This is How You Get Off Food Stamps
By Claire Robbins
1. First you will need to get on them. This is easy: move out of your mother’s house, live in a patched green army tent on the wrong side of town. Get pregnant. Forget who the father of your unborn child was but remember the shape of his nose…
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Kathrin Hutson interviews
Carley Gomez
Fiction co-editor Kathrin Hutson recently had this exchange with Issue #43 featured fiction writer Carley Gomez. Here’s what Carley had to say about her inspiration for writing fiction, her early attempts at writing, what she’s working on now, and more…
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What Does a Nine Year-Old Know?
By Carley Gomez
“I’m a lesbian,” Tim’s nine-year-old daughter Sammy told him. She had a ponytail and a loose tooth that she flicked over her lip with her tongue as they stood in the aquarium in front of a tank of seahorses…
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Kathrin Hutson interviews
Stanley Delgado
Fiction co-editor Kathrin Hutson recently had this exchange with Issue #42 fiction author Stanley Delgado. Here’s what Stanley had to say about his inspiration for “Pool,” his approach to revision, how his work as a translator for medical journals overlaps with his fiction writing, and more…
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Pool
By Stanley Delgado
Mom told Wendel it was like swimming in saliva, it was so warm; he would love it—absolutely love the pool. She knew he was on summer vacation, so he couldn’t say no…
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Grace Safford interviews
Nathan Alling Long
Fiction co-editor Grace Safford recently had this exchange with Issue #41 featured fiction writer Nathan Alling Long. Here’s what Nathan had to say about his approach to teaching writing, his favorite stories of 2018, and what he’s working on now…
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Last Sympathy
By Nathan Alling Long
SANUS DREAMT a bomb exploded just outside his apartment building. He heard the detonation, then saw the window shatter, the ceiling crumble, and debris scatter across the floor. He lay there naked, feeling the dust settled on his skin…
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Grace Safford interviews
Joe Baumann
Fiction co-editor Grace Safford recently had this exchange with Issue #40 featured fiction writer Joe Baumann. Here’s what Joe had to say about his approach to brainstorming story ideas, what role exposition plays in a piece, and what he’s working on now…
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Vernix
By Joe Baumann
The neonatal nurses couldn’t remove the vernix from Evan’s skin. They tried hot water, scrubbing with their hands through the squeaky latex of their gloves; they soaked washcloths, scratching them against his pink baby body, at first with a delicacy reserved for afternoon tea…
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How It Ends
By Rosanna Staffa
Stiff chairs, pens scratching. We sat at a large table, budding playwrights in summer clothes and fresh haircuts. The mentor looked tiny and mysterious, with beautiful black hair and delicate skin. I was afraid of her. She was terribly smart and famous…..
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