Strangelet, Volume 2, Issue 4

By Strangelet Press

Strangelet Volume 2, Issue 4

Fiction
After They’ve Gone by Karen Heuler

Concepcion by Adam Breckenridge

Rustles From Within by Victorya Chase

Practical Fairy Tales for Girls Like You by Lauren Spinabelli

Cloud Mountains—How to Climb Them by Michael J. DeLuca

Poetry
Gox by Boona Daroom

The Woman in White by Cyn Bermudez

Art
TOAD by Luke Spooner / Carrion House

• Language: English
• Publisher: Strangelet Press
• Release date: Jul 5, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311762009

Strangelet Press

Strangelet is a journal of speculative fiction that publishes fiction, poetry, nonfiction, graphic stories/comics, and artwork six times a year with an anthology at the end of each year. We showcase the intersection where genre and literature collide. We want works to reveal compelling, universal truths that speak to us—from starship computers, from dragons’ mouths, and from everyday worlds tinged with miracles. Genres Strangelet primarily publishes short fiction but we also want exceptional artwork, essays, graphic stories, poetry, and reviews that explore the same space. We are looking for works of science fiction, fantasy, magical realism, and anything else that takes the reader to new worlds (or a shadowy corner of ours). Visit our submissions page for more information if you would like to be included in the journal. Visit our store and check out our subscription rates if you would like to purchase an issue. Inspirations Our inspirations include authors and artists like Ray Bradbury, Octavia Butler, Philip K. Dick, Emily Carroll, Madeleine L’Engle, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Rod Serling, and Ralph Steadman, who have broken the bounds of genre and literature (and even form) to keep us transfixed. To find out current news about submissions, upcoming issues, or to see what’s inspiring us right now, sign up for our newsletter, follow us at Twitter, Facebook, and our Goodreads page, or use the contact info below.

Book preview

Strangelet

Volume 2, Issue 4

Published by Strangelet Press

Boston • Chicago • Indianapolis

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Volume 2, Issue 4 of Strangelet is a production of

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Strangelet is a new journal accepting speculative artwork, fiction, graphic stories/comics, nonfiction, and poetry. Strangelet is published 6 times a year.

We want to showcase works where genre and literature collide. We want pieces that situate the gravity of living amid the high energy of imagination to find compelling, beautiful, universal truths that speak to us—whether from starships, from dragons’ mouths, or from an everyday world tinged with miracles.

Visit strangeletjournal.com/subscribe to subscribe to Strangelet!

Submissions: We accept submissions year-round. We also accept simultaneous submissions, but please notify us immediately if your submission has been accepted elsewhere.

Published works appear in both the print and ebook editions of Strangelet. We may occasionally publish excerpts from accepted and/or published pieces on our website and social media platforms.

Our goal is to notify all submitters of acceptance or non-acceptance within four months of submission. We look forward to reading your work!

For more information, visit strangeletjournal.com/submit or go here.

Ebook edition by Franco A. Alvarado

Cover art is TOAD © Luke Spooner / Carrion House

© 2016 by Strangelet Press. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission except in the case of brief quotations within critical articles and reviews. Rights revert to authors and artists upon publication.

Strangelet

Volume 2, Issue 4, July 2016

Executive Editor

Casey Brown

Business Manager

Leah Alaani

Design and Production Editor

Franco A. Alvarado

Content Manager

Andy Dost

Advisory Editors

Chelsea Cohen, Andy Dost, Timothy Ellison, Aaron Krol

Publicity Intern

Hannah Sears

Readers

Anita Felicelli, Rebecca Jones, Dana Mele, Kurt Newton, Christine Young

Star Patron

Cathy Swanek

Founding Partners

Chandra Asar, Tami Marie Lawless

Contents

Fiction

After They’ve Gone by Karen Heuler

Concepcion by Adam Breckenridge

Rustles From Within by Victorya Chase

Practical Fairy Tales for Girls Like You by Lauren Spinabelli

Cloud Mountains—How to Climb Them by Michael J. DeLuca

Poetry

Gox by Boona Daroom

The Woman in White by Cyn Bermudez

Boona Daroom

Gox

I couldn’t turn down the idea of cereal with aliens—

except maybe to drink something more substantial

(like all the oil fields of the Los Angeles Basin). Yes,

pulling a man out of his car and repeatedly punching

him in the head is a routine traffic stop. It’s not easy.

Lay me down on the frozen ground. Perhaps your

eyes have swaggered and shimmied and already

begun to see the feather-like petals of ice shelf soften.

Men in leather Christian Motorcyclists Association

jackets stand next to the George Washington I drew

pictures of in second grade (who might have mustard-

gassed the Redcoats and Hessians and whoever else).

There is nothing left in the landfill, please go away.

Boona Daroom

Boona Daroom’s work has appeared in Lit, Softblow, and Monday Night. He lives in Brooklyn.

Karen Heuler

After They’ve Gone

When I was very small, I pointed up at the stars and asked what they were.

Those are the eyes of everyone who lived before us, my mother said, and they want to come back.

By which I understood that no one truly leaves us, and nowhere else is life as sweet. I imagined them watching, high up there and over my shoulder, as I dug in the dirt or put rocks together into particular patterns. I could feel the envy and longing on my back like sunlight.

When I first met John, I thought briefly that he must be one of them because of the slightly foreign way he spoke and the ill-at-ease way he stood, walked, or hesitated in crowds.

It