At the Gala to End Sexual Assault, which was to benefit a non-profit founded by an actress who starred in a TV show that sensationalized sexual assault, and which was held in a museum of dead animals who had been shot and killed by men who were by now themselves quite dead, I found myself feeling a little—how to say it—agitated. It wasn’t as if I had a problem with a thirty-thousand-dollar-a-table fundraiser that showcased women as objects while claiming that women were in fact not objects. … [Read more...] about The Seagull
Online Fiction
Monster
The last couple times I took my boys to the playground, there was this guy there. He looked harmless, nice even, a baseball cap, jeans, T-shirt. He could have been my age, maybe ten years older or ten years younger—his long, untended beard made it hard to guess. While my boys hit the slides, the swings, and the monkey bars, I’d sit, let them do their thing, on hand in case they fell or decided to wander off. The guy with the long beard, though, he was all in, rotating kids on the little … [Read more...] about Monster
On The Social Interactions Of Bottlenose Dolphins In Maternal Bands
Me and Marty were just about wrapping up the day’s log on the social interactions of bottlenose dolphins in maternal bands is how we happened to be out on the water at the time. Out of nowhere, one of the bottlenoses plumb took off out into deep waters. Like it remembered it left the oven on or something, it plumb took off out of the feeding ring, which if you know anything about maternal bands of bottlenose dolphins is out of the question. Dolphins aren’t so much a … [Read more...] about On The Social Interactions Of Bottlenose Dolphins In Maternal Bands
Between the Shores
Nicoya and Daniel are born in the same hospital in Jerusalem on the same date. At 2 a.m., their fathers exchange smiles in the nursery. When Nicoya is three months old, her mother takes her on a bus to the assisted living home where Nicoya’s grandmother lives. In the back of the same bus, Daniel sleeps against his mother’s chest for two stops before he is carried off the bus and down the street and into his home, eyes peacefully closed all the while. They both read The Phantom Tollbooth at … [Read more...] about Between the Shores
Web Exclusive Interview: Michael Powers
In February's Web Exclusive, "Lake House," a couple has retired to a remote location. We know there is tension between them, and between the narrator and his adult son, but the origins and causes of this tension are only hinted at, the way a painting focuses its composition by suggesting some elements and detailing others. Our more detailed image is that of a drone silently making its way across the treetops of this new territory, reporting strangeness, even its own failure, to the lonely man … [Read more...] about Web Exclusive Interview: Michael Powers
Gorman, CA
https://soundcloud.com/americanshortfiction/heather-wells-peterson-gorman-ca On the way to the wedding in Los Angeles, they ran out of gas. They were a couple, a man and a woman. The woman was driving them down from San Francisco, where they had spent a few days—it was their first time in California, and they were both from somewhere else. The man promised they would make it to the gas station. “How could you know that?” she asked. He didn’t answer. The car was a rental, and it was … [Read more...] about Gorman, CA