Grovers Mill

By Devin James Leonard Dear Mercer County Sheriff’s Department, My name is Winston, and by the time anyone should find this letter that I have left on the dining room table, I shall be long gone. The date is October 31, 1938, and the reason for my writing this is in relation to the twoContinue reading “Grovers Mill”

Book Review: The Heights

By Chris Bunton This book review is about “The Heights” written by Ray Franze It is a historical fiction novel, expected to be released in October by Blue Handle Publishing. The book tells the story of Sal Liparello, a mobster from Chicago Heights, who rises up and builds a criminal empire during the days ofContinue reading “Book Review: The Heights”

The Last Drop

By Steve Saulsbury The baby has been ill, Richard was told. He worried throughout the weekend. Then on Tuesday, he told Anna, “I will pick the boy up tonight.” That evening he went to the bakery. Anna was working the late shift. Richard hunched at the counter, attempting to joke. He was close to theContinue reading “The Last Drop”

Stranger in the Camp

By Chris Bunton “Hello in the camp! Permission to enter.” A man’s voice yelled from the darkness. Paul knew someone was out there creeping around but there wasn’t much he could do except watch and wait.  He stirred the fire with a stick. Sparks rose up, and the fire got a little brighter. Then heContinue reading “Stranger in the Camp”

Beauty Brings Beasts

By Emily Kitazawa “Beauty is a curse on the world. It keeps us from seeing who the real monsters are.” – The Carver WHEN EVELYN WAS a young girl, she remembered the strangely exotic feel of her mother’s hair-prickled calves on her tender hands, evoking the same fascination of one’s first time touching a hithertoContinue reading “Beauty Brings Beasts”

A Friend of Charley Boles

By Marco Etheridge I was a young man of twenty-two and green to the ways of the world when I first arrived on the island of Oahu. The year was eighteen-ninety-eight and the world was on the cusp of a new millennium full of promise. I boarded a steamer in San Francisco, leaving behind theContinue reading “A Friend of Charley Boles”

Bedford Drive

By Charles Jacobson Los Angeles: Friday, April 4, 1958. 8:06 pm. Detective Ken Stricker left his ailing mother at the Valley Hospital, put on a coat and slid into his black ’56 Packard. Vice had been quiet. He caught a 273 and 314 on the scanner, switched it off and dialed in Guy Lombardo. VeeringContinue reading “Bedford Drive”