Marking Time: New Orleans

by Adam R. Burnett

Originally published on February 1, 2012

Driving into the French Quarter I immediately feel the warmth of the narrow, hugging streets and the invitation to arrive in this city feels honest.

The Unigirl

by Leah Griesmann

Originally published on February 1, 2012

Hannah was the name that I chose for myself. It was feminine but solid, not slutty.

Blind Spot

by Eric Neagu

Originally published on February 1, 2012

It was Goff who began the rubber band thing. He sent the occasional red or green projectile flying across desks and between cubicles.

A Dog Called Nigeria

by Chiemerie Okenwa Nnamani

Originally published on January 1, 2012

I felt their gaze blazing on my skin; bearing down on me; urging me to spend more time; asking me not to leave because leaving meant leaving them again to their silence; to the hushed voices that were haunting their minds and telling them what they already knew- This is not us.

Digging All the Way to California

by Marko Fong

Originally published on January 1, 2012

Like other twelve-year olds, the emperor has a taste for the unusual. A flock of geese fly overhead. It’s a common enough sight in this part of China, but these geese are harnessed to a kite the size of a rice field. Thirteen eunuchs hold up a canopy that covers the emperor’s sedan chair to keep their master from being bombarded by the offal from the geese.

Don’t Tell Me Why

by Constance Ford

Originally published on December 1, 2011

When we finish, I see he has the gun, so I can’t do anything, like get away, which was what I was hoping for, and he ties me up again. Afterwards, because it’s drier down there, he slides back underneath the platform.

They Live on the Water

by Okla Elliott

Originally published on December 1, 2011

“I’m going back out to look for her,” Elena said. He looked up from his desk and saw her backlit in the doorway of his office. “You want to come with me?”

National Cake

by Chiaka Obasi

Originally published on December 1, 2011

My mother had said we should be careful how we moved about in Ama, because the bad men were on rampage. Every mother sang it like a song to their children.

Sweetheart

by Justine Haus

Originally published on November 1, 2011

I lay in the center of the nest with the women curled on their sides around me like mother cats and every night they woke me up and carried me to the tub, which was always full with tepid water.

Fire Before Ash

by Jonathan Foreman

Originally published on November 1, 2011

We stop. It’s at least ninety degrees outside and we are at an impasse. There is a boy in the road. He is wearing a puffy black coat. Gaines is silent, always silent. James speaks up, Jandi, Ogoff terra amie. He yells and raises his gun.