As The #MeToo Backlash Continues, Let Us Remember the Short Stories of Emma Cline’s Daddy

In his 2017 book, Kids These Days, Malcolm Harris predicts, among other things, the eventual raging return of on-blast misogyny (what he refers to as the “misogynist backlash”). Mainly as a result of looking for a scapegoat to blame for the way things are when, in fact, things are that way as a direct result of the patriarchal, male-spewed “values” we all still adhere to … Continue reading As The #MeToo Backlash Continues, Let Us Remember the Short Stories of Emma Cline’s Daddy

Genna RivieccioMay 24, 2023May 24, 2023Leave a comment

Fiction

Jem in Love by Linda Ferguson

I catch glimpses of her darting across campus. I turn my head, and she’s gone. Blue jeans, fluttering faded blue sleeves. Then one night I see her in the library, rattling a metal cart loaded with books down an aisle. Like a moth, I’m drawn there every night to get my fix of light: a glimpse of worn sandals, bare toes, twig fingers with little … Continue reading Jem in Love by Linda Ferguson

Genna RivieccioMay 15, 20232 Comments

Fiction

Mushrooms by CLS Sandoval

My mom rarely let me have cotton candy, but as I lay with my back against the dew-covered grass on that hill in Green Valley, that’s exactly what the clouds looked like. The sun shined bright enough to make my eyes want to close. My Sunday school teacher, Miss Jackie, had said that everything we could see in nature was made by God. I wondered … Continue reading Mushrooms by CLS Sandoval

Genna RivieccioMay 10, 20231 Comment

Fiction

Diary of a Dissatisfied Character by Linda Ferguson

1. Let’s call her Lucy. Our creator, or “writer,” as she calls herself. She calls me Paul, although clearly, I’m Paolo. Paul meets Sasha at the café, Lucy writes, but there’s no dialogue yet, so we speak freely. Sasha (whose real name, unbeknownst to Lucy, is Chance) orders a chocolate croissant and a cappuccino. I, in an effort to stay fit, get a green juice. … Continue reading Diary of a Dissatisfied Character by Linda Ferguson

Genna RivieccioMay 8, 2023May 8, 20232 Comments

Fiction

Marilyn Monroe at 97 by Linda Ferguson

What a night. Diamonds, I tell you, were not a girl’s best friend, now or then. Fourteen bottles of white pills on my nightstand. And another one: blue, like the ribbon in my brown hair. The one I wore when they dragged me to the orphanage. That last night in 1962. I was unsheathed. Literally. My sleeveless apple green dress on the floor. Hair unwashed, … Continue reading Marilyn Monroe at 97 by Linda Ferguson

Genna RivieccioMay 6, 2023Leave a comment

Criticism

Tate Carmichael’s Review of Paris Hilton’s Memoir, Oh So Originally Called “Paris: The Memoir”

Tate Carmichael is the star of her own memoir, Lindsay Lohan Stole My Life, which depicts perhaps a more honest view than most of the period known as the aughts. The Opiate Books does not necessarily agree with or condone the opinions expressed and contained herein (complete with what many would call “strong language”), however we believe in freedom of speech and that, as Paris … Continue reading Tate Carmichael’s Review of Paris Hilton’s Memoir, Oh So Originally Called “Paris: The Memoir”

Genna RivieccioApril 30, 2023April 30, 2023Leave a comment

Fiction

No Cigar by Charles Holdefer

Dear Ms. Esperanza: I greet you at the beginning of a great submissions process. The readers’ reports for CROSS MY HEART were wildly enthusiastic, and though it took me some time to get to it, I’m still reeling from the experience. Last night, I started reading your manuscript on the train and when I looked out the window I was in Connecticut, which was awkward, … Continue reading No Cigar by Charles Holdefer

Genna RivieccioApril 25, 20231 Comment

Fiction

Dearest Reader by Charles Holdefer

So there I was, having sex with Joyce Carol Oates, everything going quite nicely, lights low and spirits high—it’s hard to find the words but I felt taken toward another place, a good place, the best, and then an awareness came upon me. No doubt because of the way Joyce was twisting, the angle of her arm, a shift in my gaze and a glimpse … Continue reading Dearest Reader by Charles Holdefer

Genna RivieccioApril 23, 2023April 23, 2023Leave a comment

Essay

The Pros and Cons of Lydia Davis’ “Stance” on Amazon

Described as “one of the most original minds in American fiction today” (not exactly a difficult feat, but anyway…), Lydia Davis is known for something of an irascible, curmudgeonly tone (at least in print). This much was encapsulated in the title of her 2013 short story collection, Can’t and Won’t. As for the latest thing Davis “can’t” and “won’t” do, it’s sell her book on … Continue reading The Pros and Cons of Lydia Davis’ “Stance” on Amazon

Genna RivieccioApril 20, 2023Leave a comment

Fiction

Adam and Eve by David Sheskin

A thirty-six-year-old, seven-foot-two-inch magician named Adam pulls an angry, obese, buck-toothed, black-and-white spotted, one-eyed rabbit out of a gray velour hat at a birthday party for a five-year-old child attended by fourteen children. Before Adam can restrain the rabbit, it attacks and maims three of the children. The next day, two police officers arrest Adam, who is assigned a court-appointed lawyer that has him evaluated … Continue reading Adam and Eve by David Sheskin

Genna RivieccioMarch 18, 2023Leave a comment