$$$

Welcome to the first special of YEAR TWO -- $$$, the money special. Presented on this most accursed of American holidays, Tax Day, this special offers a variety of fiction, poetry, essays, and visual art on that which is the root of all evil, that rules everything around us. Before that, though, here are a … Continue reading $$$

BEACH BODY

Jenny had her choice of parking spots that time of the morning. Literally the crack of dawn. Darren was capable enough to give the girls their breakfast. She had no expectation of coming home to a clean and tidy house, but it allowed Jenny to spend the early morning walking along the beachfront in order … Continue reading BEACH BODY

GRASPING THE DRAGON

Johnny Yoo watched his men unload the pallets off the truck under the amber lights of the loading dock. This was the largest shipment in a year, so he’d made the two hour drive from the city and supervised the drop-off personally. In the midnight cold, his cigarette smoke made bright plumes. Twenty four crates … Continue reading GRASPING THE DRAGON

“ON CORTADA’S RED WOLVES”

You assume--being so knowledgeable with your one art history classtaken decades ago while studying in London (yes, London!),where there were real, honest-to-god Monet water lilies in the what'dya'call it Tate--that the two red wolves are symbolic or something. Maybe that's why only one is kind of tawny, the other being black as death or shadowsor … Continue reading “ON CORTADA’S RED WOLVES”

FILTH AND DUST

"do it" by Julia Soboleva The creaking panels of the basement floor gave way. A demon emerged, maybe thirty years old, with pointed ears and sharp fingernails. This woman who arose from the filth and dust had a complexion that was a pallid, buttery gray. I didn’t know what to make of her. I was … Continue reading FILTH AND DUST

OPENING THE DOOR

It used to be that one could simply walk into a room and kill someone. You had a bad. You had a uniform. You had a gun. It was as simple as that. I was a much younger man then. Just starting off in fact. Do you have the badge. You have the uniform you … Continue reading OPENING THE DOOR

“TIMELESS MAN”

Time, like a howling wind,Onward dreadful flying,Naught his will denying,Passes, with a grin.Now ye stand in sorrow's space,Mourning tears about thy face,Midst a trackless, formless waste. Long, languishing you've dwelt,There where comes no reckoning,There where Dawn's light beckoning,Ne'er makes her presence felt.Far you've flown from time-bound throng,And gusts o'er void replace the song,Of souls that … Continue reading “TIMELESS MAN”

THIS IS OUR PERFECT LITTLE TOWN

Nas fucked up and asked the door guy where they keep the Clipfish. He didn’t think it was funny. He was about to make us leave when I slid between them, bumping Nas slightly with my shell. “It was a joke all right? She didn’t mean anything.” He had a tentacle on his taser. The … Continue reading THIS IS OUR PERFECT LITTLE TOWN

“GARBAGE BIRDS” – “SNAKE AND COW”

header image by Lydia Sera Garbage Birds do you want to hear about my boyfriend,I ask the empty room,unwinding the yarn through the labyrinthin no particular direction. he didn’t like it when I called some thing mundane,as if I were casting it as a fault, as if it were an affront to the thing,as if … Continue reading “GARBAGE BIRDS” – “SNAKE AND COW”

POSSIBLE ORIGINS OF THE ERASERHEAD BABY

Of the newborn which stars second to the titular Eraserhead, Jack Nance (who would later die with a crescent moon-shaped bruise around his eye): The most unlikely theory is that the entity was man-made, perhaps crafted with Play-Doh or papier-mâché and what can only be described as “movie magic” to match real skin and organs. … Continue reading POSSIBLE ORIGINS OF THE ERASERHEAD BABY

FINAL CUT

The wind howls outside with all the operatic gusto of a new Scott Walker EP. The gunshot blazes through my ear and I black out. I did it. I actually did i— “I’d love to kill myself like Kurt Cobain. One shot--dead. What a great ‘fuck you’ to all the dumb humans.” “Don’t you like … Continue reading FINAL CUT