Regions | JOYLAND

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...

Our Children Would Not Kill Us

Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer -

I don’t want to give the impression that I was special; yet this was an extraordinary time in my life; I was a wreck,...

The Only Detail That Matters

Stacey May Fowles -

One In our fifth roadside motel room Alice is standing in front of the mirror examining her face carefully. She is wearing nothing more than...

Hot Bitches

Trinie Dalton -

Twinkles popped the trunk with her paw, and poochies piled out like spring-loaded snakes from a gag peanut can. The five bitches in heat...