The week’s best online fiction, with recommendations from Fiction Daily’s editors
“Little Rock” by Megan Boyle, Muumuu House
There’s something handheld about this story. I’m not sure what I mean by that. Maybe I do. First, the camera angle I see it from is like a stylized home movie. Second, the story holds other story’s hands. I can’t help thinking of the movie Mumblecore where Megan Boyle and Tao Lin, newlywedded, scamper and grin at one another. It’s clear here that these two hold hands, intimating and imitating each other. Third, the story is sort of about the situation of holding hands. There’s intimacy, closeness, and silly/timid love, yes, but there’s also an awkward, sweaty heat when you hold hands with someone, like its August in Arkansas between your palms, and it feels weird to keep holding hands even though it felt good before, and so you don’t know when to stop.–David Backer
“Birthday Girl” by Marguerite Sullivan, Anemone Sidecar
The language of “Birthday Girl,” its carefully chosen sounds and repetitive elements, like the winks of light on a hypnotist’s watch, imbue the piece with a dreamlike quality that’s hard to shake. Who is this Linda and why is her spirit, her idea, more alive than this eighty-second object donning makeup? Entrancing.–Ryan Nelson
“Cannibal Cabaret” by Edward J. Rathke, Thunderdome
The “Cannibal Cabaret” is part story, part ditty and all spectacularly chilling. In the sing-song lines of the “Cannibal Cabaret,” Edward J Rathke bounds with us, hand in hand, through details and deeds of the cabaret that are as much an anthem than an account. Rathke employs his accomplished talent for making something magical from the morbid to full effect. His lines are lyrics, their tempo a rhythm and their dance spins us into a dark space that’s all the more unsettling for its familiar elements. Dimly luminous, this neat, little piece well highlights Rathke as one of his generation’s most eloquent and erudite talent. Give a look, take a listen, and let Edward and the cannibals have this dance.–Matt Funk
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