October, 2025
Midnight Rendezvous by Michael Samuel
We slip out through the upstairs window, sneaking towards the backyard
fence. Our stealth turns into a rapid rush as the kitchen light turns
on.
Michael Samuel is a speculative fiction writer from Missouri.
Crimson Glide by Litsa Dremousis
I beg the nurse to remove the I.V.—I can’t take the pain. She ignores me again. I yank it out. Jackson Pollock floor.
Litsa Dremousis (she/her) is the author of Altitude Sickness (Future Tense Books). Seattle Metropolitan Magazine named it one of the all-time “20 Books Every Seattleite Must Read.” The Believer, Esquire, Hobart, The Literary Underground, McSweeney’s, New York Magazine, WaPo, et al.
Couch Potato Chic
Doug, asleep on the couch, dreampt: when will I see you again? Sally, seated next to Doug, thought: if you would but open your eyes.
Bill Tope is a retired gentleman living and writing fiction in the American Midwest. He resides with his mean little cat Baby.
Four pieces by Clarissa McFairy, aka Clare van der Gaast
Hot As Hell
So, THIS was heaven–a coffee shop! “A Cortado, hot as hell,” she ordered. You’re in the right place, said the waiter, mopping his brow.
Sarong But So Right
He was sarong for her but she loved his arms wrapped around her. So many fish in the sea, but she fell for an octopus.
Flare To Dare
He loved twirling her on the dance floor until her skirt flared like butterfly wings. Faster, faster, she dared until one day she flew away.
Jamaica Me Crazy
They dined on Callaloo in Jamaica. Yum, he’d say, whenever she cooked it. Callaloo, she’d coo … mating call to chase her around the kitchen table.
Clarissa McFairy, aka Clare van der Gaast, is a journalist/columnist, living in Cape Town, South Africa where she writes short stories and poetry for anthologies, at home and abroad. Her poem, La Mia Musa was a vox poetica 2012 Best of the Net nominee.
She has two published poetry and prose books, My Heart is full of Emeralds and Strange Bedfellows.
Clarissa says she writes as the muse grabs her and whirls her around the dance floor of life.
Three pieces by Rachel Burroughs
Fall in Line
Childhood me daydreamed and fidgeted and organized toys.
What’s wrong with her?
Adult me daydreams and fidgets and rakes the leaves just so.
Absolutely nothing.
Walk Down the Aisle
We walked together to meet our future. I’d already found you waiting for me, once, at the end of all my long years without you.
My Dogsled is a Hybrid
I’ve heard that sled dogs – live ones, anyway – will pile on to keep stranded mushers warm. I shiver again, numbness spreading. Guess I’ll never know.
Rachel Burroughs (she/her) is a writer and editor living in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is an aspiring author currently working on several nerdy, queer novels. Thus far, her work has appeared in 50-Word Stories, Wilderness House, Short Vine, and elsewhere. Connect with her on social media @rachelb_writes.
Nailpolish Stories 
