibling Parenting & Father’s Day by Shih-Li Kow

May 19, 2023

  Sibling Parenting Ai Ping’s brother said women who habitually declared they found happiness in everyday things were the hardest to please. If a woman required x affirmations of happiness a day, each having an effect which lasted an average…

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Image shows a pair of round-rimmed glasses sitting upon a piece of brown cardstock; title card for the new short story, "The Ten Deaths of Mrs. Haverhill’s Second-Grade Class," by Sam Berman.

The Ten Deaths of Mrs. Haverhill’s Second-Grade Class by Sam Berman

May 12, 2023

  I think it matters that her husband was older. He owned his own house when they met. He also owned a coffee shop on Lattimore. And Mrs. Haverhill, then—to distinguish herself from the other long-necked, loose-sweatered girls in the…

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Image shoes a close view of nine bees entering a hole in a white beekeeping box; title card for 2022 Amelia Gray 2K Contest winner "Birds x Bees" by Katharine Duckett.

Birds x Bees by Katharine Duckett

April 28, 2023

  Esther was sixteen the summer that all the bees in her father’s hives died. Those were the days when she was in love with everything. The curtains in her room, billowing with the morning breeze; the spongy hills leading…

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Image is an aerial/overhead shot of trucks parked in a lot in the snow at nighttime; title card for 2022 Amelia Gray 2K Contest winner "Penny, Barbara, Ruth, Irene" by Amy Grote.

Penny, Barbara, Ruth, Irene by Amy Grote

April 21, 2023

  After three gin martinis, my mother-in-law spits out her teeth. “You’re a cannonball with a credit card,” she hisses. Her dentures glisten like pearls in her palm. Never, she likes to remind me, did she foresee her sweet son…

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Image shows colorful chappals hanging on a wire at a market; title card for 2022 Amelia Gray 2K Contest winner "Flapping Wings and a Shoeless Walk" by Sudha Balagopal.

Flapping Wings and a Shoeless Walk by Sudha Balagopal

April 14, 2023

  My daughter, Savi, instructs me to wear shoes when I go for my morning walk. She says it’s not considered exercise otherwise. I tell her my toes feel imprisoned in shoes and slide my feet into chappals before I…

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Image shows a switchback staircase at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City; title card for When You Visit Manhattan on Saturday and Your Boyfriend Who Lives in Queens Says He Can’t Come by Nathan Xie.

When You Visit Manhattan on Saturday and Your Boyfriend Who Lives in Queens Says He Can’t Come by Nathan Xie

April 7, 2023

  after Jenny Offill On the hour-long train ride to New York City, you read a book about a divorce that almost but doesn’t quite happen. Your boyfriend says he’s knocked out from miscellaneous paperwork and allergy headaches and his…

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Image shows a cracked cicada shell on tree bark, partially obscured by green fronds of grass; title card for the new flash fiction, "House of Cicadas," by Gabriela Lee.

House of Cicadas by Gabriela Lee

April 3, 2023

  Aboveground I was twelve years old when I last saw Blanca Esperanto. She lived at the end of the road. Their house was a brown, dry affair of rustling wood and dark leaves. She loved sitting on the ledge…

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Image shows a pool with lanes in an auditorium, with blue pennants hanging above; title card for the new short story, "Old Harry's Daughters," by Julianna Waters.

Old Harry’s Daughters by Julianna Waters

March 24, 2023

  Content Warning—child sexual abuse   Tansy My sister, Liberty, tells me I need to exercise, that it cures all ills. Well, I don’t see how swimming cures hers. All it does is dry out her hair. Jolee, my youngest…

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Image shows two security cameras on a pole in front of a blue sky; title card for the new flash fiction, "The Replacement," by Paul Rousseau.

The Replacement by Paul Rousseau

March 10, 2023

  4. It is prom night. A group of us are out to eat at The Urban Hive, on the rooftop. Couples sit in pairs around a table forged of meteorite. Smoky black, with a network of tiny bubble cells,…

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Photograph depicts a white rat sleeping inside a wicker shelter with a blurred human figure in the background; title card for the new short story, "I Saved You in Every Life," by Lucy Zhang.

I Saved You in Every Life by Lucy Zhang

February 17, 2023

  In David’s previous life, he was a mad scientist. According to him, I was a lab rat. I’m chopping the remaining half of a watermelon and am more concerned about the ant infestation I had eliminated yesterday because I…

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