Fiction/Nonfiction: fiction

  • The Family Gathers at a Meal by Andrea Cavedo

    A short horror story and a blunt metaphor about motherhood and sacrifice. Reminded me of an old Twilight Zone episode, or something Junji Ito would use as a starting point for a bonkers bit of manga.

  • Six People to Revise You by J.R. Dawson

    It’s a longer story about a dystopia where people can get some kind of whole-being renovation. The last step in the procedure is to get six people to suggest what should be changed about you: A parent or guardian Someone who has known you since childhood A mentor or teacher An employer or coworker A…

  • Reasons to Stay by Derek Fisher

    This is a story about a relationship over several years, told in a deliberately disjointed and jarring way, with clipped sentences and a nonlinear timeline. I’m not going to quote it because that doesn’t really capture the appeal. Just click through and read it.

  • Lemonade Stand Deliverance by Andrew Rutledge

    This is written from the perspective of a 6(?) year-old kid, and the narrator’s voice is perfect. Tears of laughter. By the second paragraph you’ll be hooked. Anyways, so, like, back when the internet went beep boop beep boop bzzzzzzzt, my brother, he says these culdy sack kids down the road in Cherry Hills, ya know…

  • Progress by Derek Fisher

    Two toys are on a quest across the Mojave Desert, for some reason. The apocalypse featuring the cast of Toy Story, voiced by Pinky and the Brain: “Is it all a big joke? Is the point of your existence to drive the unlucky child that comes to possess you feces-eating mad? A likely mystery to…

  • Elevator Etiquette: A User’s Guide by Derek Fisher

    This story starts strange and goes off the deep end in a hurry. It’s a memo to the residents of a high-rise about how to conduct themselves in the elevator: If you are lucky enough to live on 13, please utter the Incantation of Ages. If you fail to utter the Incantation, and it is…

  • Rash by Derek Fisher

    This story subverts expectations at every turn. The slow reveal of the true depth of the dystopia is excellent. Here’s how it starts: Purple sky in morning. Endless promise of warming. Purple sky at night. We all turn out the light. I decided to do a thing. Every hour on the hour I’d tell a…

  • Ten Seconds by Sarah Lynn Hurd

    A quick read that’ll stick with you, about how various tiny intervals of time can have life-altering implications. Ten seconds is a lot longer than you think. Your whole life can change in ten seconds, or nine for that matter.

  • In the Slipstream by Sarah Lynn Hurd

    This is a nostalgic story about perfect moments, and how it’s often impossible to see them until they’re long over. It’s short, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot since I finished it. It was the summer after college and we were in love—all six of us—with ourselves, with each other, with the expanse…

  • Inside a Black Hole by Andrew Bertaina

    Bertaina writes about anxiety and guilt so well — I think about his piece On Shame all the time — and that comes through in a couple ways in this story. It’s about new parents trying to find buy a house, and the one that checks their boxes also has a black hole in a closet.…