America's Most Critical Journal since 1999
By Casey Alexander The tour guide marched them into the gift shop for the third time in an hour. Pen and pencil sets, car covers, and inflatable wading pools bore the logo of The College of Alfred and Larry. Ashley’s father bought her a thermos; she wondered... More »
By Anthony Manganaro The balloon erupted in mid-air, and the three dwarfs fell to their deaths. It was the end of the day, and the end of them. They’d lived only eight years, but it was still a sad sight to the residents of Ourton. For these, my dear grandch... More »
by Jeffrey Meyers After reading Igor’s flattering obituary I remembered his real character. He was a friend and, in the end, became intolerable. His gradual transformation from weirdness to madness was fearful and tragic. We first met when I was a grad... More »
By Helga Hewston Prologue The following fictional tale is conjured up from a few true events. In 2008, Condoleezza Rice, then US Secretary of State, visited Libya and was a guest of its leader, Colonel Moammar Gaddafi. During her state visit, Rice was presen... More »
by Clark Zlotchew Introduction June 5, 2030: As all Americans and citizens of the “Developed Nations” are vividly aware, it is of the utmost importance to be Politically Correct. In today’s Western Civilization, political correctness on the part of a... More »
by Marleen S. Barr Mr. Trump was in front of cameras in the Rose Garden again, but only to trumpet an unemployment report that he hoped Mr. Floyd was “looking down” on in approval. . . .The caring would instead have to be outsourced. It came from Meghan Ma... More »
by Jeffrey Meyers I was a young English woman, well educated, innocent and unworldly, but spirited and in search of adventure for which I was not prepared. My aunt Constance Garnett, who translated Leo Tolstoy’s novels, had just returned from a visit to Ya... More »
by Rebecca Richardson The Board of Trustees did not at all approve of what the Provost intended to do for the workers of the University in the wake of COVID-19. To take some millions from the fortune of their dear Endowment would be impoverishing the Universit... More »
By Matthew Bruce Saberqueen tapped her bronze bikini top. “Lo,” she called to Thunderclap, the bull-chested man standing on the golden bridge above Moaning Chasm. Tattoos of stars and moons covered his face, and his hair—dark as the lethal night orchids ... More »
by Ash Kaul Autumn opened with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi asking for sweeping new powers. Daadi, my paternal grandmother, followed her hawk nosed twin with the same charade. Daadi’s Kashmiri nose, complexion and Kashmiri blood was the least she shared with... More »