by Gabriella Herkert

My the world has changed. We’ve gone to war. Dot.com has gone bust. As each of our political or cultural icons has fallen in the path of bankruptcy, scandal or SEC investigation I couldn’t help thinking about the moment of innocence just before the crash. Months before the papers were full of Imclone and insider trading, mere weeks before K-Mart declared bankruptcy, I read a newspaper article about a collaboration between that Yin and Yang of marketing, Spike Lee and Martha Stewart.

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by Vincent Czyz

An excerpt from his novel, Ghost Dancer

Uncle Cal never brought Logan a thing Logan’s mother hadn’t put him up to buying. Nothing Logan wanted anyway. Cal had been too busy getting rid of things, selling them off for liquor money. Unless it was something he’d killed. Nothing Cal liked better than a hunting trip. When he came back, he used to make Logan get his hand inside what he’d killed, scoop out entrails with the stink of blood and something sulfurous curling in his nostrils. No wonder sulphur was rumored to be the reek of evil, the intestines a hot foundry where life came to an ignominious end. And what the body couldn’t use fed hordes of bacteria.

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by Julie Danho

The Allman Brothers wailed endlessly about “Elizabeth.” I was half asleep when a man, weaving through the maze of blankets, stumbled over my legs. He raised his hands in apology. I stood up to try and catch sight of my mother, who had wandered away for a “better view.” At six feet tall, she was easy to spot. Even at twelve, I knew I had to keep an eye on her.
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by Jim Ruland

For the sex-starved sailors of the seventh fleet all roads lead to Tijuana, and no one loved TJ more than Carter. Everybody knew he had a thing for Mexican whores, and whenever someone accompanied Carter to TJ, they always came back with sordid stories about the things they’d seen him do, but I will always be grateful to him for accompanying me on my first, unforgettable trip across the border.

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