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Conflict

Flour Baby

Fiction by Megan Cummins September 18, 2020
Ms. Bird stood in front of the class, holding a bag of flour. “You’ll dress up your flour babies, you’ll name your flour babies, and your flour babies will go everywhere with you for two weeks.”

The Mighty Oak

An excerpt of the novel by Jeff W. Bens September 11, 2020
He kept meaning to get back to Boston. From Texas. From Florida where he was before Texas. He hasn't seen his daughter. He's ashamed that it will take his own mother's funeral for him to see her, to see Kate for the first time in four years.

The Sudden Change

Fiction by Qais Akbar Omar July 31, 2020
After yelling “freedom” a few times with the jubilant masses, he realized that everyone around him was still in a state of shock and disbelief, and no one was prepared for their sudden liberty.

Leaving Karachi

By Sheila Sundar August 28, 2018
On the anniversary of the brutal partition of India, the author reflects on her uncle's coming-of-age in wartime Karachi: a child’s-eye view of power, identity, and a nation being ripped apart.

The Cleric and I

By April 9, 2018
Trailing a religious fighter in an Iraqi province where ISIS is an existential threat, looking to learn what drives men and women to take bullets for one another.

The Book of Loki

Fiction by Kurt Baumeister March 12, 2018
Either way, the fact that she thinks I’m the Norse god, Loki, is a bit troubling. Primarily because I am the Norse god, Loki, and that’s not something I’ve been looking to feature here on Earth.

Restless Souls

An excerpt from the novel by Dan Sheehan March 5, 2018
Another horrendous silence descends. Baz’s eyes are screaming at me. This, just this simple social awkwardness, is his nightmare. I’ve seen him all but pass out in similar circumstances.

Anna

An excerpt from the novel by Niccolò Ammaniti, translated from the Italian by Jonathan Hunt February 5, 2018
The dog raced down the last few meters of the autostrada and jumped over the guardrail and ditch. Then he jumped on her—all forty stinking kilos of him.