I Thought It Was Tough Love by Jimmy Webb
I was brave, I knew I was, but the ride was far too high. I shook my head small enough to not be defiant. Even though I wanted to see the ocean in the distance. Even though I wanted to be away for just a few minutes and get the sea air on my face. It was too high even for him, and he knew I knew it. Continue reading I Thought It Was Tough Love by Jimmy Webb
When We Were One by Jen Gupta
Those years were yellow – a summer sun flirting with bedtime. We could talk to birds, we could speak cat. The shed in the backyard was our secret home. We hid blankets and plastic teacups filled with wild berries inside the old wheelbarrow so Dad wouldn’t find them on his search for a garden shovel. Each day we woke with the first peek of light, the cicada’s first hiss, to wipethe tear drops … Continue reading When We Were One by Jen Gupta
Letter from the Mouse Cage by Johnny Gaunt
Mam made a mistake Scotty. And now dads dead. That means she cant ever say sorry to him. Just think about that for a minute. Imagine needin to say sorry but you cant. So instead you just get the pain. Can you hate someone in pain? Im not sure I can cos I know what that pain feels like. We both carry it about with us like guilty humps on our backs. Its always there. Always. Continue reading Letter from the Mouse Cage by Johnny Gaunt
Designed for Life by Ian Murphy
Clive’s ebullient words had lingered in her mind all morning. Festered. It wasn’t the big day, that was still an entire month from now, but it was the day her hopes and dreams were to be confirmed in writing. Any minute now, according to the app. Continue reading Designed for Life by Ian Murphy
The Miner by Kurt Van Ristell
They worked him ’til his fingernails turned mulberry,Peeling from their beds like autumn petals.They used new therapies to fix his crumpled distals, Alloyed his carpals with an icy clutch of metals. But soon after, his miner’s arms collapsed –Each ulna splintered like an ocean’s daughter-streams.And so they weaved his alabaster frame of bonesWith endless reams of printed black graphene – Light as an iron feather. … Continue reading The Miner by Kurt Van Ristell
Where I Belong by Cara L McKee
The places where I belong arethe fairytale-real wooded spaces,wearing leathern boots and wrapped in wool,or up on the wild, windy moorendlessly searching Heathcliffmay I never find himwith hair and cape, whippinglike funereal pirate flags in my wake. The places where I belong arethe storied stone circleswith cup, sword, and athame,and crescent on my brow,or on the wide staircaseof some forlorn manorgiven long ago to more … Continue reading Where I Belong by Cara L McKee
What We’re Reading This Month: An Algerian COVID Premonition, a Woke-Busting Brat Packer, a One-Eyed High School Girl God, and the Greek Orthodox Diaspora
Compiled by Michael Bird What are you reading this month? Our team of international volunteers at Bandit Fiction share with us the highs and lows of the current book scene. Keep reading to learn what Bandit volunteers find engrossing or disappointing about their choice of novels, poetry and memoirs. 1. ‘White’ by Bret Easton Ellis It is difficult to tell whether time has planed off a … Continue reading What We’re Reading This Month: An Algerian COVID Premonition, a Woke-Busting Brat Packer, a One-Eyed High School Girl God, and the Greek Orthodox Diaspora
Where Have All the Flowers Gone? by Robert Lumsden
Though the Outcasts were apprehensive of The Towers, few could resist the strange longing they compelled. Nobody should hold themselves to blame for this, the Ultras taught. Lusting after the cold and distant reminders of their loss of paradise was no sin provided each Outcast understood the shining obelisks for the harbingers of hell they truly were. Continue reading Where Have All the Flowers Gone? by Robert Lumsden
Dama Bianca by Urška Vidoni
When her husband was at home, she tried to be the best wife she could, and when he wasn’t, she tried to be the best mother she could. But all was in vain; the knight couldn’t, or maybe didn’t want to, see the effort she was making for the family. The balls at the castle became less and less frequent, and her husband sought the company of the bottle instead. Continue reading Dama Bianca by Urška Vidoni
Hammer and Sickle by Michael Cooney
In this way, Carl Trampler’s military career ended in a less than honourable discharge. And in those days a discharge like that could mark you for life. You would never get any decent kind of job, like at GE in Schenectady, or even with the Post Office. Continue reading Hammer and Sickle by Michael Cooney
One Green Bottle by Gerald Green
The letter fae the agency is burnin a hole in ma poakit. Should ah huv telt her about it? Ah think mibbe ah should’ve, but then ah remember the way she’s been puttin me doon and how she’s been bang oot ay order. Nae chance. Continue reading One Green Bottle by Gerald Green
Say What You Mean by Chris Marek
Or what if your mother asks you for the hundredth time if you’ve looked into any new jobs related to your bachelor’s degree in philosophy? Do you tell her, No, Mother, I haven’t. I’m going to suck the teat of the government checks until the money runs dry and Avery eats her own tongue to survive? No. Continue reading Say What You Mean by Chris Marek
Allergy by Patricia Bamford
I arrive at the party, ruddy cheeked and out of breath. I surprise myself by naturally joining in conversations. I have things to say! I confidently decline cocktails, wine and beer, but at this point in my recovery I have not yet put down the weed. I go ahead and smoke what’s offered. I tell myself, Why not? It’s a party… Continue reading Allergy by Patricia Bamford
Amazon Super Prime by Remy Maisel
Helen thought it was strange, but pre-emptive purchases couldn’t be right one hundred percent of the time. Though, they were right most of the time, which made it seem like they could predict the future, but they couldn’t. For one thing, she wasn’t at all certain how Amazon had known that she and Pete had lost the corkscrew they’d already had, but it was more likely that that wasn’t what had happened at all – most likely, they’d bought that one from Amazon and statistically they were right around the point that most people either lost or broke theirs. Maybe it was even designed to break after about two years. Continue reading Amazon Super Prime by Remy Maisel
Greedy Bird by Julian Harvard
I once put a suit that cost as much as your car in the bin. The jacket had a bleach splatter just below the breast pocket. It had been a really unique shade of blue. Kind of like my mother’s eyes I would tell people, even though I couldn’t remember what colour eyes she’d had. It was a magnificent suit, and the bleach damage was … Continue reading Greedy Bird by Julian Harvard
How The Bandit Submissions Process Works
How does a publisher decide which submissions are good and which aren’t? What makes something ‘publishable’? And, perhaps more importantly, what makes something ‘unpublishable’? Continue reading How The Bandit Submissions Process Works
Ten Sheets to the Wind by David Christopher Johnston
content warning: suicide This is not a cry for help. If it were, I’d be standing on the eastern edge of this multi-storey car park – directly above the busy bars and nightclubs – so all the Saturday-evening drinkers could witness my final fall. I’d linger on the ledge long enough to cause a scare and soak up the sympathy before deciding to give life … Continue reading Ten Sheets to the Wind by David Christopher Johnston
A Sense of Grandeur by Maud Woolf
My eyes fly open. I look up. And up. And up. I cannot see the ceiling. There is no ceiling. There’s nothing above me but void and I grip at my sheets to hold on, suddenly sure that if I let go, I will fall upwards and into that looming, gaping emptiness– Continue reading A Sense of Grandeur by Maud Woolf
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