HUES THAT I HAD NOT SEEN In the city they built war machines. The once-blue skies stained gray with the smoke of war: burning coal and smelting iron to build bombs and bombs and bombs. Everything became gray: the quaint little cafes, the mechanics’ garages, and all the bookshops; the books inside and all their [...]

KNOWING For years he had studied the imagery, tropes, and stylistics of contemporary English literature. It began in junior high as he listened to passages from To Kill a Mockingbird while staring at the stockinged legs of his English teacher, Ms. Winston, swinging back and forth in a casual way. From then on he knew [...]

THE SUMMER IN THE CITY The summer in the city was unconscionably warm, but never hot like the deserts and valleys to which I was accustomed, never scorching, just sinuating itself into my pores. After stepping out of the shower I immediately felt like taking another shower. If I could have lifted the shower wholesale [...]

HUES THAT I HAD NOT SEEN In Berlin they built war machines. The once-blue skies stained gray with the smoke of war: burning coal and smelting iron to build bombs and bombs and bombs. Everything became gray: the quaint little cafes, the mechanics’ garages, and all the bookshops; the books inside and all their pages [...]

STAIRS MADE FROM STONE The young academic scraped at the corners of his eyes with the heels of his hands and stared out at the patio where there was fire, where there was ash. He closed the patio door and padded across the tile floor of the kitchen, across the carpeted floor of the living [...]

MIGRATORY PATTERNS After she walked away I remained standing on the beach next to the towel and the empty bottle of wine. There was a full moon but I did not enjoy the sight of it. Some time after dawn, the full moon disappeared. It was there one moment and then it wasn’t there. Eventually [...]

Special thanks to the cat-owners I consulted during the writing of this story: Bonnie and Colby. Approximately 5,600 words. KING ARTHUR AT THE EDGE OF A CLIFF — FRIDAY, EVENING We climbed for a very long time. Actually it was only ten or fifteen minutes and it was mostly stairs but it felt like a [...]

Note: the following story is fictionalized non-fiction, and as such, deals with some personal events that I would rather not make completely public. The first one-third or so of the story has been posted; if you would like to read the complete story, please leave a comment with your e-mail address. WHEN I WAS AN [...]

More experimentation with the same premise and characters, but with a far different angle. — IT WAS REAL. IT ALWAYS IS. It was pre-party shots first, vodka, the brand didn’t matter, and then where were we? I didn’t know the address. The apartment on the second floor, the landing, and its rails wet with fog [...]

Allan Lancaster Nguyen studied Japanese at the coastal Californian university where he was earning a degree in Comparative Literature. At first it was because he was enamored with Japanese people. He dated a Japanese girl and discovered they were just like other people. Then he convinced himself he was fascinated by Japanese culture, which could [...]