The following day, he hung himself in the guest bathroom of the Deardorf’s two-story, five-bedroom house. Because he was so tall, it was perplexing to the police how he managed to accomplish this in such a small space. The conclusion was that he must’ve bent his legs or touched his chest with his knees as he inhaled his final breath….
Garrett Socol is a former cable television producer and episode writer. He created “Talk Soup” for the E! Network. His stories have been published in several dozen literary journals. His collection, Gathered Here Together, was published by Ampersand Books. He has a slightly twisted sense of humor.
Pretend you’re on a dating show not because you want to be (unless you’ll get a book deal, that happens sometimes) but for ulterior motives, say as a government spy or as a budding sociologist with a thesis deadline. Argue with your not-too-gruff-to-cry spy boss or with your stern-but-hip professor that this is, in fact, the new Playboy Club and you’re Gloria Steinem. (Don’t mention the substantial cash prize that will help with your student loans….)
Kathryn McGranahan goes by Katie but out of habit, not stylistic choice. This is her first piece of fiction to be published. She’s fresh meat. {Disclaimer: She’s fresh, but not pristine fresh. Eckleburg claims her, :). We promise we haven’t damaged her. She’s real good. You should read and publish her.}
He prepared well for the debate: waxed the skin of his face, his mustache and the bald spot on the top of his head, trimmed his beard, and rubbed frankincense essential oil on the bottom of his feet and on his neck to help alleviate nervous energy and for the pleasant smell….
Mark Budman was born in the former Soviet Union. His writing appeared in American Scholar, Huffington Post, World Literature Today, Daily Science Fiction, Mississippi Review, Virginia Quarterly, The London Magazine (UK), McSweeney’s, Sonora Review, Another Chicago, Sou’wester, Southeast Review, Mid-American Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, the W.W. Norton anthology Flash Fiction Forward and elsewhere. He is the publisher of the flash fiction magazine Vestal Review. His novel My Life at First Try was published by Counterpoint Press to wide critical acclaim. He co-edited flash fiction anthologies from Ooligan Press and Persea Books/Norton. He is at work on a novel about Lenin running for president of the United States. Read more at markbudman.com
Weird dreams are Angie’s favorites. Dreams about eggs jumping off frying pans and skating around kitchens. Dreams of waltzing with long-dead aunts on bright cruise ship decks. Randomness was easy. It can mean anything….
Nathan Tavares writes fiction, sometimes about benevolent frauds, young immortals, and the terrible and/or wonderful things people do for/to each other. His writing has appeared in PANK, Necessary Fiction, Daily Science Fiction, and elsewhere. You can find more of his work at nathantavares.com.
Granny Clery blamed my lack of the family eyes on my Italian father and Hazel’s on her wicked spirit. But neither of us, not a one, ever fit in since…..
Kristie Smeltzer’s writing has appeared in So to Speak, The Florida Review, Eclectica Magazine, and The Apeiron Review. Her story, “Bridges,” was a runner-up Phoebe: A Journal of Literature and Art’s 2007 Fiction Contest. Her story, “The Fine Art of Goldfish,” received an honorable mention in the WriterHouse/C-ville Weekly 2015 Fiction Contest and appears in Apeiron Review’s Issue 10. Kristie is currently working on two novels. She earned her MFA at the University of Central Florida. She resides in Charlottesville, Virginia, and teaches at WriterHouse.
These women were accomplished musicians, cooks, athletes, painters and scholars. But none before Margaret was particularly known for her physical attractiveness. Rie Hyosaka had been bullied as a young girl as the result of bulging eyes and broad-rimmed glasses. Nobuko Funatsu’s face was pulled wide and taut as by invisible fingers. And the complexion of Hackey Sugai’s skin was closer to green-yellow than a milky white. Margaret was aware of Kane’s infatuations with these plain girls, but she took it as a sign his love was for competence and disposition more than worldly beauty or reputation….
Kiik A.K. earned a MA from UC Davis where his poetics thesis was titled The Joy of Human Sacrifice and a MFA from UC San Diego where his collection of counter-internment narratives was titled Everyday Colonialism. He is currently at work on a novel called “The Book of Kane and Margaret.” His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Pleiades, The Southeast Review, Okey-Panky and Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading.
…If my Dad knew that I was crossing the picket lines – and for Pittston, those bastards, he would lose his mind, he would. Lose it. He would be screaming about Buffalo Creek in ‘72 from back when I was just a kid and how he’d survived that only to see his daughter become a scab. A filthy scab….
Judy Hall is a writer and itinerant teacher of writing who has lived in such far flung places as Iceland, Sudan, Germany and New Jersey. Her MFA is from William Paterson University. She has been published in Brevity, Split Lip Magazine, The Huffington Post and many other places. Judy is also a fiction reader for Literary Orphans. Her as yet unpublished novel, “Max Runs,” was long-listed in the Mslexia Competition. You can read most of her recently published work at voluptuousmermaid.com.
Happiness is a simple thing, you said. Happiness is a cool shadow and you looking at me. But we don’t have cool shadows in Trun. In summer there is no grass like the grass you see in your picture books. The dust is knee-deep and it is so hot your heels bleed, and there are flies in the thick air that drink water from your eyes. The sun is so red you can’t look at it. There are no trees….
Zdravka Evtimova was born in Bulgaria where she lives and works as a literary translator. Her short story collections have been published globally: Bitter Sky (SKREV Press), Somebody Else (MAG Press), Miss Daniella (SKREV Press), Pale and Other Postmodern Bulgarian Stories. Her novel Sinfonia Bulgarica was published by Fomite Books.
I see it playing out in front of me all the time. Kinda like a movie. I was real young when it happened. A good several years younger than you boys are now, and a little small for my age, too. My parents were fine with me being out, though, even with all the talk of Zodiac killers and other such wickedness going around….
Jason M. Vaughn lives and writes in Burbank, CA. His work has been circulated by various print and online journals, including Contrary, Monkeybicycle, and The Missouri Review. His first screenplay, The Synth House Wife (now titled The Green Sea) was a grand-prize winner in the 2012 Script Pipeline Screenwriting Competition.
There was a town overrun by rats. They spoiled everything. They stuck their tales in the butter and shit in the soup and committed date rapes, but the girls imagined it was a mark of prestige to be chosen, so they said nothing….
S. Graber is an Assistant Professor of English at a Midwestern university. She publishes in diverse formats including creative nonfiction, short stories, and academic essays. Her areas of interest include popular culture, pedagogy, and critical theory.
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?
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