person_pin Essay

The Magic of Revision

by Alexandra Panic

Issue No. 247 ~ December, 2017

  A few nights ago, a young woman who has been taking my creative writing classes asked me, Can I write a wrong story? Her question caught me by surprise and even though I promptly answered it in class, it resonated loudly in my mind …

book Book Lovers

Retro Book Review – The Best of C. L. Moore

reviewed by Liz Kellebrew

Issue No. 247 ~ December, 2017

First published in the 1930s and 1940s, C. L. Moore’s collection of short stories embodies the otherworldly appeal of science fiction during that time, echoing America’s growing fascination with space exploration and its rapidly expanding multicultural awareness. But Moore’s stories were a level above the …

map Macro-Fiction

Rustle in the Coconut Groves

by Hareendran Kallinkeel

Issue No. 247 ~ December, 2017

Devu sits on the veranda floor, listening to her husband blowing a conch shell, a ritual that follows his evening prayers. He keeps the door of his puja room closed, but the sound finds a way out. She grabs a fistful of roasted mussels from …

Infamy

by Kathryn Bashaar

Issue No. 247 ~ December, 2017

The house cannot hold one more person. Grace and Robert live in this 3-bedroom foursquare with their four children. Robert’s mother Bridget has lived with them since she was widowed in 1931. Grace’s older brother Patrick moved in after the Crash, the same brother who …

Brainstorming

by Jonathon Nissan

Issue No. 247 ~ December, 2017

The year was 1947. Two men sat in a diner. The first, a man mostly failing at his dreams of being an accomplished science fiction author. The second, a government-contracted epidemiologist. On most occasions while waiting for the waitress to bring their breakfasts, they took …

Forty-Four

by Salvatore Difalco

Issue No. 247 ~ December, 2017

It was a party to which I would have declined an invitation if my wife didn’t want to go so badly. So there we were, sipping cocktails. Mine had more vermouth in it than bourbon, never a good sign. The host, Albert Teeth, commended us …

Remodel

by Neva Bryan

Issue No. 247 ~ December, 2017

When I trip down the stairs, I go head over heels, then heels over head. I land on the newly installed hardwood floor in our entryway. As I lie with my cheek mashed against the cool walnut surface, I’m pleased to see that it gleams …