Fiction

After the battle was won and lost, after the victors had plundered the Nawab’s palace in Murshidabad, Amina Begum, the mother of the fallen Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah, and her older sister Meharunnisa Begum were exiled to Qasr-i-Jazirah, or Jinjira Palace, near Dhaka. Ravaged by deep grief and resentment against each other, the two women were …

Her mother tells her she was born smooth, hairless, like a doll, except for a little tuft of baby hair that lay upright at the top of her head, and that she stayed hairless because she was a pretty girl, not like her older sisters, who were peludas, who grew up to be covered in …

Tap. Tap. Tappity tappity tap. Nap pried his head from the desk as 4:28 AM bounced around the computer screen. He sighed and wiped drool off his face with a t-shirt that’d been lying on the ground. Tip tap tappy tap tappity tippity tap. “Goddammit, I’m coming,” he muttered as he drew back the curtain. …

The fluorescent yellow of the DO NOT FEED WILDLIFE sign glared at me from under a streetlamp as I walked to the dumpster. The yellow seemed to follow me, trailing long streaks in the damp asphalt under my sneakers. It couldn’t be helped though- the raccoons demanded an offering. And why shouldn’t they? We all …

Alejandra arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport and went through immigration. A uniformed man looked at her passport with suspicion and checked her backpack as if it contained some illicit drug.  All the bigger than life spaces and atriums, all the white mesmerized her.  She could not believe that she had escaped. Only a few weeks before, …

Australian Department of Home Affairs Application ID: 0002339445DISCLAIMER: BY APPLYING FOR THIS VISA, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT NOTHING YOU SAY IN THIS APPLICATION IS UNTRUE. ANY FALSE STATEMENTS WILL IMMEDIATELY RENDER YOUR APPLCIATION VOID AND COULD AMOUNT TO A SERIOUS CRIMINAL OFFENCE. DO YOU WISH TO CONTINUE?[x] I acknowledge the disclaimer and wish to continue.PART I: …

“No están picando. Not even a nibble.” “Dad, how many times have I told you not to speak Spanish?” my daughter said in a hushed tone. “Yes, Yes, I know, but it’s just you and me here.” “Somebody could be listening, dad. You never know where there are microphones and even cameras these days.” “Okay, …

You know that moment when you bite into a hot piece of apple pie and your mouth waters and you think the only thing missing is a scoop of vanilla bean then you bite down and discover the apples are hard and the bottom crust is soggy and it makes you think of boarding school …

Kai spots the sign first: “Manila Wash.” I pull our U-Haul onto the shoulder of I-40, a welcome break from Kai’s assurances that I too will love Santa Fe. I step outside to find not a stream, or even a creek, but a strip of pale, cracked earth and patches of yellowed brush. “You’re right!” …

after Ocean Vuong I remember your car lighter. I remember your car lighter’s orange tip igniting the cigarette at your lips. I remember your breath thickening the cabin air. Back then you smoked every drive home. I remember the smoke replacing words, explanations, like why you were always the one who picked me up from …