issue 01 - parasocial relationship.
-
A sister, a book, a cave.
Samir Sirk Morató asks how well we know our own family. Would they notice if we’re replaced?
-
What punishment do we deserve?
Personality changes with environment. Kaisa S. pulls back the curtain to show us a professional’s private life.
-
Ephemeral love
Trevor Kassis presents impossible, unobtainable perfection.
ethical nonmonogamy
flash fiction by Andrew Ketcham
Your boyfriend’s boyfriend comes and goes. Maybe too much.
‘There are two doors for you to choose from. Your boyfriend and his boyfriend are potentially behind either or both doors. Be careful. One of them has a gun and the other won’t leave the party when he should.’
Seeing You
prose poetry by Pascale Potvin
‘Seeing you swells my tongue to a whole candy apple.’
First published in EROTECAY by Lupercalia Press. Reprinted with permission.
Husk
fiction by Kaisa Saarinen
A dominatrix seeks an emotional work/life balance, with unfortunate results.
‘ ‘You’re dangerous’, he says, dripping sweat over me.
‘Why?’ I say in a small voice. I think I am the least dangerous person in the world.’
twitch.tv/SweetHecateVTube
flash fiction by Trevor Kassis
What lady is that, which doth enrich the hand
Of yonder knight?
O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear;
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
‘A healthy relationship can handle a little distance.’
Letter to a robot vacuum manufacturer
flash fiction by Daniel DeRock
Your product has made such a difference in my life! I am writing to you with admiration for your efforts toward customer satisfaction and enjoyment!
‘The things he recorded through his many camera eyes, I don’t want to know of and I pray he has forgotten.’
It Who Wears My Sister’s Skin
fiction by Samir Sirk Marató
How well do you know your family? Your siblings? Your parents? How much do they think about you, in the daily experience of their own lives? Would they notice if you were replaced?
‘It isn’t a demon. It is divine punishment. It is the halo of thorns God placed upon her for failing to please Rebecca.’
Fishing, With What I Have
fiction by Peter Christopher
A boy and his grandfather spend time together.
‘Our walking shadow was a fisherman, who had pulled up a boy on the hook of the fisherman’s hand.’
‘May this book make you a better reader. If you write, may it make you a better writer.’ – Chuck Palahniuk (from the Introduction)
First published in ‘Campfires of the Dead and the Living’, by 11:11 Press. Reprinted with permission of the publisher. Hover here for trigger and content warnings for this story.
The Shooter
fiction by Robert Levin
‘A freshman at Pratt, for Christ’s sake, would know better than to locate the portal to the world in such close proximity to the anus.’
A man slips further and further away from his own humanity.
Through Her Window
fiction by Kris Mielke
What two boys see through a window will change their entire life.
‘He bites down, drawing blood, making my nerves burn, but I hiss in his ear, “Do you want to die too?” ’
At the mountains of madness.
a fiction cluster by Alice M.
A music hunter obsesses over a rare cassette tape so much her obsession creeps into every aspect of her life.
‘My skull burns. It burns through my sinus. Comes every day in the afternoon. I pace. I bang my head against the wall. The fate of the human race is misery.’
Friends of the Mag
this issue made possible by the financial support of:
-
Joshua Hebburn lives in Los Angeles and the internet. His very short fiction has appeared in New World Writing, HAD, and X-R-A-Y, where he is an associate fiction editor.
-
Dear F,
Thanks for being such a constant cheerleader and supporting bodyfluids from the get-go!
Love, Alice -
donated with the message ‘THANK YOU FOR MAKING WEIRD SHIT’.
YOU ARE WELCOME DEAR FRIEND
