By Casey McAlduff The two soldiers were sitting with their backs to the western terrain, panting and sweaty, their camouflage wrapped around them like sheets. In their laps, their guns were filled with bullets the color of mercury, ammunition emanating heat. Urgent barrels waiting release, ready to penetrate the enemy. "You know," said Soldier #1. "There's a hope in … [Read more...] about The Mission
Creative
Saving Ariel
By Anna-Marie McLemore As the 487 left me at the corner, I looked back up the road to the San Gabriel range, the foothills looming so close I was sure if I reached out to them my fingertips would be indigo when I pulled them back. These streets stood beneath them, one apartment building after the other, beige or stone, dense as a mosaic, all boasting heated pools and … [Read more...] about Saving Ariel
Curious Writings: An Interview with Katherine Forrest
By Anna-Marie McLemore When did you start writing fiction? From a very early age, like most writers, but seriously and with concerted effort at age forty. What inspires your writing? My community, and the difficulties of my own growing up years. There were few lesbian and gay books when I was growing up, and I value beyond measure our books and writers of today, and our … [Read more...] about Curious Writings: An Interview with Katherine Forrest
Collection
By Michael Kroesche There are purple moths and Abel collects them, he's half naked in torn shorts like an old boat sail, brown toes among the baobab roots yellow nails. Under a veil of vines in the grass, flattened, is a clearing where he keeps them; bodies like lint stones, the dead wings, dried violets. He pulls pomegranates from … [Read more...] about Collection
If a Butterfly Flapped its Wings
By Diana Arterian Failure crossed her mind and choked her like sand in her throat. The scent of her mother's tortillas wafted in front of her face, but she dismissed it as her imagination. It wasn't over, it couldn't be over. Days ago she had starved, sucked the water out of mud, but she promised herself she wouldn't stop. She had ran faster and longer that anyone else. … [Read more...] about If a Butterfly Flapped its Wings