At Friedly’s Exchange, residue clung to fingertips and grabbed at the soles of shoes. Tattered books, chipped pottery, a dead man’s suit—all less tinged with nostalgia than ruined by desertion. Ginger’s parents went thrifting most Saturdays, bent on a course of rescue and appeasement. Malcolm looked for old, odd compasses for his collection; Edie for …
Sometimes, when I’m out of the house during the day, while the rest of you are off and gone, the alt-rock radio station will break out Depeche Mode for its noon-hour throwback show. Usually, it’s just “Enjoy the Silence,” which is vile. Once in a while, it’ll be “Personal Jesus.” You know that song. When …
by Larry Menlove Elder Bicknell and Elder Vanguard looked down at the hard-pack road. The old woman’s legs—thin, white, and spider-veined—stuck out from under her pale green housedress, which had scrunched up high around her thighs owing to the throes and contortions she had undergone. Standing over their bicycles, hands gripping the tape of their …
By Emily Belanger Emily Belanger is a doctoral candidate at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA, where she lives with her husband. When she isn’t teaching, writing, or fending off Southern scorpions, she reads every fairy tale she can find. “And Thorns Will Grow There” took second place in the 2015 Sunstone Fiction Contest. …
By Karen Rosenbaum Karen Rosenbaum lives in Kensington, California. This story, which was awarded Sunstone’s 2012 Starstone Prize, appears in her collection, Mothers, Daughters, Sisters, Wives (Zarahemla, 2016). Else Pedersen Mikelsen 12 January 1850–28 May 1920 The doctor told Anna there was nothing wrong with her mother, but all that meant was …
By Lon Young Lon Young’s work has appeared in Notre Dame Review, Cimarron Review, Dialogue, and other publications. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man and beast and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth …
By Kevin Rex Or, right-click to download the audio file here: I See the Moon My mom named and blessed all of our cars, christening Ruby, a 1968 Chevy, as our first van. Mom had the priesthood back then, even before those damn liberal Christian sects gave women the priesthood. Ruby’s …
Congratulations to this year’s Sunstone Fiction Contest winners! The crop of stories this year was especially robust, with an eclectic mix of genres, subjects, and voices. Sunstone subscribers and Patreon patrons (patreon.com/sunstone) can look forward to reading and hearing these stories soon. 1st place: “Companion Claws,” by Larry Menlove. From our judges: “The characters felt …
By Alison Maeser Brimley Or right-click to download the audio here: You Can Give Him a Kiss Alison Maeser Brimley is the winner of the 2017 and 2018 Association of Mormon Letters Short Fiction Awards and the 2017 Mountain West Writers Contest. She lives in Utah with her husband and daughter. This …
By Ryan Shoemaker Ryan Shoemaker is the author of Beyond the Lights, a short story collection from No Record Press. His work has appeared in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Gulf Stream, Santa Monica Review, Booth, Juked, and Silk Road. Or download the audio file here: Adam and Lilith. And Eve God took …
