March 2021

  Fireworks skitter, spitting sparks down the sidewalk.  The sky fills with flowers burning out of existence as they burst and bloom.  Under the blossoms, Elli sits on her porch watching Betsy Russell dance.    Last week, Betsy went wandering the woods.  She carried a machine gun and spitting shark …

  Agora’s botched exposé on Sandda City’s raging coal-burning fissures packed an emphatic moral: don’t fuck with the mayor. His hack job ripped her from the pedestal she’d occupied as an Mlog darling. Discredited and desperate, she’d foolishly accepted a hooded city official’s offer of dirt on the corrupt leader. …

Winner of the 2022 Derringer Award for Best Flash Fiction     “You smell anything funny?” Angelo asked. Rosa, hard at work with her whetstone, said, “No. Hold it tighter, okay?” He adjusted his grip on the sword. It was braced against the tabletop, gleaming in the yellow lamplight as …