Fiction | JOYLAND

Gluten

Max Smith -

I stop eating gluten. I read labels on packages at the supermarket. Standing for too long in narrow aisles, my eyes squinting at lists...

The Ideomotor Effect

Catharine Chen -

You lose your job and your favourite relative in the same month, that’s how it starts. Your publishing company shuts down the imprint where...

Istanbul

Holly Myers -

One begins with the materials at hand. One begins with the materials that are left behind. One begins—here. And here. And here. A suitcase...

Climacteric

Naben Ruthnum -

Before opening the door, I listened for a moment. The carpet I stood on was thick and sound-absorbent, holding in footfalls as effectively...

Summer Fun

Paul LaTour -

Go ahead, try it, he said, passing me the shotgun. The long barrel felt cold in my hand. I don’t know about this, I said,...

Staggered Maturities

Katherine Karlin -

If you have ever had an obsession you know how it will expand like foam to fill the contours of your day. And...

The Development Stage

Shay Wilson -

Cassie attacks her mouth with pink lipstick. “Vincent, we have to get married or I’m leaving you,” she says. I’m standing behind her, looking...

The Lodger

Alison Frost -

The basement lodger comes packing precious metal. Plastic sheets of commemorative coins. Heavy bars in a duffle bag. Shiny wafers wrapped in thin velvet....

There Was No One There

Vanessa Place -

There was no one there when they first walked in. First thing in the morning, but it'd been hot already, thick hot, that heat...

Feather Duster Down

Stan Apps -

There was a fountain in the middle of the traffic-circle, and what seemed to be wealth was rushing out of the top of it...