These are two talented, successful guys. Smart and good looking, too. My older brother the banker, my younger brother the painter, both famous in their worlds and beyond. I’m famous, too, though not in the way they are, not for any career I’ve had. I live alone and I move a lot. I don’t have much in the way of belongings. I’m trying to leave behind those things you’d want to leave behind. When the things that happen to me happen again (why me and no one else, I have no idea), my brothers get the call. They come and get me. At that point I’m usually glad to see them. Though they’re not especially glad to see me. Hard to blame them….
Jon Fried has published short fiction in Third Bed, Eclectica, Bartleby Snopes, Beehive, Pierogi Press, Pindeledyboz, Map Literary, Lamination Colony, New Works Review and other literary journals and e-zines, as well as feature stories on New Jersey culture and nightlife for The New York Times and songs he has written for a rock band he co-founded called the Cucumbers, which has released several recordings. He is working on a series of novels based on some colorful characters in his family tree.
It’s January but it’s still hot and sticky. Florida is like that. Some people like it, but Misty can’t stand it. She is sitting on the swing set and the plastic is burning her thighs. A lot of the parents and kids at the playground are giving her dirty looks, it’s time for her to get up and give a kid a turn, but she just pumps her legs and swings, making a little breeze against her face and neck. She doesn’t want to be here and she thinks that gives her the right to hog the swings. This whole day was Jimmy’s idea so Misty could bond with his kid, but who says she wants to? She’s dating Jimmy, not his kid, right? But she’s smart enough to know guys don’t see it that way….
A Pushcart Prize nominee and two-time winner of the South Carolina Fiction Project, Rachel Luria has been a contributor at the Tin House Summer Writer’s Workshop, and her fiction has been recognized by Glimmer Train as a Top 25 Finalist in their Very Short Fiction contest. Her work has appeared in Saw Palm, Phoebe, Dash Literary Journal, Literary House Review, Yemassee, and others. Rachel Luria is also a co-editor of the recently published anthology Neil Gaiman and Philosophy. In 2006, she earned her M.F.A. in Creative Writing at the University of South Carolina and is currently an Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Composition at Florida Atlantic University.
Nicholas Leither lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, and teaches writing at Santa Clara University. This story is excerpted from a novel-in-progress. His books include “Dubliners: With a Guide to the Craft of Fiction” and “Slant: Writing Essays You Want to Read.” His fiction has appeared in Boulevard, and he has just finished two companion novels called “Want” and “Need.” In his spare time, he builds rustic, bentwood furniture, which has shown in galleries from Minnesota to San Francisco. www.NicholasLeither.com
Steve Romagnoli’s novel, Ghetto Dogs, is soon to be published by the Alternative Book Press. His short stories have appeared in The Mid-American Review, The Carolina Quarterly, Gargoyle Magazine, Booth Magazine, Beat to a Pulp, The Rusty Nail, Chicago Center of Literature, Photography Magazine, and real fiction. He’s had four plays produced in New York City, including Stealing Heaven and running off-Broadway at the Samuel Beckett Theater.
Eda Gunaydin is a student of Spanish & Latin American and English language in Sydney, although currently residing in Madrid in pursuit of difficulty and trilingualism. She tries to live at the nexus between science fiction & anti-bigotry. As she transitions awkwardly from adolescence into adulthood, her work can be found in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Honi Soit.
wren james was born in a car accident. he was just there in the back seat soaked and has never strayed far from water. he writes, videos, and makes lists of his favorite things. his work has appeared in theNewerYork, Atticus Review, and purple pig lit. visit him at wren-james.tumblr.com and can be found on Twitter @wrenajames.
Mrs. Van Drunen lived across from the Wernickes, whose yard was messy. Plastic toys spread across the lawn, their bright colors faded from the afternoon sun. A slide lay on its side. Colorful chairs, part of a toddler’s dining set, scattered the yard. And on this day, a lone riding toy, its body white and handlebars a baby girl pink, rolled onto the street….
Barb Natividad’s work has appeared in Crack the Spine, the Wilderness House Literary Review, Center, and the North American Review. Barb holds an MFA in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She lives with her husband, two cats, and a dog.
Charlotte Warren has been awarded fiction honors by the Michigan Quarterly Review and Emrys Journal. Her fiction has also appeared in such journals as Calyx, The Brooklyn Review, and New Millennium Writings, as well as the anthology Juncture: 25 Very Good Stories and 12 Excellent Drawings. She lives with her family in New York.
Excerpt
Eleanor Pincus looked everything I did not. Her typical attire: a smartly tailored suit, skirt ending sensibly just above her knees, and a fitted coat tapered perfectly to the end of her skirt. With that precision, you knew you’d never catch a glimpse of slip or, God forbid, a frayed hem. Stockings covered her legs, pumps her feet, and, like Bette Davis or my grandmother, she never left the house without her hat and gloves….
can someone start. please.
can one person start a whole fucking war, joey. what. c’mon. don’t look at me like that, joey. i’m kidding, joey. okay. someone start, alright. i’m dying, alright. stop looking at me, joey.
shut up, harry….
Mary Span earned her BA in Creative Writing from Virginia Tech where she was a Fiction Editor for an issue of The Minnesota Review and placed second in the Steger Prize for Poetry. She now resides in California with her family and dog, Boo Radley.
BY Mark Jacobs | Trust the one you fear…
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.
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Supporter of VIDA: Women in the Literary Arts