Alligators, by Tara Isabel Zambrano
The stare of the gypsy girl, taut as a cable. She sits opposite to me, next to an older woman, probably her mother, in an open truck.
Barri Ammi, by Palvashay Sethi
You know her. Have heard of her through cautionary tales with the caution being
dispensed dubious at best and unnecessary at worst.
Fuck All Gall, by Abeer Hoque
She first saw Sure at a pub in town. The place was like a cellar with wooden pillars in awkward places which made it hard to dance but easy to look all angles. Galway was thronged per its Saturday usual, pubs packed, the cobblestone streets streaming with people. The weather was warm, and there was a sheen on people’s faces, more than just the drink.
The Storms, by Sarah Thankam Mathews
The week before I turn thirty-four, the rising waters flood my stupid, spiteful Red Hook rental for the second time.
A Hipster Devil Christmas, by Tara Campbell
Prompt, by Claire Lombardo: Write about an exquisitely eccentric holiday guest.
A Loudness of Screechers, by Rion Amilcar Scott
Prompt, by Tara Campbell: Banquet of beasts: beasts could be literal/figurative/whatever. And they could be on either side of the table: eating or being eaten. Or they could be underneath the table doing whatever it is beasts do best.
Conjoined, by Dana Diehl
Prompt, by Rion Amilcar Scott: Christmas/Kwanzaa/Hannukkah/Three King's Day after society has ended and civilization is struggling back to life.
A Very Mario Lopez Christmas, by Megan Giddings
Prompt, by Dana Diehl: Write a story with the plot (or could-be plot) of a made-for-TV ABC Family holiday special.
When You Were Here, by Claire Lombardo
Prompt, by Megan Giddings: A family wakes up on Christmas morning to find all their chosen holiday gifts are gone. They instead find unwrap weird objects (an old pipe, a sock with a weird stain, etc) and become very, very confused.
Overwinternight, by Helen McClory
Prompt, from Leah Umansky: Write in the second person. Include one or all of the following images: star, snowflake, owl, a famous tv character.
Shepherds, Why This Jubilee?, by Bryan Furuness
Prompt, by Helen McClory: Write about the most moving thing you have seen at festive time (can be totally fictional of course).
Submission Guidelines for Letters to Santa, by Tara Laskowski
Prompt, by Bryan Furuness: Submission guidelines for letters to Santa.
Elf NYC vs Elf MFA, by Danny Collier
Prompt, by Matt Perez: Write the two Pushcart poetry nominations from the Peg & Hammer, the number one literary magazine of Santa's (artsiest and perhaps most disgruntled) elves.
God Rest Ye, by Kevin Fanning
Prompt, from Danny Collier: If you're bitten or scratched by a celebrity, you become a celebrity. These are the plague days.
Bump, by JP Kemmick
The day we moved into our new home, my husband, Roger, dropped a box and out spilled his collection of vintage little green army men. A machine gunner got stuck upside down in a sidewalk crack and an infantryman stumbled toward the sewer grate.
How are you gonna eat a peaceful breakfast after your incredible night of sex with the surprisingly-experimental woman who as a girl was in the Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes commercials? by Simon Pinkerton
After I slept with the woman who as a girl had been in the Frosted Flakes commercials, every day I imagined myself as Tony the Tiger a little more.
The Good Boy Club, by Delaney S. Saul
We are Good Boys.
We are in the Good Boy Club.
We follow the rules.
We do what we’re told.
The Pied Piper of Pepperton County, by Matt McGee
In 1966, the residents of Pepperton County were perfectly happy to go to work, attend church, mow their lawns and make occasional love to a husband or wife they’d chosen when the moment seemed right, before the moment passed.