In his third short story collection, Absolute Invention, Sheldon Lee Compton returns to the realms of imagination belonging to magical realism and fabulist fiction. This collection fires up the world of creative creation he first dealt with in his collection Where Alligators Sleep. You’ll encounter a town that beautifies amputation, ghost dinosaurs, dragons that live… Read More Absolute Invention by Sheldon Lee Compton
It was about time to renew summer. Traditionally, a person or a group that had the necessary power would do it. It was unclear why it was done, or who in particular was executing it (because it fluctuated so frequently), or by what mechanism, but miraculously, the job was done consistently, if not entirely predictably.… Read More The Prescription by Jenya Doudareva
When the dog died, I carried his corpse in my arms around the block ’til my running shoes were filled with blood and my toes loaded with blisters. The last time I saw my sister was after the argument that foreshadowed her catapult from the Golden Gate Bridge. I hear her bones cracking in my… Read More Crabs Feasting on Eyeballs by Matthew Dexter
After the suicide and after the stories themselves there is usually the same conversation about Breece D’J Pancake. This revolves around a general question: Was he the real deal? It’s been stated in a lot of different ways, but that has been the basic mystery for some: Real deal or simply laying on the hillbilly?… Read More REAL DEAL HILLBILLY by SHELDON LEE COMPTON
A dead squirrel was laying in the middle of the sidewalk. Cause of death – unknown. Folks running around on their morning business in sombre palette suits, as per relevant dress codes, for the most part managed avoiding a collision. They weren’t always graceful but pushed one another occasionally, always with an automatic “Oh pardon… Read More The Squirrel Incident by Jenya Doudareva
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