On "Inflation" by Jeremy Griffin (4223 words) ***

Here's a story put together with a fetish and a few standard life themes (people dying, love). It's the fetish that makes this piece stand out, gives those themes a rather odd concreteness. Think inflation. Balloons. Growth. Cancer. Self-help. Read the story here at Hot Metal Bridge.

On "Chase Us" by Sean Ennis (2996 words) ***

Here's a strange one from the mind of Sean Ennis. It has the feel of being a story that starts with an idea--muggers, sort of, more like half-muggers, rascally jerks in a park--and then explores where that idea goes. This lends to a feeling of randomness, though Ennis does keep his focus on these particular youths and their particular predilection. Such makes for something certainly unpredictable. Read the story here at Hot Metal Bridge.

On "The Yellow House" by Nathan Oates (1780 words) ****

Something about a house--or a gas station or a laundry room or the corner bus stop. There are those places to which one's eyes are drawn. This is the obsession of the narrator in this short piece, a single house. Why? Perhaps it's a dream--something we want--or a yearning for a past--something we had. But what about when that dream or yearning turns into something we'd never really imagine? What then? What do we do with our eyes? Read for the turn in events here at Hot Metal Bridge.