On "Nora and Paul at the Coffeeshop" by Peg Alford Pursell (417 words) ***

A falling set of coffee mugs takes on metaphorical significance in this flash piece by Pursell. Nora and Paul are a couple out for coffee, but Nora is about to discover something about Paul that puts her mind at disease. Originally published at Staccato, you can read the story here.

On "A Little Peace" by Jack Swenson (361 words) ****

Swenson's little piece pulls the whole world in. Start with a couple, a relationship that isn't exactly going uphill, all the attendant fights. Now, bring into that the big spill of the wars raging outside. I think of the storm raging outside in one of Raymond Carver's stories, mirroring the trouble inside. Here, Swenson switches it around to full effect. Read it here at Staccato.

On "Ghost Story" by John Sweet (240 words) ***

What is a ghost? Is it this thing we call memory, this thing we call the past? Is it feelings we get, standing at a bedroom door? Is it something we can't quite put our senses to? Is it something that haunts? Is it all of these things? Is it a story, just like this, here, at Staccato?

On "On-Ramp" by John Bruce (355 words) ***

What can we say of on-ramps? They are places where people come together--or rather cars. They are places of stress, as we come together, because there's always the chance of an accident, of that coming together creating a crash. Bruce's story is about a different kind of coming together, a boy and a girl. Or is it? Read the story here at Staccato.

On "Dates and Avocados" by Bruce Pratt (434 words) ****

Got to love this guy's approach to the pickup. Talk philosophy. Talk religion. Talk deep. And don't give it a rest. Stun the woman into belief--or at least into total incomprehension. Talk and talk and talk. And then, practice what you preach. Read the story here at Staccato Fiction.

On "Wash Me Again" by Mitzi McMahon (498 words) ****

How do you become someone desired? How do you become someone desired again? These are the questions this story confronts--and doesn't answer. We can go to online dating coaches for such answers, to marriage counselors, but that doesn't mean the answers will work. Dress different. Be different. Offer yourself up on a platter. It doesn't matter. This one is a quiet heartbreaker. Read it here at Staccato.