Fiction | JOYLAND

Sourdough and Outer Lands

Meg Pokrass -

SOURDOUGH My sister Jane was full of secrets about the art of making world-famous sourdough bread. Pretty in an apron, too. She had seven...

Marine Life

Okla Elliott -

1. When Jeanette was seven, her parents decided she should learn to swim—like other children. The doctors assured them of her safety and went...

The Song of Sasquatch

Jerome Stueart -

1. Beloved: My lover pursues me through the thicket with an ardent desire of leaves opening to the sun. He leaves no footprint I give him untouched....

The Stockholm Syndrome

Cathy Stonehouse -

One Tuesday, Susan locked the dog in the basement. She thought it was time she did something for herself. She went down twice a...

Plan Ahead

Alice Kuipers -

Getting knocked up wasn’t part of the plan. I told Hamish, the black guy with the baby bird eyes, that I was going to...

Orbiting

Kim Addonizio -

What you love about pills is how small they are, how much energy is in them, like they’re atoms with electrons zinging around inside....

Pangaea

Jim Hanas -

Jeanie stared into the drawer beside her bathroom sink at all the foil disks ringed by plastic teardrops, each teardrop containing a tiny pill....

Chris Eaton: A Biography

Lori Hahnel -

She would always be alone. Like her parents. From childhood’s hour, she felt, she dreamt, that she had not been as others were, was...

Leisure

Evie Christie -

“Do you want to fuck?” “Hmm?” “Anymore?” “Of course.” Like everyone else, dismal poverty and ruthlessly wonderful lovers could characterize your early twenties. Never will so many people...

Fair Exchange

Michael Marshall Smith -

We’re in some bloke’s house the other night, nicking his stuff, and Bazza calls me over. We’ve been there twenty minutes already and if...