Tag Archives: slow war

Tradeup

Originally published in Open Wide Magazine. “Sing somethin’ beautiful,” said Bents. His eyes were closed and his head was tilted up. His throat kept moving in waves, as though he were drinking something straight from the ceiling. He looked a bit like a hamster at its drink bottle.  He buzzed a chord on his acoustic

Made it Way Up, part 3

Originally published in Bewildering Stories. Go to part 1 | part 2… Bernard I never get the chance to just lie there and enjoy the morning. Some bastard was honking his horn. It wasn’t one of the cracked, gargling horns that you get on all the old cars in the valley; it was one of

Made it Way Up, part 2

Originally published in Bewildering Stories. Go to part 1 | part 3… Essa The first real pay check I ever got was from a Starbucks in Renton. For two weeks, I burned my fingers, smelled like milk, and flirted with the addicts. Then, on a Friday that I had woken up on convinced that it

Made it Way Up, part 1

Originally published in Bewildering Stories. Go to part 2 | part 3… Bernard I am a man of my failures. I don’t mind saying it. I didn’t mind, when the rivet gun stopped echoing, saying it to Lane. He gave me this look, more You’re a man? than What failures? Then he went back to