Publication: BULL

  • 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…

  • Black Heart

    A grandfather deals with some trespassers, bascially. The grandfather in this story reminded me so much of my dad. In the stare-down that follows, three men stand. I hope the girls are impressed, because I am mostly amused by guys who try to look tough but don’t know which way is front of their ball…

  • Two Stories

    Two related and absolutely crushing pieces of flash nonfiction by a Toronto writer: “Let Me Pretend” and “He always says he will never leave me”. Domestic abuse is a big part of these stories. Five minutes of reading you’ll never forget.

  • Clunkers

  • The Astronaut

    My note after reading this simply says “holy shit“.

  • The Private Investigator Balances the Scales

    This is super short but has a serious twist to it that I’ve been thinking about since I read it.