“The Short Tale of Msgr. Pigeon” by John McCann

My first thought was, “How the hell did that thing get all the way down here?” I was sitting on a bench, several stories underground, waiting for the Warminster Line to take me home when I noticed a fat, black-throated pigeon hopping around looking for specks of food. The bird had two legs but only […]

“Hollywood Homicide in the Seventies: The Snake and Bake Murder” by Steve Hodel

I applied at city hall for both LAPD and the sheriff’s department. Two weeks after I had passed both entrance exams and had been rejected by the sheriff’s department at the in-person interview for being too young, I was called in for my oral at LAPD. That went better. I fit their job description as […]

Lithographs by Ann Chernow

Lithographs by Ann Chernow, each from one stone, 17″ x 22″. All work copyright Ann Chernow. All rights reserved. Ann Chernow’s work has been exhibited at many galleries around the globe including : Hubert Gallery, Uptown Gallery and 220 Gallery in New York City, Odetta Gallery in Brooklyn, N.Y. .Lessedra Gallery in Sophia, Bulgaria, The […]

“What Dora’s Daughter Did” by Charles Rammelkamp

“I mean, I know her from the neighborhood,” the woman in the manager’s kiosk at the supermarket said to the lady on the other side of the counter. “But I don’t know know her.” I was loitering by the freezer with the weekly frozen food deals. Stouffer’s Frozen French Bread Pizza, Healthy Choice Grilled […]

“Honky-Tonk Nights” by Robert Cooperman

Scottie always drank longnecks: easy to smash a guy hassling him or making a move on his woman, who wasn’t necessarily his wife, though Loretta didn’t have to know that, except she always did, when he staggered in skanky with beer and perfume fumes. Too much effort to throw him out or leave him: […]

“Whiplash Redemption” by Mark Krajnak

Ashes to ashes, Dust to dust. Everything dies, baby. Both the wicked and the just. That would be a true little ditty, ain’t it? The question is, what do you do with that time between the cradle and the pine box. Are you a productive member of society . . . Or are you […]

“No One Is Innocent” by Paul D. Brazill

Marty Cook got out of his Mini Cooper, locked up the car and, with Sisyphean resignation, slowly trudged up the hill. He shivered and pulled his long black overcoat close to him. His short breaths appeared in front of him like spectres. The moonlight oozed across the city’s dank cobblestones like quicksilver; creeping between the […]

“Poor Roy’s Picaresque” by Joseph Hirsch

The myth is that the knight fights the Dragon. The truth is that the Dragon teaches men to breathe fire, Obviating the need for knights. Taking this time machine to Brooklyn now, think of Poor Roy Luck and life against him. No, he wasn’t cross-eyed But other than that, he was fat, small, and bullnecked […]

“Hellbenders” by Chris McGinley

Sheriff Shelby Hines thought about his own burial. He needed a breather before he started the last leg of a climb that ended at a tumbledown trailer high up on Black Owl Mountain. From his position, he could see the side of the single-wide, a beat-up structure with broad lines of soot under the eaves. […]

“Why?” by Gerald So

Allie asked in a stolen moment why I joined up to fly. Leaving the ground for fun was nuts enough, she said. Why do it for war? I didn’t want to fly straight, I said honestly. Straight was too easy. I wanted to buck and roll. So what if cannons and planes shot at me? […]