Desert Daughters | Beata Garrett

"The desert swallowed my sister like Mama said it would, but it hadn’t spat her bones back yet and I was getting impatient..."

How to Build a Box | Benjamin Kessler

"Amass your lumber. Use planks recovered from Great Cottonwood, which stood out near Haystack Rock for all those years and of which pieces can still be found around Furness, Wyoming..."

Power Play | Sarah Clayville

"Now, the club barely filled half the seats and most nights, when Lea took the subway across town to watch, she felt like she was witnessing an extinction..."

The Would-be Plan | Renee Soasey

"...if her head falls back over the edge she would lay there, exposed and vulnerable, while the water gradually cools to chilly..."

Last Days of Tornado Season in Topeka | Desmond Everest Fuller

"The old chrome barber's chair is cool against Donna's calves. Scissors sigh around her shoulders as bright straw drops between the barber's old fingers, falling quiet and heavy like snow..."

Yellowjacket | Tetman Callis

"This is a simple story. It has a philosophy student, a secretary, a nurse, a sprinkling of other persons as necessary or convenient, and an insect. The insect is one of this simple story’s eponymous hymenopterae..."