When my parents divorced in the late 70s, I was an only child. But during the 80s—that legendary decade of excess—and through a complicated string of remarriages, I accrued a grand total of twelve stepsiblings. When I explain this to people in my generation, they often say, Oh yeah, just like the Brady Bunch.At which point I…
Several chapters into 2 A.M. at the Cat’s Pajamas, a jazz ensemble steps onto the stage. They proclaim themselves to be a Cuban band, straight off the plane, gracing this stage for one night only. They are not. They are locals, American men dressed in baggy Cuban shirts, fake accents pressed through dirty microphones.The audience does not…
I found out I was pregnant the same day you got an abortion. We were both seventeen. Back home, high on pot, you swayed in the living room of the small single wide humming Beatles’ tunes. I listened in my terror from the back bedroom. We both needed a little help from our friends. Life…
Let me make this clear: I didn’t want to kill that tiger. And I certainly didn’t want to kill him on stage. I loved him, but he was a dangerous old cat. White tigers always are—it’s a genetic thing. Their chromosomes are all out of line with each other and they don’t know what the hell…
“Green. Your shoulder, Green.”“You worry too much, Blue.”“Don’t call me that.”“Sure, Blue. Whatever you say.”“You should get it looked at.”“Alright, calm down, I’ll get it looked at.” “Now?”“Nah. I got a date.”Blue scowled. Blue’s given name was Chris, but no one called him that. It was all Green’s fault. He thought it was funnier this…
There was no furniture in the cabin left to burn. It was either the floorboards or the books now, or her daughter’s toys. The floorboards were pine, the worst fuel. Pine burnt fast and left a residue in the chimney that could ignite the house if it was left to build up over time. Still, time…
Dear lovely reader,When we decided to start this new imprint, we were driven by one idea: we wanted to publish the very best stories, regardless of form, genre, or medium. No matter how controversial, we wouldn’t just publish literary fiction; we’d publish the daring stuff, the works that would otherwise fall through the cracks. We…