LAST EVENINGS ON EARTH BY MICHAEL ZAPATA: “There are a few ways to get back home to Chicago after a long hiatus. Of course, if you’re familiar with John Candy, you know the best routes utilize planes, trains, and automobiles.”
A COMIC BY MATT GAJEWSKI AND ZACH DANESH: Part five in the Lewis and Clark series
BY CHANDA PRESCOD-WEINSTEIN: Feeling conflicted about race, language and fandom
A SHORT STORY BY LELAND CHEUK: “I am doing well up here in Portland – thank you for asking. I know how much it pains you to ask me anything.”
PRETENTIOUS MACHO THEATER BY R.JOHN XERXES: Lamberto Bava’s 1985 film DEMONS is a heavy-handed treatise on the allegedly-corrupting power of horror movies
A COMIC STRIP BY MATT GAJEWSKI AND ZACH DANESH: Episode four in the Lewis and Clark series
A COLUMN BY LEVI FULLER: “this cover is saying ‘I am arty’ out of one side of its mouth, and ‘I shop at Wal-Mart’ out of the other…”
A SHORT STORY BY NARINDA HENG: “He wasn’t an unhappy man. His lips were often pressed together in what might be perceived as a snobbish sneer, but they were actually capable of smiling.”
A SHORT STORY BY DEB R. LEWIS: “The only time his life-spark shone was when he bladed onto the ice, stick in hand.”
SHADOW OF THE PINE BY TOM LG: A song from the graveyard receives a premature burial
MOONY HABITATIONS BY LEILANI CLARK: Eliminating publishing’s gate-keeper mentality
A SHORT STORY BY CORY FOSCO: “There are two different projects to choose from: a wagon or a schooner. Your son is set on the schooner because he likes everything to be big and complex.”
FICTION BY THOMAS MUNDT: “On my sixth birthday, my friends and I played Freeze Tag at dusk and I ran into a clothesline. My head snapped back and I landed flat on my back, knocking the wind out of me. Worse, the dry rope left a nasty burn across my eyelids. It hurt like hell and when my lungs returned I howled for my dad to come scrape me off the lawn. “
A FINE LINE BY CAT JOHNSON: “My love affair with letters goes back as far as my mind does. Remember the cool perfection of the carved ABC blocks? And the frustration that there was only one of each? Twenty six letters is just not enough for any serious wordsmith.”
BY MATT GAJEWSKI AND ZACH DANESH: Part three in the Lewis and Clark comic series
A COLUMN BY MIKE ZAPATA: “How did I fall in love? Over time, metaphysically. I was born in Chicago and some of my first memories I have are of my dad’s jewelry and casting shop on Wabash Avenue.”
AN ESSAY BY CHANDA PRESCOD-WEINSTEIN: “I dreamed of Pasadena and its sprawling lawns. I dreamed of a car with fancy automated windows and locks that had ventilation in the back. I dreamed of living far enough from the freeway that I couldn’t hear it at all hours.”
Paul M Davis