STORY OF THE WEEK

STORY OF THE WEEK

Meeting at the Gate By Ben Weise

Meeting at the Gate

His wife had called everybody except the governor. He had a hard time explaining himself because he felt she wouldn’t understand.

POEM OF THE WEEK

POEM OF THE WEEK

Falling By Pam Bernard

Falling

Who will chart my journey from where I once lay dreaming among the trees? Who will call out as I descend, the world blurring by in sleep and despair?

WINTER STORY CONTEST

WINTER STORY CONTEST

WINTER STORY CONTEST
Our Winter Contest is open to all fiction and nonfiction writers. We’re looking for short shorts, short stories, essays, memoirs, photo essays, graphic stories, all forms of literary nonfiction, and excerpts from longer works. See the Guidelines.

FROM THE LIBRARY

FROM THE LIBRARY

A Dress Rehearsal for the Apocalypse By Tomás Q. Morín

A Dress Rehearsal for the Apocalypse

I must remain faithful to the customs and decorums of the elegy—an inborn fear of sex, a holy reverence for the cordless communiqué.

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Earth in the Time of Billie Holiday By Canisia Lubrin

Earth in the Time of Billie Holiday

Combat commanded no serious loyalty from me or Siem, though it did have a first taste, a sound.

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Roanoke Rapids By Ashleigh Bryant Phillips

Roanoke Rapids

Tchaikovsky can be real sad. And sometimes Tchaikovsky can be scary. But it’s never real scary. Things always turn out in the end.

FICTION

The Lucky Bastard By N. Jane Kalu

The Lucky Bastard

Only now does Grace understand that for her mum, the 1993 election held so much promise that it caused hope to spread like a disease.

FICTION

FICTION

Rapture Basement By Maud Newton

Rapture Basement

My mom didn’t want me to know that she was taking testosterone. And yet, one by one as the months went by, her confidants anxiously rang me up to make sure I knew.

NARRATIVE 10

NARRATIVE 10

NARRATIVE 10

NARRATIVE 10

Narrative 10 By Allegra Goodman

Narrative 10

I just knew I had a calling. As an adult it’s good for me to remember what I knew as a child. Writing is more than a profession.

NARRATIVE 10

NARRATIVE 10

Narrative 10 By Tom Jenks

Narrative 10

If a story succeeds, its words carry the reader home, back to life outside the story, having received gifts along the way.

FICTION

CARTOONS

FICTION

FICTION

Old Friends By Tom Lakin

Old Friends

Wordlessly, in the way of birds suddenly ascending in unison at some invisible signal, we peeled away from our mothers and went scampering into the yard.

CARTOONS

CARTOONS

Cartoon Art Volume 2025-01 By Various Artists

Cartoon Art Volume 2025-01

New laughs in which timing is everything, crime gets a glass half full, and sweet treats are terminated.