Strings in the Key of Q
Jane Does
On the subway, someone’s phone begins to ring, or they are watching something on a tiny screen, and a strain of violin music wafts across the seat back and up into my ear. This music, alone, fits; it has a narrative author...
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A Walk Through the East Village on May Day, 2011
City of Strangers
Went to the East Village Sunday, MayDay, to see if they still have the May Day events in Tompkins Square Park. The events/protests were a big fixture in the early 90's and though I hadn't thought of them in years, I wanted...
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Writing
Hank the Vampire
J. Boyett
Considering that I'm such a regular guy, it's funny how fortunate I've been in my friends—I belong to a little band that is unusual, both for our numbers (there are about twenty of us who have known each other for years), ...
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The Beer Mystic’s Last Day on the Planet
bart plantenga
previous Beer Mystic Excerpt #43: BLACK BILE PRESS [Ottowa]
Furman Pivo believes he [plus beer] may be the cause of a rash of streetlight outages. This sense of empowerment transforms him into the Beer Mystic. He has ...
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NEW
A Tale of an Affair
Carl Watson
An excerpt from Backwards the Drowned Go Dreaming now available at Amazon
Sometimes the speed works for you. Sometimes you’re left behind. The latter is my usual state. It was the early 1980s, West Lakeview. Subtle ...
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The Bucket O’ Crabs
Jill Rapaport
I was scrunched up tight against Mike and Elvin; we made a gaping trinity off the noses of which Esmee purveyed her shining but misguided Wagnerian fantasies. Her father, like the fathers of more socially assured characters,...
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The Collector
Ron Kolm
I’m a collector. I hunt down runs of literary magazines and signed first editions of tricky prose, and place them in university library archives. I collect comic books and the Jokers from decks of playing cards. I also ...
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Story
Rabbit and Crow
Norman Douglas
Rabbit and Crow watched as the sun came round over the field.
"Did you sleep well?" Rabbit asked Crow.
“I dreamed that I was running through the meadow,” said Crow.
“Ah,” said Rabbit.
Rabbit and Crow set ...
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Story
Somerville
Melissa Febos
An excerpt from "The Savage Library"
I just knew that Somerville would be the kind of neighborhood to go all out at Christmas. I was right. Winter Hill in particular was an orgy of blinking lights and glowing plastic fig...
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Story
Manic Mode
Jonathan Shaw
An excerpt from "Narcisa"
“The sick woman especially: no one surpasses her in refinements for ruling, oppressing, tyrannizing.” -- Nietzsche
Carnaval was over. Weeks went by. The city of Rio de Janeiro was slowly goi...
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Story
Blue Portrait
Jennifer Adams
Matt was a blind date, the only one I ever went on. He was an acquaintance of a girl who had the locker next to mine senior year. She thought I’d like him because he was an artist and was sort of in a band. He played bass....
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Story
Knot Frum Hear
D. Scot Miller
My face is cold. A salty breeze numbing my cheeks. I have the black book in my lap, and a pen in my hand. Sunlight casts through black water, a murky aquamarine spreading its roots towards the edge of my boat. I’m awak...
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Writing
Crazy Mike
Mike DeCapite
an excerpt from RUINED FOR LIFE!
On a thick night in June I was waiting to hear from Luke and Crazy Mike. Kitty’d gone to bed, knowing it would be late if they showed up at all. I opened the fridge and stared at the pro...
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Story
Bully ’72
Michael Gonzales
It was the fall of 1972 when I transferred to St. Catherine of Genoa in Washington Heights. On the first day of class a bugged wild boy named Tom Lowe, a short cat skin the color of a Hershey bar and a perfect Afro, served a...
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Story
Chocolate Delight
Eddie Woods
Summer of 1980. I was again in New York for several days after a couple of weeks in San Francisco and before flying back to Amsterdam. One balmy evening I felt like a stroll along Eighth Avenue, up from Times Square and head...
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