The Midwest | JOYLAND

Castaways and Worry Dolls

Jackson Bliss -

What the fuck was wrong with the goddamn speedometer? If there was one, simple thing Brianna really needed right now, it wasn’t better wheels,...

Courtship in 2184

Rafal Redlinski -

Joan took special care with her scars that morning. She used the expensive glue and the smallest brush and worked so slowly that her...

Gargoyle

Cole Nfonoyim Hara -

One summer you came to stay with us for good. Your mom had up and left and you’d shown up at Abuela’s door with...

Similar Bodies

Amy Scharmann -

Family Portrait—1993 The large red bow on the collar of my dress nearly covered my mouth. If it hadn’t, my lips would have been blurred...

Uncle Membrance Enunciates a Facelift

Zachary Tyler Vickers -

Memphis rode in the pickup bed with all the killed. In this latitude of Indiana, the hills blasted out for state routes, the embankments...

The Enchantment of Alon

J.A. Bernstein -

1 Sgt. Alon Gar, Battalion 8110 (Reserve), was mystified by this one. He stood along the deck...

Four Ghost Stories

Bonnie Nadzam -

Excerpted from Bonnie Nadzam’s new novel Lions available now from Grove Atlantic. 1. Today, where the old highway connects with the frontage road...

Fugue

Maryse Meijer -

Maryse Meijer's debut collection of fiction, Heartbreaker, is available from FSG Originals on July 12 and can be ordered here. Amelia Gray said that...

What It Actually Does

Madeline Gobbo & Miles Klee -

She cruises the badly lit suburb, seeking a boy to take the needle. It isn’t always a boy—some are in their twenties, having never...

The Return

Kate Folk -

When Ray took me it was summer. Corn nearing harvest, soybeans stitched into a rippling green quilt. Now I stand shivering at the living...