Fiction

Hollywood Story

She could be sitting up in bed, studying her lines; she might, at any moment, fling off the covers and pass by the window in stunning silhouette. She doesn’t. But thirty minutes later I’m still watching when the light goes out. I am close enough to see all of the horseshoe driveway. The gate is locked, of course, but there is no one around. It couldn’t be quieter….

John Picard is a native of Washington, D.C. currently living in North Carolina. He received his MFA from the UNC-Greensboro. He has published fiction and nonfiction in New England Review, Narrative, The Gettysburg Review, Iowa Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, and elsewhere. A collection of his stories, Little Lives, was published by Main Street Rag.

How To Leave Your Wife

He could stay in the car a few more minutes, or even make a few rounds in the neighborhood, perhaps stop by the grocery store or hardware store and get something; they always need something. Instead, he shuts the car door behind him, the slam echoing. Inside, the air smells of Parmesan and tomatoes and Wife’s favorite French vanilla candle. Dry logs crackle in the fireplace and he wonders how Wife lit them without him. Wife, still at the dining room table, looks up and smiles, places her bookmark in the crease….

Originally from North Carolina, Cheyenne is a third-year fiction student at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. She holds a Bachelors of Arts in English and a minor in creative writing from North Carolina State University. Her work has been published in Forge Journal, and she attended the Wildacres Writers Workshop.

Budd Dwyer Triumphant

If I were a suicide I wouldn’t have become a punchline. Budd Dwyer kept his dignity. “Don’t, don’t, don’t” were his last words. “This will hurt someone.” The way he says “Don’t, don’t, don’t” is careful and controlled. A man who knows exactly what he is doing. He’s incanting, summoning up the language to finish the act he knows he has to carry out….

Michael Magnes earned his MFA at Portland State University and is currently working on a novel about a stand-up comedian. It’s swell. It’s called Comedy Minus One and is about a lady just trying to get home. It does not go well.

Postcard

Scribbling this down to tell you later…

Renée is sitting and eating a lukewarm bowl of banana oatmeal. She’s hunched over, clenching her spoon in her whitened fist and refusing to make eye contact. She glides the spoon around her bowl, eating strategically, and only periodically does she actually lift the scratched spoon to her pale lips. The light flickers a little in the tarnished chandelier hanging over our heads. I am here, it says….

Robert W. Henway is currently studying at the University of Iowa. His work has been published in Cleaver Magazine and 1966.

On Her Skin

Goose bumps are taboo; her skin must be smooth and even. Last summer, he cracked open the windows for a breeze and let two fans chase away the heat….

Claire Polders is a Dutch author of four novels with a debut in English on the way. Her short prose appeared in Denver Quarterly, TriQuarterly, Green Mountains Review, Okey-Panky, Folio, Tin House (The Open Bar), Prairie Schooner (Blog), and elsewhere. You can find her at clairepolders.com.

Stepping on a Corn Flake

Marty realized that he had never once purchased a box of Corn Flakes, not ever in his life. The thought was very frightening. He wondered how he could’ve stepped on a Corn Flake in his own apartment without ever having purchased a box of Corn Flakes before….

Michael J. Coene’s short stories have been published by Barrelhouse Magazine, The Canary Press, Your Impossible Voice, and more — including an upcoming piece in The Fem Lit Mag. He lives with a blind dog above a duck-pin bowling alley in Baltimore. He does not sleep. He intends to write until he dies from it.

The Adventures of Macho the Dwarf, Or an Allegory of Epic Proportions about a Little Person

It was not uncommon for babies to show up at the door of the church. Whenever a woman had a baby she did not want, it appeared here so the Sisters could take it in the orphanage. Most mothers of these children, unable to care for them, took them personally to the convent or the orphanage. From many other similar drops, Cristobal knew that the fine basket, the blanket and the coloring of this little boy meant that a wealthy woman had had relations with a dark-skinned man, perhaps a servant, and the well-to-do family had deposited their shame on the doorstep of the church….

J.L. Torres is the author of The Accidental Native; The Family Terrorist and Other Stories; and the poetry collection, Boricua Passport. He has also published stories and poems in many journals and magazines, among them North American Review, Denver Quarterly, Puerto del Sol, Crab Orchard Review, The Connecticut Review, The Americas Review, The Bilingual Review, Palabra, and The Tulane Review. Born in Puerto Rico, raised in the South Bronx, he teaches American literature and creative writing at SUNY, Plattsburgh. He is the Executive Editor of the Saranac Review.

Women in the Wild

They wear devilish waders and fly-fish in the creek at its most dangerous flow. They mainline Art, sip rattlesnake venom in the nude. They balance tea cups on their bosom and dare you to notice. They borrow your boombox and never give it back. Father says I can track them, but I must never touch. Wild women are brittle despite their strength, like iron with too much carbon….

Stephen V. Ramey’s work has appeared in various places, including The Doctor T. J. Eckleberg Review, The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, The Journal of Microliterature, and Daily Science Fiction. He lives in beautiful New Castle, Pennsylvania, where the fireworks are always wonderful. You should visit sometime.

The Ex

You can’t remember the name of the guy sitting to your left, but you’re pretty sure the girl in the back is Jenny. When you told them about the boat and that the rest of the trip consisted of someone else’s directions, they assumed that someone else would be here in person. The tape recorder is better, you assure them, not wanting to get into the what-ifs and could-haves and the complicated sexual positions you and your ex circle around when you meet….

Charlie M. Broderick graduated from Hamline University with an MFA in creative writing. More of her writings appear in RevolverSleet Literary Magazine, and Red Bird Press.

Sleeping Beauty in Five Parts

When she last slept, she dreamt of a great lizard taking shape from the side of a building, a dinosaur that started out as a mural but which roared to life from the brick facade. Or did dinosaurs hiss? The poor monster couldn’t sleep either, she supposed….

Cezarija Abartis’ Nice Girls and Other Stories was published by New Rivers Press. Her stories have appeared in Per Contra, Pure Slush, Waccamaw, and New York Tyrant, among others. Her flash, “The Writer,” was selected by Dan Chaon for Wigleaf’s Top 50 online Fictions of 2012; and “To Kiss a Bear” was selected for Wigleaf?s Longlist 2016. She teaches at St. Cloud State University. Read more at magicmasterminds.com.

Eckleburg Workshops in Fiction

Short Story Workshop

Short Short Story Workshop

Novel: From Start to Finish Workshop

Magic Realism Workshop

Writing Sex in Literary Fiction: Are Your Sex Scenes Essential or Gratuitous?

View All Fiction Workshops

About Eckleburg Fiction

Eckleburg runs online, daily content of original fiction and hybrid including work from Richard Peabody, Cris Mazza, Eurydice, Rick Moody, Steve Almond and more…. Read hard. Write hard. “Being a good lit citizen means supporting lit pubs. Donate. Buy. I’m going to show some #AWP17 mags that you need to support…”

FICTION SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

We accept previously unpublished and polished prose up to 8,000 words year round, unless announced otherwise.  We are always looking for tightly woven short works under 2,000 words and short-shorts around 500 words. No multiple submissions but simultaneous is fine as long as you withdraw the submission asap through the submissions system. During the summer and winter months, we run our Writers Are Readers, Too, fundraiser when submissions are open only to subscribers. During the fall and spring, we open submissions for regular unsolicited submissions.

Note: We consider fiction, poetry and essays that have appeared in print, online magazines, public forums, and public access blogs as already being published. Rarely do we accept anything already published and then only by solicitation. We ask that work published at Eckleburg not appear elsewhere online, and if republished in print, original publication credit is given to The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review. One rare exception is our annual Gertrude Stein Award, which allows for submissions of previously published work, both online and print.

 

ANNUAL GERTRUDE STEIN AWARD IN FICTION

1st Prize $1000 and publication. Accepting entries year round. Eligibility: All stories in English no more than 8,000 words are eligible. No minimum word count. Stories published previously in print or online venues are eligible if published after January 1, 2011. Stories can be submitted by authors, editors, publishers, and agents. Simultaneous and multiple submissions allowed. Each individual story must be submitted separately, with separate payment regardless of word count. Eckleburg editors, staff, interns and current students of The Johns Hopkins University are not eligible for entry.

 

ANNUAL FRANZ KAFKA AWARD IN MAGIC REALISM

1st prize $1000 and publication. Accepting entries year round. Eligibility: All stories in English and magic realism no more than 8,000 words are eligible. No minimum word count. Stories published previously in print or online venues are eligible if published after January 1, 2011. Stories can be submitted by authors, editors, publishers, and agents. Simultaneous and multiple submissions allowed. Each individual story must be submitted separately, with separate payment regardless of word count. Eckleburg editors, staff and interns are not eligible for entry. Submissions for the Franz Kafka Award are currently closed.

 

NOVEL AND STORY COLLECTION MANUSCRIPTS

We publish short works at Eckleburg. At this time, we do not publish novel, long memoir, essay collections, story collections or poetry collections. We do offer manuscript workshops at The Eckleburg Workshops. If you are looking to place a manuscript, we can suggest several excellent small and large presses whose excellent books are promoted through our Eckleburg Book Club — i.e., Random House, Graywolf Press, Coffeehouse, Tinhouse, St. Martins Press and more. 

Proud member of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses
Supporter of VIDA: Women in the Literary Arts