For Tom, In Pieces

i.From the first, I occupied your absence. A missing boy’s life I stepped into as if it were my own. No one told me you existed, but I knew.ii.Shadow brother. Alive in California while a child in Minnesota wondered where you were.iii.Never under beds, although I looked. A girl following a ghost boy.iv.In whatever costume…

Flaming fiddles, it looks like there’s a roadblock here! If you’d like to finish reading this piece, please buy a subscription—you’ll get access to the entire online archive of F(r)iction.
Sheila O'Connor

Sheila is the author of five novels. Her fiction, poetry, and lyric essays have appeared in Bellingham Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Baltimore Review, and elsewhere. In fall 2019, her hybrid novel V will be published by Rose Metal Press. Awards include the Michigan Prize for Literary Fiction, International Reading Award, and Midwest Booksellers Award, among others. Her books have been among the Best Books of the Year by Booklist, VOYA, Chicago Public Library, and Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers. She teaches in the MFA program at Hamline University and serves as Fiction Editor for Water~Stone Review. To find out more about her and her work, visit www.sheilaoconnor.com.

Arthur Asa

Arthur was born in Monterrey, Mexico. He studied graphic design and industrial design but decided to leave everything behind and become a construction worker. During this time he discovered all he ever wanted to do was draw and tell stories. He is now an illustrator by afternoon and a comic artist by night—sometimes both by night. He has a comic called Where the Heart Is that you can find online.


First Featured In: No. 10, spring 2018

The Uprising Issue

View/Purchase Magazine