Fiction

Dear Editors of the New York Times Crossword Puzzle, Please do not dismiss this as just another crank letter. I swear that everything that I relate to you here is…

[Image Credit: “Dead Bird” by Julie de Graag”] Shh. Sarah takes from the cardboard box a tarnished cartridge. She runs her fingers around its machined edges, silver cap color of the…

This report summarizes the findings of the focus group conducted at the Mount Sinai base camp following the new product rollout. Participants were asked their views in a casual atmosphere…

Mickey’s the thinnest I’ve ever seen him always been a skinny fucker but he’s been hitting it hard the past few months never eats he’s disappearing jeans hanging off him…

[Image: “Firemoon,” by Daria Hlazatova] On the drive to the Bronx, Martha remembers the saints. Seeing a life past them is like seeing past the rain that flowers on her…

[Image: “A Forgotten Giant” by Ng Kok Leong] Ben was too tired to get a divorce. His days at the firm were spent sifting through paperwork, squinting at small print,…

Edmund Garson awoke earlier than usual. He shuffled in a fog toward the bathroom to relieve his burning bladder. The mirrored medicine cabinet door above the sink hung ajar, moving…

[Image Credit: Carol Rama, “Teletta”] Today, somewhere in February The only thing I’m sure of right now is that I have to write. Writing has always been my rope, the…

I have a request I’d like to make. Only message me if you are serious about helping with this, I don’t need messages telling me I’m crazy or a sicko.…

[Image Credit: Mira Dancy, “Don’t Bury Me”] I remember her breath quickening, holding her breast while she touched herself; I was too selfish to make love to her because I…

Gray sheets, grime, chill of metal. Smell of ancient burned toast. What’s a home anyway? Outside, a nest fallen from the tree whose roots heave the sidewalk. Why doesn’t the…

“Don’t go too far,” the woman at the Diamond Door Health Spa said as I tied my running shoes. “These things happen fast.” Oh, but it’s a sparkling day with…

[Image Credit: Nicole Eisenman, “Guy Capitalist”] The price sticker was small, yellow, and rectangular, reading $1.99 in familiar, convenience store type. Ryan was mid-way through a PowerPoint presentation (Stock Control:…

No one looked my way as I emerged from under the purple overhang past the sentinel row of queen palms to the deck of the posh seaside supper club where…