Excerpt from the Short Story, “Black Crater, White Snow”

Black Crater, White Snow, illustration from The Evolution of Reptilian Handbags and Other Stories

by Melanie Lamaga from the collection The Evolution of Reptilian Handbags and Other Stories,  now available from Amazon. Jade I slide to the barn on a skin of blue ice, sky layered rose and gray. Almost dawn. The wind, a white knife, cuts through my red down coat. Pinfeathers escape—a flock of tiny geese vanishing […] Read more »

Excerpt from the Short Story “What Kind Are You?”

"What Kind Are You?" illustration from The Evolution of Reptilian Handbags and Other Stories

by Melanie Lamaga This excerpt is from the collection The Evolution of Reptilian Handbags and Other Stories, available from Amazon.com in paperback and e-book format. WHAT KIND ARE YOU? “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” -William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark When I remember Dundalk, […] Read more »

Short Stories by Kelly Link, a review

Review of Kelly Link, by Melanie Lamaga, The Metaphysical Circus

Nobody writes cooler stories than Kelly Link. Link’s stories draw from fairy tales, myth, pop culture, experimental, horror, gothic, and detective fiction, the tabloids, dreams, nightmares, and half a dozen other things. But this is not merely pulp fiction—wham, bam, thrill and chill. Link uses the tools of pulp fiction to deal with literary concerns: […] Read more »

Bird House

Bird House, collage by Melanie Lamaga, The Metaphysical Circus

Fiction by Melanie Lamaga It was a typical day for Michael—to the office by 7:00 a.m., coffee-fueled meetings, lunch with Dave, writing reports, out by six. Driving home from work in his convertible with the top down, Michael began to sing a wordless tune that filled him with exaltation. He felt as if he was […] Read more »

Review of Osama, by Lavie Tidhar

Wishing Terrorism Was Only Fiction Many people have compared the novel Osama by Lavie Tidhar to books by Phillip K. Dick. It is similar in that the main characters come to realize that reality is not at all what it seems, and that there are those who would stop them from learning the truth. However, […] Read more »

Review of What I Didn’t See and Other Stories, by Karen Joy Fowler

Exploring the Historical Fantastic Karen Joy Fowler is one of the writers who, to me, exemplify the literary fantastic. Her stories crack the shell of history, looking for strange and beautiful pearls. The fantastical elements always seem entirely probable, if mysterious, and serve to deepen our understanding of the human condition. Her writing style is […] Read more »

“Invisible Heist”

photo collage

 fiction by Melanie Lamaga This story appeared previously in “Fiction International #38, Sacred/Shamanic.” Imagine a bank teller.  You know the type: slender, blonde, luminously clean, except that her fingers are coated with invisible money-paste made of microscopic flecks of skin, mixed with dirt and oil. Still, she seems to shimmer pink and gold in the […] Read more »

“Glow”

Descent, illustration of "Glow" in The Tusculum Review

by Melanie Lamaga This story appeared previously in The Tusculum Review “Doesn’t my skin have a splendid glow in refrigerator light?” Aunt Jo asked. I told her it did. “It’s because this light is yellow, incandescent, not green like those goddamn fluorescents. Never use those Frankie! They’ll kill you.” Aunt Jo was sitting on the […] Read more »