“Haunted Ghosts” by Katya Lyashenko LRR, June 18, 2022June 18, 2022 Second place winner for The Jennie Hackman Memorial Award for Short Fiction (2022) The thing about living long enough to see the aftermath (living longer than she ever thought she would), is that Josie doesn’t quite know what to do with herself anymore. There was always something before. Something to… Continue Reading
“Moon-Stain and Crawdad Eater” by Charlie M. Case LRR, June 8, 2022June 8, 2022 CW: Death, Domestic abuse This is what is most important: the ache in scraped knees. The crawdads scuttling among river rocks. The groan of pipes in your cracked kitchen sink. Night stealing hours. Ponds like meters-wide tide pools. Mud stealing hours. The leak in your bedroom ceiling, the water damage… Continue Reading
“Knell Inevitable” by Charlie M. Case LRR, June 8, 2022June 8, 2022 CW: Illness, Death It came to me on the sixth night of my sickness, when the suffering had ceased to be new. I had been lulled into those familiar throes which, now that I was accustomed to them, deceived me into thinking that they were kinder. In came something—and I… Continue Reading
“The Ostrava Line” by Liam Kelsey LRR, June 4, 2022June 4, 2022 Contest winner for The Long River Review Graduate Award (2022) “What would you like to know about yourself?” This was what my neighbor asked me when I took my seat. He was wearing a black suit and had a thick laptop resting on his thighs. I asked him what he… Continue Reading
Constance By Jeremiah Dennehy (2017) LRR, July 9, 2017July 4, 2017 The Jennie Hackman Memorial Prize for Fiction, Third Place (2017) I don’t take the school bus, I don’t drive, and because mom doesn’t get home from work until four most of the time, I don’t ask her for a ride. But if I take the 509 toward Whitney Avenue at… Continue Reading
Erythrophobia By Jameson Croteau (2017) LRR, July 8, 2017July 4, 2017 From out in the outfield dirt, the crack of the bat was the only indicator a ball was rising up before dive bombing, back through the crepuscular sky. Jimmy turned and chased the echo of the sound. Go foul… Go foul… The ball, draped in a cloak of clouds, seemed… Continue Reading
Crumbling Walls By Kristina Reardon (2017) LRR, July 6, 2017July 4, 2017 Long River Graduate Writing Award, Winner (2017) “Petra, she say there be bones,” my grandmother told me, pointing beyond me to the old castle on top of the hill. The frame of the old, Slavic structure was about as beautiful as a decaying tooth with jagged corners. A revolting brownness… Continue Reading
Angus By Sten Spinella (2017) LRR, July 5, 2017July 4, 2017 The Jennie Hackman Memorial Prize for Fiction, Second Place (2017) The girl I was seeing had this dog, a real fluffy fucker, whose name was Angus. It was her boyfriend’s dog. She was taking care of Angus because his owner was studying abroad in New Zealand for the semester. I… Continue Reading
An Important Distinction by Sten Spinella (2016) LRR, June 24, 2016June 16, 2017 This piece won third place in the Jennie Hackman Memorial Award for Short Fiction. When mom named me “Elan” she said it was to set me apart from the other boys. I’m certainly apart from the other boys, in that the other boys went to college, or the other boys… Continue Reading
Tiny by Emma Capron (2016) LRR, June 24, 2016June 16, 2017 She hears Jamie rustle in the bed beside her. He is deep within the throes of peaceful slumber, his breathing deep and regular. Tonight is the first night in months in which the gentle rise and fall of his chest has not lulled her into darkness, into the escape of… Continue Reading