Issue of February 23, 2026

Desert Rain: a review of <i>Shaking Music from the Angry Air</i> by Michael Dwayne Smith. by Peter Mladinic — Book review

Peter Mladinic reviews Michael Dwayne Smith's book of poetry, "Shaking Music from the Angry Air."

Balance the Books by Mary Jo Rabe — Cover story fiction

There's a payment owed for what you have received...

Bald by Jerry A. Sierra — Fiction

Writers travel down strange paths at times, to be sure.

There's Something Mom Isn't Telling Us by Alistair Blackledge — Fiction horror

Alistair Blackledge is an emerging horror author based in Michigan. When he’s not reading or writing strange tales, he listens to the whispers of the trees and occasionally, when the fire burns low and the coyote howls die down, a softly seductive voice from the beyond. Can you hear it?

A Trail of Loot and Soot by Ndaba Sibanda — Poem

"...Can crude chaos be noblest?..."

And My Hollow Eyes Closed by Dan Holt — Poem unrhymed

"...trying to find their way..."

Finally Seeing the Light by Taylor Dibbert — Poem unrhymed

"...who he's become..."

Liminal by Stephen Kingsnorth — Poem unrhymed

"...soliloquy as commentary..."

Number Twenty-Two by Jim Bates — Poem unrhymed

"...He was many things..."

Returning Home to Pittsburgh by James Croal Jackson — Poem unrhymed

"...returned to the elms and eastern hemlocks..."

Rumble in the Jungle by Scott Waters — Poem unrhymed

Scott Waters is a poet and singer-songwriter living in Oakland, California. He graduated with a Master's Degree in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University.

Stuck with March by Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal — Poem unrhymed

"If only it was July..."

Sui Generis by Sean MacKendrick — Speculative fiction

As the world changes, populations move. How will they be met?