Publication: BULL

  • The Jims by Charlie Rogers

    This is a weird one and I don’t want to spoil anything. It’s about clones:  I hope Jim-Prime is asleep, so he can’t ruin this like he usually does. But no. The door creaks behind me—an irritating noise that Jim-Prime keeps asking me to fix, like he can’t figure out how to operate a can…

  • Good Morning Person by M.A. Boswell

    Bri and Andrew are broken up, but she can still hear his ridiculous catchphrases as she gets up for the early shift at the bakery. Bri’s character is quite relatable, until, well, read the story. Throughout their six-month relationship, Andrew used to crack a joke about making the doughnuts at least once a week, always…

  • A Ridiculous Man: June 1996 by J. Haase Vetter

    Roger’s life is falling apart, and he’s betting everything he’s got on a big turnaround. Stories told in this format often feel gimmicky. Vetter’s story doesn’t get that way for a second – every reveal hits like a hammer. A is for Acorn. The list always started with Acorn; that was one of the rules. For…

  • Back Seat Surprise by M.E. Proctor

    A hitman finds a kid in the back of his getaway car, and it’s the beginning of an unexpected adventure for both. This could be the basis for a full novel, it’s fantastic. The protagonist is the kind of low-rent crook you’d find in a Leonard or Lehane novel. For a job to go right,…

  • Another Night in Pittsburgh by Mark Ifanson

    Roger and his friends get into the cocaine business and things, well, don’t go as planned: It was a simple plan, like they say in those movies I can never remember the name of. Jules and Jason and me, well, we weren’t totally straight when we came up with this, but it sounded good, and…

  • Calling the Boys Home by Katy Goforth

    A sweet, sad story about Donny Peirce, who has never spent time away from a tiny town in South Carolina. His best friend Teddy is off to college, and Donny’s not sure Teddy will have time for him anymore. Teddy and I have grown up together here on the Pee Dee. But Teddy left about…

  • The Day After Easter, Atlantic City, 2024 by Jamey Gallagher

    A dark, grimy story about a couple of addicts at the end of their rope. Gallagher’s descriptions are so rich I was holding my breath so I didn’t smell the scene: She went back inside, finished with her first and probably only cigarette of the day (they had no money left) and her precious alone…

  • Man Enough by Christian Escalona

    A short and beautiful memoir about coming out. I’m the proud dad of a trans kid, and this one hit pretty close to home. Fifteen years since I waited nervously in a Massachusetts clinic for my first testosterone injection. Fifteen years since my voice cracked at Thanksgiving dinner prompting my mother to ask me to…

  • Signs of Suffering by AD Schweiss

    This is how it starts: I want to make it home sober but there’s a bar sitting perfectly just between the station and my house and I need to sit somewhere in between until my jaw can loosen up; the stink of your burnt car still in my nose. Schweiss uses repetition and a slow…

  • Viewer Discretion Advised

    Lukas isn’t exactly a natural with women. His first date with Amy ends in a way neither expected. This story made me gasp, laugh and cringe all at the same time. I seem to be putting every single Katherine Plumhoff story I find in here. I swear I didn’t know this was her work until…