Publication: Fractured Lit
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Lines Left by Katie ten Hagen
A short ghost story that left me a mess. My dad mowed the lawn every Saturday morning—weather permitting—for seventy-two years. Vacations were scheduled around it, plans turned down, brunches skipped, because that lawn wasn’t gonna mow itself. When his heart started acting up, and I said maybe he could think about getting someone else to…
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Heartbeat by Jisun Park
Park writes about the anxiety and fear that comes with being a new parent in a way that brought me right back to those days: It occurs to me that there are an infinite number of ways that my baby could die, and it is up to me, an untrained civilian with no prior experience…
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White Trash by Emily Hampson
From the perspective of a housekeeper in a ritzy hotel, Hampson’s story has teeth: Tonight, his hand clasps your elbow, wearing you like a purse. He likes it when you flaunt a skirt, likes to snake a finger up your pale thigh. Nibbling at your earlobe, he cocks an eye toward me. To him, everything…
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When I Say Grief
a single paragraph mourning the end of a marriage, brilliantly written: “My husband left me in February. He left with my love in his hands, and I walked to the pharmacy for a carton of eggs.”
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The Children
Like Stephen King’s take on The Chrysalids, in ~750 words. It’s short and shocking. Read it now, it’ll only take a couple minutes.
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Beach Tree