The Midwest | JOYLAND

The Rough and Tumble Sort

Robert James Russell -

We’d been sitting on that ratty floral couch in the ranch-style house in the foothills of the Ozarks for almost an hour watching re-runs...

Slowly Fading Out

Edmund Zagorin -

Wake up and don’t fall back asleep. Wake up and thank the noise which sounds like a submarine in trouble. Make your lunch and...

Noctivagrant

Meghann Rotary -

Editor's Note: This story is part of Joyland's Michigan stories series. Come back throughout April for more Michigan stories. “On the other side then” “torrential...

The Hygienist

Ben Hoffman -

Editor's Note: This story is part of Joyland's Michigan stories series. Come back throughout April for more Michigan stories. “Do you grind your teeth,” the...

Rhyme Game

Bonnie Jo Campbell -

Editor's Note: This story is part of Joyland's Michigan stories series. Come back throughout April for more Michigan stories. Tinny Marie and her mother rattled...

Gate Count

Amanda Marbais -

We were ranching a lab-owned deer farm thirty miles from the nearest highway. Most mornings were the same. Our withered rooster, Mr. Kirkaby, woke...

Amerikana Dreaming

Nikita Nelin -

One day we were gypsies, and the next we were kings. We were vagrants and lust-givers, catatonic, exuberant, strung out, unhurried, and even optimistic....

The BBs

Andrew Mozina -

By the time she turned seventeen, Meg Shannon had come to believe that the world pretty much sucked, but with the help of friends...

Skidbladnir

Shannon Rabong -

When the old church burned down, Father Jakobsson was forced to hold service in the abandoned movie theater. Which would have been bad enough,...

Preserves

Matt Baker -

The thing that I refer to as myself is simply an accumulation of memories: an incomplete set of sensory experiences as recorded by my...