The Only Magic

She’s kissing a man on the subway platform when you pass by and she’s on the train you’ve boarded, still kissing the man, his hands traveling up and down her off-shoulder blouse while you pick up a left-behind, weekend edition of The WSJ and try to concentrate on the Sudoku puzzle, your pen pressed at…

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.
Tara Isabel Zambrano

Tara Isabel Zambrano works as a semiconductor chip designer. Her work has been published in Tin House Online, The Southampton Review, Slice, TriQuarterly, Yemassee, Passages North and others. Her full-length flash collection, Death, Desire, And Other Destinations, is out now with OKAY Donkey Press. She lives in Texas.

Julian Mateus

A born artist, hailing from Bogota, Colombia, Julian Mateus moved with his twin brother, and their parents, to Canada when he was only 7 years old; and then immigrated to the United States five years after that. After discovering the work of visionary artists such as Syd Mead, and classic sci-fi and fantasy films like Blade Runner, Star Wars, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Julian was inspired to pursue a career in film. Since his graduation from Full Sail University in 2010, he has dedicated his natural talents toward the creation of artwork for video games, comic books, and feature films. Julian Mateus currently calls Florida his home.


First Featured In: No. 17, winter 2020

The Memory Issue

View/Purchase Magazine