The cult section of the literary world
by Justin Grimbol At around noon, a package was delivered to our front door. It was massive. I dragged it inside, found a knife in the kitchen, tore it open. The box was filled with glitter. Rainbow colored. Rainbow was my favorite color and I got really excited. Vanessa walked […]
by Gabino Iglesias Tom felt the drunken man’s calloused hands tighten around his skull. His fingers were so long they almost wrapped around his head twice. The man moaned so loud it made the grimy floor under Tom’s knees shake like a coked-up Chihuahua in a freezer. “Keep it down, […]
by Edmund Colell I love your mouth. The firm scrub of your teeth against me. Your tongue slobbers gobs of glee. I love your… something… south? Fuck it, I don’t know poetry. Maybe you don’t expect sweet and clever things from a wad of gum. For all the years we […]
by Madeleine Swann I can hear Simon breathing behind me. His black body is as comforting as it always is and his shadow joins the others in the dark early morning room, a contrast to my pale flesh and long blonde hair. His warmth reaches me from his side of […]
by Crystal Babb “A carrot with hair,” he groused and finished his beer. He set the beer stein on the counter harder than he meant to, but the thick glass did not complain. Neither did the carrot, which he regarded with narrowed eyes. “It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever […]
by Granary Rubworth There wasn’t anything Clement could say with his mouth sewn shut. He lay there naked on his belly atop the carpenter’s table at the bottom of the hole. The smell of freshly broken earth all around him, he wished his eyes had also been sewn shut. Maynard […]
by Garrett Cook I. “Won’t you come home, Bill Bailey, won’t you come home?” she screamed the whole night long. But that was not the name of the treacherous object. The name was raincoat slick, slippery as a womb, harder to grasp than grief. And it was off. The name […]
by Scott Cole The crashed car undid itself. Twisted metal unfolded, jagged edges smoothed, bent lines straightened. Patches of rust effervesced into the air and disappeared. I reached for the driver’s side door handle, now shiny-new, and pulled. I sank down into the bucket seat, which seemed to somehow sit […]
by Bill Berry OPENING Three artists: a poet, a singer, and a painter. They each moved to a village. In the village, the singer sang songs. In the village, the painter painted. In the village, the poet was poetic. One day, the poet spoke: I hate writing about these things. […]
by Grant Harrow Ruby Tuesday, Edison’s arm was looking like it might heal but it wouldn’t be an easy convalescence: there was no skin or flesh left on the limb. He concentrated as hard as he could, even making a face like he was constipated, but it was no use. […]
by Mark Allen Berryhill Gunfire erupts somewhere in the distance, although distinguishing the sound of combat from the noises the arcade cabinets make can be tricky. The bass thump of explosives rattles the glass in the ticket counter and confirms it. He puts his cheek to the glass to feel […]
by Madeleine Swann A mother wheeled a very large pushchair through the entrance of Pod Pals Cor. They passed the factory floor where rows of green plants were watered or inspected with checklists. Some were having ripe pods removed – cut at just the right point above the sleeping inmate. […]
by Andrew J. Stone I always knew it was only a matter of time before the transsexual meth addicts with marshmallow eyes would resurrect a queen and descend to exact their revenge. A decade ago we traveled to Mars X to claim the planet. And once we discovered there was […]
by Zoltán Komor Spell of the Game I witness a pervert insulting a young girl on the bus. Opening his long, black trench coat, he shows the girl the Rubik’s Cube between his hairy legs. “Solve it, you little bitch!” he hisses at her. The girl takes it as a […]
by Danger Slater Back in middle school I had this idea for a short story that was just like ‘Pinocchio’ except in my version Pinocchio’s nose was a giant dick. When he would lie, he’d get a boner on his face. He’d tell the girls they were beautiful, but he […]
by Bob Freville Father Reemus was ascending the hill at Beaverkill, hand hidden in the crotch of his tunic, eyes fixed on little Timothy Johnson’s corduroyed ass, brown slacks that’d gone yellow at the seam from countless summer camp bed-wettings. I was down in the valley, in the bushes, shotgunning […]
by Andy de Fonseca It took several seconds for his eyes to adjust to the dim, reddish light that pulsated through the mixture of cigarette smoke and dry-ice mist wafting throughout the room. In the absence of one large stage there were several cages placed about; chairs circled them, occupied […]
by Bix Skahill “I don’t know nothing about Mr. Pedersen’s truck.” “You don’t know anything about Mr. Pedersen’s truck.” “That’s what I said.” Glaring down at the man kneeling and shaking on the abandoned warehouse floor, Muller sighed and shifted the bloody, bulky textbook to his left hand, then back. […]
by Jamie Grefe Ned is at the Chevy-Levy coffee house, hidden among those night alleys, between chicken-on-a-stick standing bars, shady karaoke joints, porn shops, and used vinyl bins. He likes it here. Other than the desert, here a man can still think. Grime on the tabletop, white dust. The smell […]
by Amanda Billings The paper hat opened its tiny paper eyes and grimaced. It had never had eyes before, and through the magic of divine intervention it now shrank back from the throbbing pain of fluorescent lights forcing its paper pupils to constrict for the first time. It had no […]
by Daniel Vlasaty A crowd gathers outside the zebra habitat. You can’t see what they are all looking at from where you’re standing, but people in the crowd keep gasping and quietly screaming. You think it is probably some disaster, a death or an injury. But they don’t seem panicked […]
by Dustin Reade A man walks into a cemetery holding an electric blanket. The cord dangles behind him, hitching and bumping in the wet grass. He approaches a row of old stones, nods his head, and lays the blanket over the selected plots. Carefully, he lies down in the center […]
by Tiffany Scandal I cradled our baby in my arms. I hummed sweet hymns as she slept against my breast. You walked by the doorway and smiled at me in that way that makes me blush. We talked about horror movies. How funny they are and how nothing is really […]
by Matthew Vaughn Kevin was driving down the expressway in his grey Dodge Grand Caravan. When he looked over to the van next to him he saw himself driving it. He had just come off of the ramp for Interstate 64 onto 264 West when he saw the Dodge van […]
by Grant Wamack Sherry Haueer sat on a park bench sipping on glue and flipping through the latest issue of Jigsaw Now! But she couldn’t help but admire all the beautiful couples, walking hand in hand. All of them fit together so perfectly. Sherry grew jealous of the other jigsaw […]
by Garrett Cook An Author is a Beagle As a Flying Ace Julie Newmar walks into my office. She doesn’t know that I know who she is. Because she’s wearing her costume. “Can I help you?” I ask, though I’m afraid I can’t. “There’s been a murder,” she tells me. […]
by Allen Taylor I only wanted that sense of humanity that seemed intrinsic. I’ve wanted it since I crawled out from under the toadstool that served as my shelter those initial days of my life. That’s why I roamed the aisles of the local supermarket looking for feelings. “Excuse me, […]
by Chris Swindell The Thing in the bed rolls Its one great eye around to glare at me, bloodshot and green and yellow at the edges. A mouth smiles at me, ropey lips pulling back over teeth that look like half-chewed Chiclets. A voice like a leaking faucet asks me […]
by Mark Allen Berryhill A creepy cult, a gargantuan cave, a maelstrom churning in abyssal waters, and you’re there right by my side. The adventure getting here really was something, with all the intrigue and waking nightmares and that orgy that won’t sound nearly as awkward when you’re bragging about […]
by Ross E. Lockhart “It used to start getting light again, didn’t it, right after the winter solstice? Not this year. Look out there, dark as pitch, dark as sin. You know they’re out there, waiting, hungry. Morning’s not coming. “And this side of the wall? Listen. Those idiots are […]
by Pedro Proença Mrs. Klaus was giving her third blowjob of the night when she heard a bang. The sound scared her, and made her bite down on the penis, severing it from its owner, a fat hobo. She got up and ran to her cardboard box. The fat hobo […]
by Jeremy Maddux The Turbo Dome was filled to capacity with ravenous fans who’d scrapped and saved all year to witness the spectacle that was known as Trucks ‘N Guts ‘N Stuff. TGS was a lot like the Harlem Globetrotters or professional wrestling, only the violence was real, and people […]
by David Anderson “Christmaseo Ego Resuscitabo Deus,” read Hector from the rotting tome, worms wiggling in and out of its brown carcass. It seemed more like the road kill he saw on Brazil’s Camino A Las Tierras Altas, the road to the highlands that leads out of the recessed jungle […]
by Constance Ann Fitzgerald Asleep in my bed, the sound of the front door latching shut woke me. I lay there, staring off into the shadows that were fractioned by the slits of light cast by the blinds. Then came a rustling sound, like that of a long exasperated breeze […]
