issue 67

Cover art “Where my dad grew up,” by Jinghong Chen

Taking refuge in art when reality is too hard to bear isn’t a good long-term strategy, but it sure helps at times. Flash fiction can be a great escape even as it reinforces some hard lessons about life. Here’s what we’ve got in that direction this December:

a girls’ football team calling the play of their lives

stitching a narrative together, literally

waxing everything for the body beautiful

when horsing around becomes serious

a lesson in naming and mourning

the smallest girl who ever lived

a heroic act against immigration authorities

a movie that’s truly a runaway hit

a woman with a photographic memory

in this school, life imitates art copying life

a pinniped threatening your child

in the basement, freezing out family life

making empty conversation during a drive

what to bring an errant lover in prison

riding the Ferris wheel of life

pickpockets on parade

a shoe with a mind of its own

what unsent letters reveal

and a flash collection review about women on the verge


Happy New Year, or let’s hope,

David Galef
Vestal Review
Editor in chief

Stories

Last Play of the Game, by Mario Aliberto III

Lemon Cake, by Alisa Golden

The Altar of Saint Cindy, by Kate Horsley

Instructions for Carrying the Name of Your Dead Brother, by L. F. Khouri

Matinee, by Matt Leibel

The Smallest Girl Who Ever Lived, by Skyler Melnick

Moon Story, by Jennifer Met

The Double Life of Medardo, by Manuel Moyano, translated by James Womack

The Night the Walrus Came to Take My Baby, by Emily Rinkema

Antarctica in the Basement, by Belinda Rowe

A Prison Tree, It Isn’t, by Anna Schachner

Our Trip to Starbucks, by Laura Shell

From the Alleyway by J. D. Strunk

Picture Day, by Eileen Frankel Tomarchio

Cassandra Rides the Big Wheel, by Suzanne Warren

Bleeding Seamonster, by Stan J Wild

When Jack Loses a Shoe, by Francine Witte

The House of Unsent Letters, by Etta Wynn

Interviews & reviews