Short Story

Rhyme Game

Bonnie Jo Campbell -

Editor's Note: This story is part of Joyland's Michigan stories series. Come back throughout April for more Michigan stories. Tinny Marie and her mother rattled...

L’histoire de Mathilde

Sara Freeman -

I’d realized one day that it was something I could do and by the next I was doing it all the time—to the traffic...

The Circles in Which We Travel

Claudia B. Manley -

Louisa, in a blue dress that plays up her red hair, runs around the kitchen. “Malcolm! I can’t find Iffy’s bag.” “I’ve packed it,” Malcolm...

What the Crime Is Like Here

Alison Espach -

He called me from a payphone in New Hampshire. He didn’t like the mountains in New Hampshire. He didn’t realize there were so many...

Gate Count

Amanda Marbais -

We were ranching a lab-owned deer farm thirty miles from the nearest highway. Most mornings were the same. Our withered rooster, Mr. Kirkaby, woke...

Lisa Is the Water

JoAnna Novak -

“The worst toy for a bulimic is a garbage disposal,” you say. Saturday afternoon on the balcony, flattened out in bikinis with pink rosettes kissing...

Walking Back to Turtle

Henry Heavy Shield -

P.O. BOX 1293 1149 Laurier Place Edmonton, AB T5H 1P7 Dear Mr. Spotted Plume, I am writing on behalf of Mr. J. Ahkiskiw, author of the Savage Under Heart series (Plains Romances // Big Sky Press...

Long Beach Life Coach

Aaron Steven Miller -

The life coach sits on the couch. He sits on the edge, palms-to-knees. His chin stays up. Behind him, the light pierces the blind...

Songbun Song

Jessica Richardson -

Hyo washes his hands in hot water. He presses his nails into his cloth to remove each excess drop to ready his fingers for...

The Unknown Soldier

Molly Antopol -

Molly Antopol's debut story collection, The UnAmericans, is now available from W.W. Norton. Fridays were busy outside Alameda Point. Women shouldered past Alexi, coiffed and perfumed and in pumps...