Honest Ivan Back in my cocaine days, I frequented a dealer named Ivan. He was a big Russian with a thick, formidable, Stalinesque mustache and a laugh like galloping horses. I once bought a gram from him and accidentally handed him too much money. Those were heady days and my math got scrambled. Ivan noticedContinue reading “Three Goddamn People”
Category Archives: fiction
A Fairy Tale
Once upon another time—one distant from the one you’re reading this from—little nine-year-old Kamchi stood outside an arboreal dell and wondered about fairies. Her teacher, Mr. Krumple had taught her class that fairies were real. He even showed them photographic proof. Two small English girls had taken several pictures of frolicking fairies back in theContinue reading “A Fairy Tale”
Lobster Solidarity
Owen gazed at the mountain from the safety of his blue Dodge Shadow. The day was warm and clear and he had time to kill before work, so he came here to look at the mountain. And there it was. His job was only a month old and he still felt apprehensive when he reportedContinue reading “Lobster Solidarity”
The Nothingness Stood Revealed
Albert Einstein waited patiently in line at the bank. It was crowded today. The bank was always busy on Thursdays. People with their paychecks. The mood at the bank was usually good on Thursdays. Tellers and customers alike laughed and chatted in a relaxed manner. People were at ease with each other, it seemed. EinsteinContinue reading “The Nothingness Stood Revealed”
The Active Training Sessions
The Active Training Sessions ended with the summer and Jacob hadn’t learned a goddamn thing. Ninja skills dulled. He would meet an attack with clumsy, uncertain moves. Hesitation begets paralysis. Hanging around deserted shopping malls (they’re easy to break into if you possess what old grandfathers referred to as gumption) watching mildew grow in patternsContinue reading “The Active Training Sessions”
The Crooner
The Crooner sat alone in his dressing room. He’d draped an old, stained tablecloth over the mirror and had unscrewed most of the light-bulbs around the frame. Dressing room lights were always too bright and the mirrors captured too many hard memories. He wore his life on his face. He lifted a pint of whiskeyContinue reading “The Crooner”
Recently Published Stuff
“Song of Squandered Promise” at Still Here Magazine (pg. 164) “Baby Box Turtles at the Bottom of a Vodka Bottle” at Blood+Honey Exacting Clam No. 19 Winter 2025 Dada Issue “Unspeakable Dan” at Yellow Mama Webzine “The Car Crash They Saw” at The Broken Teacup “A Path Through the Dandelions” at The Argyle Literary MagazineContinue reading “Recently Published Stuff”
Imagining the Ordinary
It started with the teabags, but before that. It’s hard to be certain when an adventure really begins but if I had to stick a pin into a point and make a mark, it wouldn’t be with the worms, it would be with the teabags. Memories bleed into dreams. Or is it the other wayContinue reading “Imagining the Ordinary”
Adipocere
The story begins…. Becky stood on the rocky shore listening to the edges of the ocean. The lap and scatter of small seaweed-laden waves. She’d hoped the sudden change in environment would loosen the choking, unremitting clench of her life. Therapy wasn’t going well. Her therapist (Nancy) suggested this trip. She (Nancy) said that gettingContinue reading “Adipocere”
Barbara Payton at the Purple Dandelion
And a disembodied narrator says: He was in an LA club called The Purple Dandelion. It was 1967. Longhairs were dancing to the elastic music of The Chocolate Watch Band. He was sitting at the bar between a grubby little man who smelled of the street and Barbara Payton, who smelled of the street andContinue reading “Barbara Payton at the Purple Dandelion”
