– The Waterboys, “Strange Boat”
“Tell Me a Story” by J.J. Roth
Thomas, whose name is actually something other than Thomas, something that Celia, or any human, wouldn’t be able to pronounce,
remembers the song. There isn’t anything he doesn’t remember. Memories are his stock-in-trade.
“Himeya” by M. Raoulee
They tell me they found what was left of my father broken on the rocks with the last of his men. I knew. I saw the red water seeping
out of the windward bay. I’ve wept, realizing besides—the island will not be ours anymore.
“Joyride” by Amman Sabet
Sneaking out on a school night? Easymode in my mechanic’s coveralls. They’re baggy and rough-gray and I keep the sleeves rolled up
to the certification patches. It ain’t girly, but girly’s never been my thing.
“The Moon Room” by Maria Romasco Moore
The shutter snaps shut and for an instant—Bambi Deerest, belligerent, having lost her best hat earlier that evening, standing at the edge
of the stage, waving an arm half-encased in silver bangles, purple bangs catching on her eyelashes, beads of sweat dotting her forehead
like gems—time stops.
“The Cartographer” by Vincent Pendergast
The palms of Georgie’s hands are maps of lands that don’t exist, with splotchy salmon-pink seas and white-dot archipelagos, and
terraced hillsides in jungle valleys. He holds them close to the flickering lamp to add depth—topography—and wonders at the savage
customs hidden there.
“Oh, How She Danced” by Sandra Odell
To her left, mini-myconid-men, the tiny ThreeMs, not the larger, more self-aware TwoMs, shambled about, carrying wads of spore-infested
detritus from one pile to the next. This was a lonely time place, not at all what she expected.
“Last Call: Acheron” by Christine Lucas
The night breeze from the desert west of Thebes chills my skin, and I stifle a curse. I should be in bed. Instead, I stop beneath a palm tree
and lean against it, lifting my foot to check under the light of the oil lamp what in Sobek’s scaly ass I stepped on this time.
“A Life of Made Up Things” by Soren James
“We All Fall Down” by Jessica Minyard
“Diplomatic Incident” by David C. Kopaska-Merkel
“we are all energy” by M. Darusha Wehm
Artwork by Gavin de Lint