by Kristen Simental | May 20, 2025 | Creative Prose, Creative Prose 2020
Unpatriotic Nina Salas was six years old when she was branded unpatriotic by school officials. The frazzled principal Mr. Kirk, her matronly first-grade teacher Mrs. Clayton, and the grouchy secretary at the front desk all agreed: Nina was unpatriotic. Every morning,...
by Carissa McQueen | May 20, 2025 | Creative Prose, Creative Prose 2020
Searching for Solstice The buzz of the world enters her dream before she knows she’s waking up. A low flying police helicopter. The irregular cadence of a leaf-blower. Heavy tires too fast on the neighboring street. The Doppler shift of a passing siren. Up through her...
by Publab Alumni | May 20, 2025 | Creative Prose, Creative Prose 2020
Crash Clark heard the car six seconds before it popped into view. The noise was dull. Just a low thud like a garbage truck. But that was the way it was: duller on the inside, and always felt more than heard. The hood crumpled first. Then went the windows in a...
by Georgina Rodriguez | May 19, 2025 | Creative Prose, Creative Prose 2019
The Story of a Woman This is the story of a woman who wants to sleep but cannot because her mind won’t stop wandering, a woman who knew that publishing her first work would be difficult, but who wasn’t expecting three sleepless nights in a row, who puts herself in bed...
by Freddy Martinez | May 19, 2025 | Creative Prose, Creative Prose 2019
Lines in a Midori Notebook 12.08.16 He’s in a small town where she once lived, thinking of their old friend. He’s in the grips of something horrible, as if nauseated by how quickly he uprooted himself. He ran away because he was afraid, a coward in the way he suddenly...
by Publab Alumni | May 19, 2025 | Creative Prose, Creative Prose 2019
Still Champagne I It was the first day of 1975, and the woman had little comfort left in her heart. She had sworn off all hope of ever bearing a child; the last loss came and went without warning, without fight, without defense. She wandered around the house in her...
