Read Magazine – Download the .pdf

There is No Joy between the Last Thing and the Next Thing, Ryan Werner
“On the table in front of us are the poison and an eyedropper and two shot glasses with water in them. ‘I think a few drops each should do it, but I don’t know how big,’ Eugene says. ‘Like a raindrop or a teardrop?'”

Painting Dragons, Dan Ress
“I called up my buddy John, and after explaining my predicament, being blind, out of work, and hounded by a dream dragon, he agreed to come by and check out my latest (first) painting. He ended up hating it, but then everyone’s a critic, and frankly John knows less about Art than I know about small engine repair, or whatever the fuck he does.” 

The Art of the Dedicated Cyclist, Lawrence Buentello
“He guided the bicycle from the rocky shoulder and walked it toward the solitary figure, which was no easy feat through the tall grass. When he was near enough he realized the man, much older than himself and adorned with a grizzled white beard and dusty top hat, was sitting before an open coffin.”

Your Room, Caitlin Sinead Jennings
“In your closet, if you reach back too far, your arm draped in clothes, you feel a body. It is breathing. But when you duck to look for legs, between the hemlines of dresses and the tops of your shoes, neatly stored, you only see white wall. The lights flicker on and off at random times. At night, on the hardwood floor, you hear footsteps. They sound like flip-flops slapping against your brain.”

Cover art: Giant Kewpie, Jason Freeny