On "Villa Monterey Apartment, Burbank" by Meg Pokrass (368 words) ***

A shame that Pindeldyboz ceased publication in Spring 2010, as it was a source of so much great literature on the Net. But I can understand the editor's exhaustion, the desire to lay down and let other, younger journals take over the role. Here's one of the stories one of the contributing editors chose as a favorite, by one of the best writers doing flash, often online. In this tiny piece, a girl spends time with her older sister and that sister's boyfriend. Like Los Angeles, things are splashy and nice but something sinister and not quite right lurks underneath, even if we can't see it. Read the story here at Pindeldyboz.

On "One by One" by Meg Pokrass (1110 words) ****

Coming of age in a quick and bad way. That's what appears to be happening to the narrator of Pokrass's short piece here--but there's an exuberance as well. After all, it's wonderful to grow up, to be bad, before everything starts to fall apart, as it does for one's parents, one's sister, one's self. Read the story here at Juked.