Magazine
Issue #10
(Originally published on Andrew’s Patreon.) 1. This is a city of ghosts. I have walked the streets when a crowd of ghost bikes rode by, their invisible tires throwing up asphalt from a dying road. I’ve stood on the Waugh Bridge and watched a Cooper’s Hawk dive bomb ghost bats and climb back into…
“Clowns aren’t made,” you tell your therapist inside her cream pristine office. “They’re born.” She hums and taps her fancy fountain pen against the edges of her clipboard with your name at the top, where everything you’ve said, everything you are, has made it into ink-bleeding bullet points of flowery script. “Care to elaborate on…
(Originally published on Angela’s website.) I’ve written before about rejections and how to handle the dent they make in your self-esteem, and I think it’s advice that bears revisiting from time to time. One thing any writer needs to develop (apart from mad writing skills and the ability to respect the deadline) is a thick…
You Are Not Your Writing: Or, How To Interpret/Deal With Writerly Rejection
I stalk the amassing man through hell, eager to harvest the spores growing in his belly. Soon, I’ll have enough money to leave the wasteland behind and begin a new life. Standing on a steep rock formation, I scan the horizon with a tarnished brass spyglass and smile with satisfaction when I spot my prey…
The Horror of Isolation: Exploring Solitude and Madness in Horror Film and Fiction
Staci Layne WilsonEver wondered why your cat starts acting weird after you’ve been gone for a weekend? Now imagine being stuck alone for months, years, or eternity. Welcome to the terrifying world of isolation in horror, where the mind becomes its own worst enemy and authors and filmmakers have turned “me time” into a psychological nightmare. It…
Pile
Martin CahillIt started with a feeling of gentle discomfort, of suggested motion, a piece of string tied around her back molars that began pulling tight. Tighter. Painfully tight. This way, turn this way, the feeling seemed to say. Confused at first, and then, yes, the spike of anger she knew would come. Finally, resignation. Maybe a…
Momentary Brightness
Robert HelfstThe night is cold and clear as Ray Ellis moves his telescope gingerly across the sky, monitoring the Blaze Star for an overdue nova when it happens. A flash of white-gold light in the dark pierces the heavens, a needle slicing from infinity down to his eye. Ray recoils from the fat cylinder of the…Mastering the Metaphor
Melissa BurkleyIf you are like most writers, you love metaphors (for simplicity, I’m using the term metaphor in this article to refer to both metaphors and similes). Put simply, metaphors form a connection between two seemingly unrelated concepts. Examples include “all the world’s a stage,” “love is a battlefield,” and “life is like a box of…
In Pursuit of the Black Wagon
Michael BoulericeThe Circle E. B. Ranch was a swollen blister of affluence on the desolate Pecos River valley. The aging proprietor strode from the porch of his immense home to greet The Hatchetman at the main gate as he tethered his horse. “Merrick String. The veritable Hatchetman of Apache Pass, as I live and breathe. Had…
Horror And Romance In Films: The Perfect Marriage
Emma ColeOne of the best things about being a book editor is spending time talking to folks about what they love to read, watch, and listen to. After all, since I’m trying to acquire projects that will resonate with readers, it makes sense to know what people enjoy, right? While most of my work days revolve…Bb Minor, Or The Suicide Choir: An Oral History
Gemma Files(Originally published in Looming Low II.) B major: harsh and plaintiveB minor: solitary and melancholicBb major: magnificent and joyfulBb minor: obscure and terrible Key and mode descriptions from Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Regles des Composition, ca. 1682 KAYLA PRATT, HELP-LINE VOLUNTEER Tell me about the call. How it happened was, I was volunteering on the Keep…
You Must Cut It From You
(Originally published on Andrew’s Patreon.) 1. This is a city of ghosts. I have walked the streets when a crowd of ghost bikes rode by, their invisible tires throwing up asphalt from a dying road. I’ve stood on the Waugh Bridge and watched a Cooper’s Hawk dive bomb ghost bats and climb back into…
You Are Not Your Writing: Or, How To Interpret/Deal With Writerly Rejection
(Originally published on Angela’s website.) I’ve written before about rejections and how to handle the dent they make in your self-esteem, and I think it’s advice that bears revisiting from time to time. One thing any writer needs to develop (apart from mad writing skills and the ability to respect the deadline) is a thick…What Is Lost, What Is Claimed, What Remains Unretrieved
“Clowns aren’t made,” you tell your therapist inside her cream pristine office. “They’re born.” She hums and taps her fancy fountain pen against the edges of her clipboard with your name at the top, where everything you’ve said, everything you are, has made it into ink-bleeding bullet points of flowery script. “Care to elaborate on…
The Amassing Man
I stalk the amassing man through hell, eager to harvest the spores growing in his belly. Soon, I’ll have enough money to leave the wasteland behind and begin a new life. Standing on a steep rock formation, I scan the horizon with a tarnished brass spyglass and smile with satisfaction when I spot my prey…The Horror of Isolation: Exploring Solitude and Madness in Horror Film and Fiction
Ever wondered why your cat starts acting weird after you’ve been gone for a weekend? Now imagine being stuck alone for months, years, or eternity. Welcome to the terrifying world of isolation in horror, where the mind becomes its own worst enemy and authors and filmmakers have turned “me time” into a psychological nightmare. It…Pile
It started with a feeling of gentle discomfort, of suggested motion, a piece of string tied around her back molars that began pulling tight. Tighter. Painfully tight. This way, turn this way, the feeling seemed to say. Confused at first, and then, yes, the spike of anger she knew would come. Finally, resignation. Maybe a…Momentary Brightness
The night is cold and clear as Ray Ellis moves his telescope gingerly across the sky, monitoring the Blaze Star for an overdue nova when it happens. A flash of white-gold light in the dark pierces the heavens, a needle slicing from infinity down to his eye. Ray recoils from the fat cylinder of the…Mastering the Metaphor
If you are like most writers, you love metaphors (for simplicity, I’m using the term metaphor in this article to refer to both metaphors and similes). Put simply, metaphors form a connection between two seemingly unrelated concepts. Examples include “all the world’s a stage,” “love is a battlefield,” and “life is like a box of…In Pursuit of the Black Wagon
The Circle E. B. Ranch was a swollen blister of affluence on the desolate Pecos River valley. The aging proprietor strode from the porch of his immense home to greet The Hatchetman at the main gate as he tethered his horse. “Merrick String. The veritable Hatchetman of Apache Pass, as I live and breathe. Had…Horror And Romance In Films: The Perfect Marriage
One of the best things about being a book editor is spending time talking to folks about what they love to read, watch, and listen to. After all, since I’m trying to acquire projects that will resonate with readers, it makes sense to know what people enjoy, right? While most of my work days revolve…Bb Minor, Or The Suicide Choir: An Oral History
(Originally published in Looming Low II.) B major: harsh and plaintiveB minor: solitary and melancholicBb major: magnificent and joyfulBb minor: obscure and terrible Key and mode descriptions from Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Regles des Composition, ca. 1682 KAYLA PRATT, HELP-LINE VOLUNTEER Tell me about the call. How it happened was, I was volunteering on the Keep…
