Amy King

interviewed by Derek Alger

Originally published on January 1, 2011

The city thrilled, though. I loved the energy, the vastness, the arts in spades, the various accents, the dirt, the clash of unplanned architecture, how scenesters eclipsed but artists could be found on the right beer swilling night in some seedy cheap bar, etc.

Heather Whinnen

interviewed by Ginna Richardson Luck

Originally published on January 1, 2011

Heather Whinnen is a performer and teacher of aerial arts. She’s been practicing ballet since kindergarten and has traveled the world performing. She currently lives and works in Seattle

Good Fences

by Brad Olson

Originally published on January 1, 2011

He handed her the medicine and they sat down. After she lit one she handed it to him. She only ever let him take a couple puffs because she was afraid his mother would stop bringing

Saturday Afternoon Games

by James Randolph Jordan

Originally published on January 1, 2011

In less time than it took for me to look to the ground for more ammunition, Ricky had launched two dirt clods back at me: one hitting me in the thigh, the other smacking me in the center

Crazy

by Lynda Majarian

Originally published on January 1, 2011

“Nothing would be the same,” I lamented. “You have certain periods in your life that are very good, and you should have been happier, but by the time you realize that, they’re gone”

Home after three years in the Navy

by Christopher Lee Miles

Originally published on January 1, 2011

Noise once filled this abyss, a seething hullabaloo That sounded hot, felt rippled and unsure of itself,  Butit sang, voice rising over low soybean bushes— It was two boys chasing possums with sticks, or leaping    From top-edge of half-emptied silo to sink waist-deep    In cool grain—It’s windbreak-beat blended balmy cowpies Tossed high enough [...]

Quick Fall of Light

reviewed by Jeremy O'Brine

Originally published on January 1, 2011

From asteroids and comets with ‘Earth or Bust’ tattooed on their underbellies, to stories of super volcanoes and earthquake storms, the Grand Narrative of our end always seems to draw

Snow-cone

by William Negus

Originally published on January 1, 2011

“One hundred and twelve degrees! It’s just unbelievable out there!” she said.

Newcomer

by Gabriella Brand

Originally published on January 1, 2011

Kathy called her new kidney Buster And talked to it daily, but not in a saccharine sort of way. Like a foster mother, she laid down the ground rules. No shirking. No mouthing off. That little kidney was expected to make its own bed, and help with the laundry. Please God, she’d say, biting her [...]

The Way of It

by Richard Weems

Originally published on January 1, 2011

For fifteen years, I have trained to kill the old man. I am good with a knife and can ooze my way through a dark room, but there is a ritual to uphold, the ritual the old man learned from his teacher.