Horizon, a clothesline strung between crabapples. A forgotten dress, that far away,
bleached invisible by a succession of summer days until a thunderstorm drenches it blue again, as it is now, and despite the distance, a foam of rain drops at its hem sparkles, just before the wind lifts it into a wave that breaks against the man framed in a farmhouse doorway.
-
Little Star
First Place — Your earliest memory is your mother showing you the stars. She held you in her arms and pointed... -
The Monsters of Dr. Daedalus Gall
Second Place — When Icarus was little, he never got tired of trees. Leaves changed color... -
Polyphemus the Kind
Third Place — It was raining, that one fateful evening when Odysseus and his crew of men happened upon my... -
Biking Home
First Place — One evening, a teenage girl was biking home on the streets of Tokyo. The sun had gone down an hour earlier -
Remnants of My Homeland
Second Place — They made their way across the ocean, concrete in the spray of the sea mist -
Lychees
Third Place — “Hey, Ariana, what’s this?” James Gilbert-Kelley—Ariana... -
A Raised Eyebrow
Honorable Mention — i remember this time when i was a little smaller than 10, going out shopping, and getting... -
Falling into the Culture of In-Between
First Place — Being Asian never really bothered me, until the 2nd grade. From the crayon box, sharp and unused... -
Departure
Second Place — Lydia had noticed that her bruises were shaped in the form of butterflies -
The Story of the Skipping Stone
Third Place — In a town along the ocean, full of people as beaten and weary as its shore, is a girl born from the sea -
San and Bert
First Place — San lived in a strawberry. It was a large strawberry, plump with a spongy outer skin and as... -
All the Buttons
Second Place — The doorbell trills, ding-ding-ding, and then the door is open and Dee is pulling me inside her apartment. -
Public Park Therapy
Third Place — After a full minute of laughing and wheezing James blurts, “She didn’t even get the slur right -
An Excerpt from Brad Kessler's North
We’re pleased to share an excerpt of Brad Kessler’s latest novel, North, in anticipation... -
An Excerpt from Myriam J. A. Chancy's What Storm, What Thunder
Fiction has the power to help us understand one another. As readers, we may take comfort in storytelling that reflects our... -
As They Imagine Us on Summer Nights
First Place — It had the makings of a quiet summer. We strapped pink wings to our shoulders and dove headfirst... -
A Letter to Mama
Second Place — Dear Mama, I find it difficult to keep track of the days without my regular routine -
Recalcitrance
Third Place — Syla’s palms were sweaty as she stared at the birch door and golden handle -
Clairvoyance
First Place — The ground is perpetually damp, the buildings creak, and the sun seems more like a hole forced... -
The Thing in the Wall
Second Place — If we whispered the name of a dead person, it winked like a friend. If we suppressed our fright...