Ron MacLean
Apocalypso

Ron MacLean - Apocalypso

Fiction
Ron MacLean is author of the story collections We Might as Well Light Something on Fire, Why the Long Face?, and the forthcoming Apocalypso, as well as the novels Headlong and Blue Winnetka Skies. His… Read more »
Hila Ratzabi
Capture

Hila Ratzabi - Capture

Poetry
Hila Ratzabi is the author of the poetry collection There Are Still Woods (June Road Press, 2022), which won a gold Nautilus Book Award and was a finalist for a National Indie Excellence Award. Her… Read more »
Andrea Lewis
Conduit

Andrea Lewis - Conduit

Fiction
Andrea Lewis writes short stories, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from her home in Seattle, Washington. Her work has appeared in over forty literary journals, including Prairie Schooner,… Read more »
Kelly Terwilliger
Fishing Trip

Kelly Terwilliger - Fishing Trip

Poetry
Kelly Terwilliger is the author of two collections of poetry and a forthcoming book combining poetry, painting, and prose. Her work has appeared in journals and anthologies in the US, Canada, and… Read more »
Daniel J. Rortvedt
For Sylvia

Daniel J. Rortvedt - For Sylvia

Poetry
Daniel J. Rortvedt is a writer, educator, founding editor of Vilas Avenue, and author of the poetry chapbook Layers (2024). His poetry appears in Lunch Ticket, word west revue, JAKE, Bulb Culture… Read more »
Jake Bienvenue
Gold Country

Jake Bienvenue - Gold Country

Creative Nonfiction
Jake Bienvenue holds an MFA in fiction from the University of Montana, where he was the editor-in-chief of CutBank. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Offing, Moon City Review, Fictive… Read more »
Stephanie J. Andersen
Goose Watching

Stephanie J. Andersen - Goose Watching

Creative Nonfiction
Stephanie J. Andersen teaches creative writing and composition at Reading Area Community College in Pennsylvania. Her work has been notable in Best American Essays and has three times been nominated… Read more »
Jemma Leigh Roe
Ma

Jemma Leigh Roe - Ma

Poetry
Jemma Leigh Roe is the author of Running with the Hare, winner of the 2024 Slapering Hol Press Chapbook Competition. Her poems and artwork have appeared in Sonora Review, Redivider, The Baltimore… Read more »
Merrill Oliver Douglas
Mannequins on Smoke Break

Merrill Oliver Douglas - Mannequins on Smoke Break

Poetry
Merrill Oliver Douglas’s first full-length collection, Persephone Heads For the Gate, won the 2022 Gerald Cable Book Award from Silverfish Review Press. She is also the author of the poetry chapbook… Read more »
Qiwen Xiao
No Subject

Qiwen Xiao - No Subject

Fiction
Qiwen Xiao is a 21-year-old writer from Wuhan, China. “No Subject” is his debut in English fiction. Read more »
Nicholas Barnes
sun’s coming up

Nicholas Barnes - sun’s coming up

Poetry
Nicholas Barnes is a poet living in Portland, Oregon, whose work has appeared in over eighty publications, including Redivider, HAD, and Cola Literary Review. His debut chapbook, Restland, is… Read more »
Erik Harper Klass
Three Horses in a Field at Dusk

Erik Harper Klass - Three Horses in a Field at Dusk

Fiction
Erik Harper Klass's stories and essays have been published (or are forthcoming) in a variety of journals, including New England Review, Ninth Letter, South Carolina Review, Yemassee (Cola Literary… Read more »
Kimberly Gibson-Tran
What Hope Is There

Kimberly Gibson-Tran - What Hope Is There

Poetry
Kimberly Gibson-Tran studied linguistics at Baylor and The University of North Texas. Her recent poems appear or are forthcoming in The Bombay Literary Magazine, Passages North, Reed Magazine,… Read more »
Hannah Keziah Agustin
Wisconsin, Summer

Hannah Keziah Agustin - Wisconsin, Summer

Poetry
Hannah Keziah Agustin is from Manila, Philippines, and resides in New York City. Her work is found and forthcoming in Poetry Northwest, Michigan Quarterly Review, Guernica, and elsewhere. Read more »
L. Soviero
Yo Mama

L. Soviero - Yo Mama

Fiction
L. Soviero is a writer from Queens living in Melbourne, Australia. She has been nominated for Best Microfiction, Best of the Net, Best Small Fictions, the Shirley Jackson Award and the Wigleaf Top 50.… Read more »

sun’s coming up

Nicholas Barnes

i used to put a hurting on the daylight, daring the sun to go down. dad did the same to the night. kerosene breath and aluminum cans. tying washers onto the end of my fishing line and casting past the gopher holes. mom got maudlin and sang her favorite country tunes. a bottle of absolut vodka and fingerprint frost. folding up a cardboard box and lancing it with practice arrows. dad kept getting pissed. a pot of stew in the yard. broken dishes. i thought i’d be the most fearsome cat, clawing at birds and chipmunks with my red ryder. mom packed her bags and threatened to leave. i pleaded for her to stay. i never shot anything with a face. my folks would have made me eat my quarry. my dog always barked when the shouting started. purple hands. tiny seeds wedged between my teeth. bloody forearms. the ripest blackberries just out of reach. much of my youth is remembered as fondly as a soapy mouth. i’d ride my orange mongoose down a steep road into a hayfield to get away. no brakes. they hit and yelled. they kept other kids away. no sleepovers, no friends at birthday parties. the bike came to a stop. i didn’t die. and i can hear a piano from the great beyond, scoring my life like in the movies. now, when my parents say i love you and hold me in a hug for too long, they might finally mean it. yeah, i can hear my song playing from some alcove, some hideaway. so far, it starts as a happy adagio, then there’s trouble. there’s tension. it gets real sad. then happy again. like sunshine sawing into a storm that raged for years upon years.

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