Consulate

The Nightmare Ballad of the Drunken Brand Identity

Jonathan Ball -

With a Cameo by Shakespeare and a Title that Cannot Get Worse The nightmare begins when you look at a gun. This is how it...

The Diaphanous Casting Agency

Gretchen Schrafft -

The voice says it got your information from the Diaphanous Casting Agency. You are on Route 6, driving back to Hyannis from your daughter...

The Brothers Vine

Andrew F. Sullivan -

Excerpted from Waste: a novel, now available from Dzanc Books. You can purchase a copy here. Thomas and Allan Vine were born ten months apart....

Ghosts Can Be Boyfriends Too

Daniel Zomparelli -

I woke up again, the feeling of empty weighing to one side of the bed. I heard Derek again in the other room, talking...

Road Pizza

Melissa Kuipers -

On their way back from the Beer Store, the night before the accident, Volk and Jason found the road pizza The car’s headlights along...

Beata Beatrix

Virginia Konchan -

The first time she turned a trick she was 15. She was living with a friend, Ashley, whose mother’s boyfriend molested her. She made...

Shelter

Nata Belza -

On the first night of Rosh Hashanah, our babysitter arrived at our front door and announced that her apartment building was infested with bedbugs....

Bleach

Tara-Michelle Ziniuk -

Lucy hoped to never have to see the suburb she grew up in again and certainly isn’t enjoying her stay. Cars full of teenagers...

The Crooked Heart of Mercy

Billie Livingston -

We're pleased to present an excerpt of Billie Livingston's most recent novel The Crooked Heart of Mercy, a brave, funny and heartbreaking novel about...

Deimos and Phobos

Fortunato Salazar -

My mother is getting riled up and people are starting to notice. We’re in line at the Pink’s on La Brea, same as every...