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Machine Gun Secrets

Machine Gun Secrets Meg Tuite __________ Flee the folk who hunt us. It is endurance, hopping over deranged legacies and lack of fantasy to keep hidden within the tall, wet grass of expression. We examine the space before us. Spend more time at this then sleep. Privy to all songbirds,…

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Cycle

Cycle Susan Tepper __________ Meditations on dear Petrov Set in 19th Century Russia during a time of war There is no beginning or end.   Springtime grasses brown quickly only to be buried under snow.  An avalanche.  This cycle, dear Petrov.  Having no one.  How I do dread.  Wishing to…

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Tossed-in-a-Chair!

Tossed-in-a-Chair! Caleb Tankersley __________ Modern science is confirming more than ever what the ancients have always known: all the wheels and magnets and complex motors in the world can’t compete with the human body, a machine honed through millions of years of evolution. So, why not harness the body’s power…

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Playing with the Wizard

Playing with the Wizard Dawn Sperber __________ Sure, he was a charmed minstrel, a fine carpenter, a grunt laborer, and a timeless wizard, but what stands out to me as a heartbreakingly lovely quality is this: Matti told himself elaborate nightly bedtime stories. Deep inside that elven man’s mind, as…

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The Nightmare House

The Nightmare House Sam Ruddick __________ We live in a haunted house. It is unusual in that it is haunted by the living. Multiple moments occur at the same time in the same place, past iterations of ourselves overlapping. We are making love in the center of the bed, our…

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No One Says the C-Word at the Comprehensive Cancer Center

No One Says the C-Word at the Comprehensive Cancer Center Mikki Aronoff __________ You haul your ass and your cancer over for your one o’clock—the cancer your newly uninvited passenger, all grunt and elbows jostling for space smack dab in the middle of you, this bully breed, unruly teen (mercy,…

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Midnight in the Valley of Spam

Midnight in the Valley of Spam Steve Almond __________ Dear Sir, my name is  ________ ________. I am the Prince of a faraway land, though I live now in the kingdom of Disgrace. A Great Treasure has been taken from me. Stolen. Looted, sir. For this reason I now request…

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Lily: A Found Flash of All Thirteen Stories

Lily: A Found Flash of All Thirteen Stories Mia Bonds and Alexandria Knight, Editorial Assistants __________ I’m interested in this place. It was staggering to witness. Branches bent like ostriches, afraid to look. Sometimes, slivers of light would invade, indicating the buildings were wooden slats. She’s wearing a black trench…

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Letter from the Guest Editor

Letter from the Guest Editor Aiman Tariq __________ Life as a woman is an intricate web of societal expectations. Hailing from Pakistan, a culture deeply rooted in patriarchy that further derives strength from culture and religion, I, instead of taking the usual route of lifelong subservience in the form of…

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Letter from the Editor

Letter from the Editor Vallie Lynn Watson __________ Confession: I didn’t know what boudin was until about six months ago, when I learned that one of the perks of my wonderful new gig teaching in the MFA program at McNeese State University (Lake Charles, LA) was inheriting the relatively-new magazine…

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