It was one of those days of indignity where even the simplest tasks ended in failure. A trip to the bank became a bureaucratic farce of extra paperwork. An action performed successfully countless times like hailing a taxi or buying lunch on the street somewhere ended in failure. “This place won today,” one of our colleagues used to announce from time to time. “All I can say is that today I am defeated.” On this particular day of defeat, we sat commiserating in the office, laughing in that frustrated way that signals final surrender to a greater malign force. One … Continue reading The Williams Maxim

He opened his eyes to an expanse of white. The ceiling? He wondered why it was so close. He’d been asleep; he knew that. But he couldn’t figure anything else out. This was like waking up somewhere unfamiliar after a hazy, drunken night. Was that what was going on? He couldn’t remember. Confused, he rolled so that the ceiling was at his back and stared down at his bed where he found himself lying supine. His body. Was he dead? Was this how it begins: the soul set free, the light, the tunnel, the montage of triumph and failure, the … Continue reading Heroes and Villains

Once when he was younger, Jake had been trapped inside a hospital elevator as it climbed repeatedly to the building’s top floor and then fell to basement. He still thought of the experience sometimes and of how his perception of his own behavior during those fifteen minutes aboard the elevator had changed so much in the intervening years. How what had struck him immediately afterwards as heroic grace under pressure now seemed part of a lifelong personality defect. He’d been at the hospital that day visiting his grandmother, who was by then on her deathbed, and had boarded the elevator … Continue reading Greater Plagues

“Tell the dead baby story,” Sarah said, loudly, while accepting her drink from the waiter. He probably spoke no English and didn’t react. She didn’t care. She figured everyone else was talking about weird shit too in languages she couldn’t understand. “Ummm… dead baby story?” Mike asked, he and Vanessa laughing a little nervously and sipping from their own cold glasses. It was obvious what they were thinking. In light of everything. Or maybe not. Maybe they were just thinking of their own kids and of the horrific implications of The Dead Baby Story. Maybe they were assessing how to … Continue reading In Light of Everything

This story was previously published in issue 3 of Medium Chill. Buy it here. John wakes up in the morning in his two-bedroom flat in Beijing and sits down at the kitchen table sipping his first coffee before work while scrolling through social media updates on his phone. He expects the routine highlights: Aaron ran eight miles today in preparation for that marathon in Orlando next week, Jeff wishes to remind us via a re- shared comic that he is vegan and thus morally superior to the rest of us, Michelle’s two-year-old son achieved another milestone today of dubious merit, … Continue reading Gun Land

This story was originally published on 1 March 2017 and appeared in issue 11 of Masque & Spectacle. Read it here. The following is probably a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is rendered moot by the author’s egocentrism and faulty memory. I think I first met John in middle school, but my memories of him are unclear until sometime in high school. Our high school English teacher had us do these creative projects that were supposed to represent who we are or whatever. I rented a video camera–yes, rented, a camcorder–from a local videotape rental store … Continue reading Standard Disclaimers