Philip St. Clair – Secret Agent
Secret Agent A man is gunned down in a narrow back alley in Vienna, and his spirit is dispatched at once to the place such spirits go: a waiting room with benches that stretch to infinity. After the usual delays, he’s offered a family: Canadian, this time around, with a chubby mother who likes to […]
Rohinton Daruwala – Hand
Hand It starts with an accident – a careless kitchen knife slices open a palm, and as he yells and curses and waits for the nanobots to do their healing work, his head lifts briefly out of the sea of grief, then the wound closes and he remembers – Junaid is gone. But the healed […]
Natalia Antonova – When They Come
When They Come When they come they will not wear horns They will thoughtfully put those away Sink them to the very bottom of their jewelry boxes For now. They will carefully sheathe their claws In pebble leather that smells romantically of the past Reminding you of winter mornings, grace, long drives whose destinations Have […]
Sam Muller – I Think I Saw You
I Think I Saw You I think I saw you, Last night, Walking down the river path, You were carrying the umbrella I got you For your last birthday The one with dragonflies. And I wondered, Why carry an umbrella in the night? Why? When the sky is clear, And the only thing raining is […]
Soonest Nathaniel – Mystery of the Five Houses
Mystery of the Five Houses I At the house of light bulb, there is fog. The man with the child in his eyes has a cat which sits daily on his lap, gazing constantly at the big sky, searching curiously for Peter Pan. In the warm room, the Lord of the Reedy River sleeps. Under […]
