Fiction | JOYLAND

New Baltimore

Courtney Sender -

1. He is only 22—he still has baby fat around his cheeks—but a slipped disc in his back makes him incapable of moving himself in. You...

Split Tongue

Niv Sekar -

I only picked up because my mother never called me. “Kopal, you’ve upset your sister,” she said. “Don’t be stupid.” I told myself I meant to...

Flaco’s North Wood Inlay

Rainer Diana Hamilton -

A self-portrait of Rembrandt, a hand-colored print of a courtesan as the immortal Tekkai, and a wooden meditation chair stood in the Central Park...

Take Me to Kirkland

Sarah Anderson -

When Chloe called me in the car that Wednesday on the way to Costco, my boyfriend Damian and I were arguing about whether or...

Individual Medley

Naomi Shuyama-Gómez -

1. Whenever I had to shut my eyes and swallow the carsickness along the winding rural roads, or accidentally banged my head against the greasy...

Who Would Even Want To Do That?

Rob Ehle -

In California was a squat little man, newly back from war, named Moller. His mother had moved to the old gold town of Oroville,...

The Racial Melancholic’s Guide to Zen

Ryan Lee Wong -

Download a meditation app on your phone. Your anxiety has gotten so bad that you lurch up in the middle of the night shuffling...

The Island

Oscar d’Artois -

Excerpted from The Island (Shabby Doll House, June 2024) Translator’s Note Chania, Crete – October 1st, 2027 True, prior to translating this book, I had heard the...

Best, Anders

Jessica Poon -

It's not the most significant detail, but I thought Anders was married, or marriage-adjacently cohabitating with a ceramicist when I slid into his DMs....

Antibachelorette

Ariel Chu -

The river is a monstrous thing, black and seething. You’ve never seen water move this way before. As though the waves were gliding off...