America's Most Critical Journal since 1999
by Jeffrey Meyers Jim, my greatly admired friend, taught at Berkeley and was the brilliant biographer of Thomas Mann. I’d reviewed his earlier volumes; and when I left teaching and moved back to northern California, I looked him up and we immediately hit i... More »
By Lynn Levin 9:15 a.m. The revolt against the humanities faculty begins as student rebels halt professors in the middle of class and usher them to the quad. Some of the professors assume that they are being led to an assembly honoring them for their service. ... More »
By Brandon Cole Bronton “Yes, Your Honor, I admit I was in that bodega and I shot the clerk four times in the chest when he wouldn’t hand over the money, wasn’t much money either so why he wouldn’t do what I said don’t make sense, but I shot him in s... More »
by Casey Alexander It was the bugle that turned my head. Its manly, imposing tones, and the majestic figure that held it. His traditional silk caftan; the silver birds in his hair. The documentary detailed his training, followed him through making up and his e... More »
by Jeffrey Meyers Though it was part of my self-image, I reluctantly decided to sell my 2013 silver-grey Mercedes. It was becoming more difficult for me to get in and out of the car. The very low front was easily scraped and damaged. The car had to be to... More »
by Fred Russell Amalia Knight, M.Sc., was a ghostwriter. She had been ghostwriting since her elementary school days, when she had patched up compositions for her classmates, and then through high school and the university, when she had written them from scratc... More »
By E. A. Bourland The People of the Fire Moss by the River were at war with the People of the Misty Forest, and the war was bloody and destructive, as war ever was. Both peoples were on the verge of famine because none of the fishers could fish the river, and ... More »
by E. A. Bourland This is a story from the land of the sun, which turned for thousands of years to the bosom of its river, before Apep destroyed both river and land — destroyed all. The people of that land called their river the Great Mother, and the sun... More »
by Jeffrey Meyers Party, a college town in Montana, is surrounded by high mountains and immersed in thin air that cuts off the supply of oxygen to the brain. The town has a weird Magic Mountain-like climate: hot spells in January, snowstorms in July and flas... More »
By David R. Bowne I desperately banged on the left rear passenger window. I couldn’t break through, couldn’t even see through the heavily tinted window. I reached into my pocket for my phone but already knew that it wouldn’t work. Whoever had abducted ... More »
by Steven Wexler Glynnis Neldman stood atop her three-story, center cul-de-sac, ivory Colonial Revival, red terry kimono open, toes to the gutter, nothing left to live for. “Don’t do it, Glynnis!” “Don’t move!” “How did she get on the roof?” Br... More »