Three people had died on the rollercoaster, each decapitated by a wooden plank. He told her this as the lap bar lowered over them and... more

A trashbag-blue tattoo of a spider stained her left big toe. D-O-O-M read the tops of her other four toes. She had a taste for chicken... more

Recently I came across a paper I wrote in college at the prestigious University of Florida in 1999 about vengeful ghosts.

They all felt it when the house moved, but only Mae made a sound, something small and guttural, something involuntary and low.

The air in the bedroom sags with mist that won’t touch anything. It hangs around the built-in bed, and stationary lamp, and my sisters and Ma. I can’t be in there. The noises are terrible, and the haze smells like evergreens. It makes me homesick.

Mother is sitting in the kitchen with the Bible and a fresh stack of paper. A cigarette smokes in the ashtray and the sink is full of dishes. “It’s not what you think,” I whisper to the boy I have brought home. Later I will suck his thoughts dry. 

Family Album, Romance and Circumstantial Evidence

Inside the restaurant two beams of sunlight hit Spencer’s table at seemingly impossible angles. They meet on his butter dish, which has a single olive pit in it. It seems like outside the sun could be doubled.

It’s not unheard of now for people to be replaced by look-alikes.  Troubled people, mostly.  Unhappy people.  

I have stolen this prayer from my friend Giancarlo Ditrapano.  

In December 2013, Brooklyn Nets Assistant Coach Lawrence Frank was "reassigned" by... more

I went to the Antiques Roadshow with my mother’s green marble frog in the inside pocket of the jacket of the black suit I wore to her funeral that morning. I had taken the frog from her house. I wanted to know what it was worth. 

Last year, we ran a series of "Commercial Fiction"s by Dave Housley, which were collected into a book. One such piece in... more

Somebody has replaced my chair with a child. It was a beautiful chair. A rocking chair fashioned by my father. It makes no... more

My girlfriend moved out. She gave me back the lease the next day. “I’m not sorry,” she said,... more

My sister once saw Meryl Streep naked in a public shower. It was back around 1980 and they were somewhere near Virginia Beach. Meryl Streep... more

It was a freely made decision, a public vote, so I suppose one could argue that when I confronted my roommate and started an argument-- in... more

  Every summer my father and I would make the drive to the ghost town of Lundy near the Nevada border to fish the lake... more

You are driving home from a place that makes its own beer, where it seemed wrong to order just a few because this is a small business and... more

It was a difficult job for the man who painted night.  First off, he always stained his clothes.  An... more

Leo and I are dicking around in his room after school when I pull this big cardboard box out of the closet. —What is this? I... more

Mom. Dad. Where have you been? Everyone else is already here. You missed the first prelim bout. I'll... more

In December 2013, Brooklyn Nets Assistant Coach Lawrence Frank was "reassigned" by first... more

Sometime during the last two hours, Clark Griswold has stopped feeling cold. He claws at the frozen ground, vaguely aware... more

Across the street, I see a large, jolly-looking man with a white beard and white hair leaving the house of our friends, David and Shelby. The man is wearing camouflage – the jacket, hat and hip waders of a duck hunter.