A novel excerpt by Carolyn O'Doherty
Ross stopped talking and he and Eckbridge both turned at the question. The lobby suddenly seemed very crowded. I felt their eyes on me like they were three pairs of lasers: Eckbridge’s gaze impatient, Barnard’s clinical, Ross’s anxious with hope. A warm flush crept along the side of my neck. Emma told me once that she’d give up a year’s allowance to work with Ross. Her agent, she said, reminded her of a squashed toad – warty with sticky hands. She said he never spoke a word to her on the drive to or from a case. KJ said his agent made him sit in the back seat.
“The Truth of Things" from Penina's Letters
A novel excerpt by Joe Linker
Then we were quiet again, and the room felt smaller. Mary dropped her hand down into a basket of yarn next to her chair and squeezed one of the balls of yarn. Then Ray got up to go into the kitchen, and we knew he was crying. Mary stayed a moment then got up to go into the kitchen.
Long Island Railroad from Jamaica, Main Line, 1985
By Claudia Savage
In the graffiti’s shadows
loud boys
cover my twelve-year-old mouth
with their urgent desperation.
Even in the corners. Even.
The train shakes our eyelids open.
Window. Car. Car. Window.
A memoir excerpt by Bruce Livingston
The pop! pop! pop! of nearby rifle fire brought me out of my reverie. Manouchehr’s uncle pulled the car around, and we set off. He knew which streets were blocked for certain, and we crawled along, easing into each intersection, looking and listening. When we heard bullets ricocheting off of building walls, he adjusted our route. What ordinarily was a 30-minute drive, took us four hours. He dropped me off with a quick hug goodbye, and sped off back to Tehran.
A novel excerpt by Christy George
Mother cringed for a second, then looked away from Dick. I could tell it was dawning on her that summer that she’d made a second bad husband decision, and a worse one this time. Then she lit a cigarette and took a long drag and held the smoke in her lungs for a minute and when she let it out with a big whoosh her shoulders were straighter and she looked even taller than Dick, which was pretty tall. “Let’s just have a nice day today,” she said. “For a change. We hardly ever get to spend time with Dickie.”
By Anne Hasenstab
And so I welcomed Hef and stifled Hugh,
the cuckold playboy shamed by his first screw.
By Jackie Manz
His breath smelled of beer and something sweet, Caroline pretended it smelled of wine, because that is all they drink in France. She glanced at him, saw her face reflected in his sunglasses. Her nose and mouth looked huge. She couldn’t speak and was afraid that she would lose her grip and slide off the boulder again. The boy took off his shoes. His feet were hairy and smelled like old boiled eggs. Caroline tried not to look at them. The boy shook his head.
A memoir excerpt by Kelly Wallace
Gramma Opal, Grampa and me all slept in the same bed. The room smelled like old cigarettes from Grampa’s ashtray. Grampa said he smoked Marlboros because that’s what they smoked in the Navy in World War II. He joined the Navy when he was seventeen.
He snuck in because you have to be older to get in.
He lied.