By Tom Coombe: Hey, Krafts by Kristen readers. It’s been awhile, huh? I had a boatload of fun summer projects I wanted to share, but sometimes real life kicks the door in and wrecks our plans. … Continue readingHow to Build a Scarecrow

By Tiffany Morris: There is always a price for safe passage. Coins on forever-closed eyes for the ferryman, a shining bribe to the guard at the gate. On the last day of harvest, a time to sow: as the sunset was about to turn to gloaming, three drops of blood upon a jack-o’-lantern mushroom. Her only chance to die without dying. … Continue readingInto the Sunset Eternal

By Christopher Stanley: You’ve waited for this night. The houses have graveyard lawns with headstones that say Scared Stiff and Vacant. Fairy lights smother the sidewalk with their toffee apple glow. Bats dangle above front doors while skeletons linger in bay windows. The whole street looks like something from a child’s radioactive nightmare. … Continue readingThe Pumpkin Agent

By Gabrielle Bleu: Loveatfirst.com Dating Profile for Asher K.
Age: 27
Gender: Wingin’ It
Hobbies: Streaming, videogames (Knights of False Caiman 1 and 3, but NOT 2), podcasts. I used to like cycling, but not anymore. The house in the high grass has a bicycle leaning against its side. I wonder about that bicycle. Who stopped on their ride to visit the house? How long has the bike been there? When I drive past in my car, I can see the gleam of its bare metal out of the corner of my eye. I don’t like bicycling anymore. I sit inside and stream videogames, now. … Continue readingLight Amidst the Plains

By Corey Farrenkopf: When Rain entered the glade, poplars shifting silver-leafed in the moonlight, she found the space empty. The gnarled vines of the woman-shaped cocoon sprawled across the forest floor. They’d been severed, a harsh gash running down the pod’s center. The scent of sap wept from the wound. The cut hadn’t come from inside. … Continue readingSo Many Things Can Never Be Saved

By Lena Ng: Alex started counting aloud—One—though he peaked through the gaps between his fingers. His son darted around the yellow, curved slides, past the blue monkey bars, and behind a group of three grade-school kids climbing a rope ladder, some leaves tangled in its web. … Continue readingThe Splitting Image

By Ali Seay: They wouldn’t shut up and that just irritated him. Tate stalked into the garage and looked around. His right hand worried the very edge of his jean pocket. It was frayed there. … Continue readingSilence

By Patrick Barb: At the end of every week, our town hangs burning bodies from the Ceiling so we’ll remember what stars looked like. Born after the Ceiling descended and cut us off from outer space … Continue readingThe Crack in the Ceiling

By Tiffany Michelle Brown: My new tenants seem promising. The mother is a non-nonsense type. The moment she took possession of the keys, she repainted the walls in the shabby apartment in a single go. … Continue readingA Scream in the Dark

By Keith LaFountaine: He crawled out of my bathtub one night. The image still haunts me: thin fingers rising from the drain, the skin bent and buckled, becoming malleable and doughy. Then came his spindly arms, slick with grime. His smile was so thick, so wide. I had the toothbrush in my mouth at the time and I practically swallowed it while I watched in horror. … Continue readingThe Stepfather