FICTION
The Lever
Jim Ruland
02.24.10
Jim Ruland is the author of the short story collection Big Lonesome, a recurring contributor to The Believer, and the host of the irreverent reading series Vermin on the Mount at the Mountain Bar in L.A.'s Chinatown. Ruland lives in San Diego and has family on both sides of the national dividing line. His story "The Lever" reflects life in a border town during the current narco-conflict and how even those who aren't causing the violence may begin to feel culpable. Accompanying image by Eugene Delacroix.
Happy Rock
Matthew Simmons
02.08.10
Matthew Simmons is the author of the short story collection A Jello Horse and a recurring contributor to the Believer. Here he limns that eternal question: Is humanity regressing or did I just move back to my hometown?
Accompanying images of "Graybows" are from artist Joe Hardesty.
Unicorns
Joanna Ruocco
01.17.10
Joanna Ruocco's writing is packed with odd and intelligent linguistic adventures and has received praise from Robert Coover and Carole Maso. In her first short story for Fanzine, she addresses Derrida's football scholarship, drinking gimlets in body stockings, gluten allergies, the Cuban revolution and the self-conscious feeling that arrives when we become concerned that our thoughts and fantasies are determined by the power structure. "Unicorns" is from her forthcoming short story collection Man's Companions. The accompanying images are from Portland-based artist and designer Sarah Gottesdiener, who is also one half of the performance duo, The Gay Deceivers.
Greyson, Griffin, Guillermo
Matt Bell
01.06.10
In the still nebulous world of internet fiction, Matt Bell is a writer who embraces its possibilities. He edits Dzanc Books' online fiction journal The Collagist and when his novella, The Collectors, praised by Brian Evenson and Deb Olin Unferth, quickly sold out its limited print run, Bell posted the PDFs of the book on his website for anyone to read or print. His first short story for Fanzine "Greyson, Griffin, Guillermo" has a kind of old testament gruesomeness and the accompanying images are courtesy of painter Joshua Hagler, who shares his captivating and unsettling aesthetic. Hagler is also the creator of the comic book The Boy Who Made Silence.
The Odditorium
Melissa Pritchard
11.21.09
Believe it or Not oh ye future genius writers to be, who slave away for free as interns and fact checkers at various magazines around the world, just know this - that behind every great magazine, great published story, or great huxter of the world, like say a Robert LeRoy Ripley of grand sideshow fame, there is usually a great "fact checker," as it is reveled here in Melissa Pritchard's great story, "The Odditorium".