by Annemarie Neary

“Out there, there will be watchers, waiters, skulkers, seekers. Desperados and lunatics. Ordinary loners. Even now a girl is moving through the Common, spotlit then lost then spotlit again. Each time the girl vanishes, Anna grieves for her…”

by A. D. Canareira (trans. by Clare Gaunt)

“‘On a plain in Southwestern America, many, many years ago, during the Dust Bowl, or perhaps still today, there lived a tiny and very lonely little shrew.’” 

by John Power

“Her bright blue eyes matched her bright blue dress and gave her the look of the universal grandmother that Julie never had.”

by Kelly Murashige

“By the time I arrive at the scene of the crime, all of the Cheetos have already been cleaned up. Either that, or there were never any Cheetos in the first place, and the inside of the truck was as hollow as your oversized head.”

by Stephen Dean Ingram

“…he shudders again, but this time not from the air conditioning. Something wells up inside of him and he chokes it back, gulping, and hugs himself. He looks up to see if anyone sees him.”

by Spencer Barnes

“Physarum polycephalum are unique in that, unlike most eukaryotic organisms, they are composed of a single cell with multiple nuclei. Polly is essentially brainless.”

by Jacek Blaszkiewicz

“The palm trees flash red and blue. Like the intoxicated driver negotiating with the police, they sway, feigning stability against the night breeze.”

by Nanami Fetter

“The reason I’m alive is because of release dates. Album release dates, book release dates, and movie release dates. There are so many good pieces of art to look forward to, and so that’s why I’m able to live another day.”

by Rob Dailey

“The flames of her hair flood the floor while yours lap at the ceiling, setting fire to the beams and enveloping the family. You wouldn't know it from her smile.”

by Renee LoBue

“Inside, she saw a tangle of lines — ropy, cable-like bundled cords of some unseen engine, dense and coiled, alive with potential. For an instant, their mind looked like an archive flung open: drawers half-alphabetized, folders spilling in disarray.”

by Madeleine Foster

“I’ll miss you, she scribbled, glancing at his broad, angular frame, the way his legs rested beneath the table, inches from hers. Miss your voice, miss your laughter.”

by Michael Czyzniejewski

“For X, my classroom had a picture of a brontosaurus, which is funny now, as that’s not a real dinosaur anymore, and the word under the picture was eXtinct. Like they couldn’t figure out the name of an animal that started with X…”

by JW Burns

“Sleep fumes steaming the walls…Fridge is bare racks and a heretical smell, on the kitchen counter salt and pepper and this morning's slapdash of sun.”

by Deniz Ertem

“Martine does not begin by eating hearts. That takes a while. She builds up to it.”

by Rob Debenebetti

“The woman responsible for delivery carried a ledger in which each death had already been recorded, complete with date and cause. When questioned, she explained that her role was not to determine accuracy, only to notify.”

by Henrick Karoliszyn

“I was a Care Liaison…We listened, observed, absorbed. We spoke calmly and avoided promises that might later need further explanation.”

by Itto and Mekiya Outini

“Outside, I broke the ice on a mud puddle and rinsed the rat juice from my hands. Then I lit a cigarette and walked for a while, thinking.”