The Dark Watchers by Nik Xandir Wolf "Once, on a white barren spur, he saw a black figure for a moment; but he looked quickly away, for...

By Thomas Canfield       The shells were fashioned from silver. They were visible to a depth of perhaps twenty meters. Beyond that, it...

By Gary Baney     Sean pounded the three-foot metal stakes into the sand. The triple flute design was meant to stay in place under...

Intro This excerpt is based on my biography of George Freeth which came out with the University of Illinois Press in 2022: Surf and...

By Liz Lydic Coming from Michigan, Janis thought she knew the beach. On the evening before her flight, while chatting on the phone, she...

by Brenna Humphreys But, oh, the afterlife. How it teases and haunts, how it bleeds into this life. —Betsy Sholl, “Concerning the Soul”...

by Michael Scott Moore 1991 I can tell you how come we don’t ride to school with Schuyler and them in the morning anymore, but you have...

by Terence Young “Nobody’s home, Henry.” “You are.” “You want to see my parents, Henry, and they aren’t here right now. They’ve gone...

by Amanda Nowlin Sammie, a real estate friend of my parents, is driving us around in her old white Cadillac big enough for a garden...

by Kevin B Near the rock where tourists posed for photos, there was a spot where no one was meant to sit. Constance scaled the rock under...

[Fiction] The La Calma by Andrew Eastwick For much of my eleventh year Mother and I lived in La Calma Inn. We never called it “The La...

by M. Golda Turner Surfers peel off wetsuits by their parked cars on a cliffside road. I carry my board toward them, knowing that these...

by Shannon Presby Jenna used to say she could hear the soundtrack of anyone’s life. I didn’t really believe her. She liked to make things...

by Joanna Szeto Tiffany had thousands of dolphins in her room. She knows, she’s counted them. She had wall to wall posters of dolphins...

By Kat Kovalevska Dana sat down on the curb outside the convenience store. She took out a cigarette and stared at it. She stopped smoking...

By Susan Delgado The distance between the two of them used to be 2,253 miles. Now, the distance is even greater. They had communicated...

By Hunter Prichard Tracy bought them McDonald’s for a treat. Dutch had gotten a perfect score on his minute-math quiz and Beth was acting...

By Viviane Vives She runs after the ugly truck he made beautiful, talks to trees, bathes in the rivers on the way.  Just like he does....

by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett The sky was black as Nina rowed past the Fun Zone. Fairy lights stretched over restaurant patios, and the...

by Matt Ellis Mark emptied his pockets onto the bed before arranging his belongings into an orderly stack on the pillow: cell phone,...