By Thomas M. McDade I thought I’d regret skipping a goodbye visit to the Windburn Barn so better safe than sorry I drove there. I figured a bunch of college kids would have rented it by now but there were…
By: Jack Kamm “If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” – Maya Angelou A friend of mine, a newly enlightened Buddhist, informed me that nobody is special…that in mind and…
By: Yoonwoo Lee I give something many volunteers cannot — the gift of being a big brother to third grader Yoo Sangho. Sangho doesn’t really like school, but he studies a lot. Eternally upbeat, he enjoys his life, as simple…
By Stephen Tillman “Not here!” Julie exclaimed as Mark held open the door of the restaurant. “It’s too fancy and too expensive. I’m not dressed for a place like this. You said it would be casual.” “Don’t you worry your…
By: Fran Schumer Some time ago, when I was a young mother, a woman in my neighborhood told me that every day at about 2 p.m., before her daughter came home from school, she would masturbate. If her husband,…
By Nicola Vallera It’s the craziest day of my life, and I’m heading into the department stores for Christmas shopping. I wasn’t planning on buying anything for anyone. I’m thirty-one, my folks are gone, and my relatives are memories. Thank…
By: Erik Priedkalns There is a Japanese woman carved into the side of a mountain, on the face of a granite wall. The wall is deep in a Niigata Forest, close to the Sea of Japan. She sits high in…
In the quaint Alpine village of Valles, Emily develops a lifelong fascination with a stationary steam train, symbolizing her quest for love. Despite various relationships and the fading allure of the train over decades, she eventually finds contentment with Pieter. Returning to Valles, the ever-present steam is gone, replaced by shared laughter and new beginnings.
Struggling with existential questions and the complexity of life, the narrator reflects on their journey from childhood outcast to failed entrepreneur alongside their partner. Revisiting past failures and confronting unending challenges, the duo wrestles with the concept of purpose and the angst of unrealized dreams, as they approach the cusp of turning 30. Despite the fear of futility, they yet cling to the hope of finding their path and continue to seek a meaningful existence.
David William Jurgenson pens a tale set in Frankenstein, Missouri, where young Vallow, accused of arson, contests her expulsion at Ritterson, a dubious school for the gifted. As she confronts Headmaster McGovern about the institution’s true nature, she’s unwillingly sacrificed to a dark deity after a chilling incantation, revealing the school’s nefarious purpose.