Short Story | JOYLAND PUBLISHING

Ampersand Jansen

Grey Wolfe LaJoie -

Ampersand Jansen was riding his horse through the pines. "Hit don't bover me nun," he said, "the way the winds lash at the leaves....

Certainty

Sarah Edwards -

Late one night, many years ago, a girl wearing tiny jean shorts and a daisy crown knocked on our door. We heard Daddy’s heavy...

Practice

Chelsea Bowlby -

Rikesh, Gwen’s fiancé, wanted her to shut up. When you survive a mass shooting, at first, everyone wants to talk to you about it....

Ha-fu, Half, Halfie

Lin King -

The evening was a disaster. Danny’s date, Janet, had shown up in a revealing dress, a firework of greenish chiffon held together by zigzags of...

Bossa Nova

Sara Kachelman -

Four heterosexuals decided to carve a roast. They were Peg and her husband Pat and Fawn and Fawn’s husband Dick. The husbands had formed...

Boy Mom

Andrea Harper -

The air out here is dry and thin, and when the wind picks up, sharp little parts of earth scatter around, looking for the...

All I’ve Ever Wanted

Cameron Shenassa -

Roommates were going through a rebrand. No longer were they just companions for the lonely, the infirm, the elderly. Now, a Roommate was perfect...

To Molt and to Love You

Muriel Leung -

"To Molt and to Love" was selected by Joyland editors as a finalist in the 2021 Open Border Fiction Prize. When Shin thinks about...

The Immortal

David Aloi -

It struck Edward in the middle of his follow-up prostate exam—Dr. Beller’s gloved fingers searching his rectum like one might search for the perfect...

The Horowitz Compromise

Sofia Ergas Groopman -

I. Paul and I are arguing about the penis of our unborn son. “It’s genital mutilation!” he says to the open refrigerator, removes a large container...