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September 2023 | Issue #28

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell the truth. —Oscar Wilde

From the Editors      Makers      Editors Notebook

My Bad | Deborah Adams

black and white image of a small person falling, arms and legs behind them in a misty sky as they look toward a tree canopy

My Bad

I can travel any when. I have. I know firsthand the rules aren’t what you think. An example: I snapped up D. B. Cooper as he plummet—floated nearly splatted not to save him not to trap him but to feed a selfish hungry curiosity.

Transported him to my native era. “Money is useless here. Return it,” Dan said (I call him Dan) and I did, although a teensy math error spewed a few bills into 1980. No prob.
… Read more

The Conqueror | Michael Waterson

The enormous Genghis Khan sand sculpture in the middle of Badain Jaran desert

The Conqueror

The horse opera starring John Wayne as Genghis Kahn, miscasting so riotous there aren’t enough rotten tomatoes in the tomato-picking world to launch at the screen, a bomb
shot downwind of a nuclear test site
at a time when A-Bomb tourism was exploding,
when Las Vegas casinos hawked  spectacular views
of neon-bright mushroom clouds, and doomsday-
midnight gamblers caroused away
the countdown to a sunburst
… Read more

Please Advise | Christine Aucoin

Portrait of confused young woman with blurred face. She is moving her head fast, so her face isn't identifiable.

Please Advise

You are waiting for Her.

(“You are”—What a feast! If you had a mouth, you would chew the fuck out of the words. The wound-up spring of the “yuh,” the catharsis of the “ooh.” It must feel good to say.)

You are waiting for Her; it’s Monday morning; the clock reads forty minutes and thirty-seven seconds past nine. She’s never this late without telling Her boss why. You’ve helped Her write the messages, carefully made toothless with extra vowels and … Read more

Critical Error Warning Message on a computer with red X saying Critical Error and a Reboot button
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