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Feign Fiction Magazine

@feignlitmag

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A place for your fictions, publishing original work by emerging & established writers online every 7th & 21st of the month.
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Reno, NV

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Gabriel looked away from me when I told him, focused on something beyond my line of sight, out of our kitchen window. He was still in his work clothes, fresh from evening mass, and I resisted the urge to pull open the knot at the base of his tie, allowing him that tiny bit more comfort.

I watched the light move across Gabriel’s face as I sought to read his expression. He looked exhausted. Angry, even. I understood. I’d rode down to the old steel mill after my appointment. It was abandoned now, a roost for pigeons, and I’d sat on a crumbling cement block and watched the creek run. I’d looked at my liter of whiskey at least a hundred times before hurling the bottle as hard as I could against the cement.
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From Allegra Armstrong’s “Give It Away to Keep It,” a heart wrenching story about love found and lost, and what is gained when addiction is left unfed. Read the story in full on www.feignlit.com. by @feignlitmag

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2 months ago

New interview with previous contributor Clark Merrefield @cmerref is up on www.feignlit.com! We discuss the origins of “Objects of Interest,” Clark’s recommended reading, and the aching nostalgia behind “splendor within reach.” Read the full interview on the website and check out “Objects of Interest” in our archives. #fiction #litmag #writing #author #shortstories by @feignlitmag

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2 months ago

I watched the children kick a ball around on the playground as she spoke, their aim inexact, their little legs still uncoordinated. The results had shown some abnormalities, the nurse explained, could I come in and speak with the doctor sometime this week? I was afraid to ask what abnormalities she was talking about, and relieved when she didn’t specify. We scheduled the appointment for the next day, a Thursday. Gabriel would be at work. Whatever the abnormalities were, they were probably minor, I told myself. No use in worrying him.
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From Allegra Armstrong’s “Give It Away to Keep It” which you can read online at www.feignlit.com.
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Allegra Armstrong is a descendent of the Jersey Devil and the guy who invented water ice. Originally from Philadelphia, she lives in Atlanta. She is a PhD student, a labor organizer, and an advocate for car free communities.
#fiction #litmag #writing #writers #shortstories by @feignlitmag

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2 months ago

There are two types of men in this world. Show the first type that you need him and he will take it as his cue to cut and run. I wagered that Gabriel would be the second type, the kind who found being needed irresistibly arousing. I was right. We were married two years later.
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Allegra Armstrong is a descendent of the Jersey Devil and the guy who invented water ice. Originally from Philadelphia, she lives in Atlanta. She is a PhD student, a labor organizer, and an advocate for car free communities.

Read “Give It Away to Keep It” online at www.feignlit.com. by @feignlitmag

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2 months ago

♤♡♢♧ submissions? always open, and you can bet on that 🂱 Feign is a fiction magazine, where writers are welcome to submit stories up to 6,000 words long. Recent contributors include Allegra Armstrong, Sarah Oechsle, Malsoma, Eileen Stelter, Jackie Alvarado, Abdulrahman A. Yahaya, Burke De Boer, Salvatore Difalco, Clark Merrefield, Sirrudeen Nahar, Thomas P. Balázs, Shane Joaquin Jimenez, and Jarret Keene. Feign is always open for submissions and free to read online. Submission guidelines can be found at feignlit.com. To get a feel for what we accept, consider reading one or all of the amazing stories on the site, or check out the featured and archived interviews with our contributors. #fiction #shortstory #litmag #writer #submissions by @feignlitmag

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2 months ago

Allegra Armstrong devastates with stark, honest prose in “Give It Away to Keep It.” In the story, Ana attempts to fend off dark desires but two men pierce her heart and make her question her true purpose. Read this beautiful and heartbreaking work in full on www.feignlit.com.
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If Jamie wanted to see me, it meant he wanted to begin our affair again, one that had been easy to begin, painful to stop. I both relished and dreaded the idea of touching him. On one hand there was Jamie’s physical beauty, his easy laughter and our chemistry. Being with Jamie made me feel like my life made sense. But returning to Jamie also meant submitting to the tides of the affair, the way he came and went from me, his devotion to his wife and daughters and the jealousy that gripped me when I thought of how he loved them.

I watched geese swim in the muddy creek below.
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Allegra Armstrong is a descendent of the Jersey Devil and the guy who invented water ice. Originally from Philadelphia, she lives in Atlanta. She is a PhD student, a labor organizer, and an advocate for car free communities.
#writer #fiction #shortstory #litmag #prose by @feignlitmag

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2 months ago

I kneel and begin to hack with the serrated edge of Granddad’s knife. One of the puppies—leggy and skittish in his adolescence—moves in too close, and I whirl, brandishing the blade. He understands the baring of teeth in our inter-species creole, and backs away.

I pop the joint on the buck’s haunch and take my share in my arms. Tonight, I’ll roast it and give the puppies what I can’t eat. They’ve grown to love these primitive table scraps, and don’t fear my fire like the others do. In them, I feel phantoms of the old world, and some world before that one. A pact of blood and teeth and fire. Redbone watches us from the shadows, golden eyes flashing in the firelight, and I wonder if he remembers.
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Sarah Oechsle lives in Western North Carolina with three dogs and one man. Her short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Ploughshares, Flash Fiction Magazine, Bright Flash, Weird Lit, and elsewhere.

She loves to write about animals.
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Read “Dog Person” in full on www.feignlit.com by @feignlitmag

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2 months ago

Sirrudeen Nahar @sirrudeen joins us for some questions about their beautiful story, “Undine.” We discuss how writers can branch off from the literary canon, writing advice to take and what to leave behind, and Nahar’s recent recommendations for reading. Read the full interview online at www.feignlit.com. by @feignlitmag

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2 months ago

The pack has something cornered this morning. Their feral symphony leads me down to the creek where the woods are wet and fragrant, shaking off winter in sprays of redbud and dogwood. It’s the first spring in six years that has arrived properly. Our prey—a yearling buck—is a sign of resurrection. I swear I can smell him. The sound of gnashing teeth meets me at the water’s edge.

They want my knife, I know. The buck thrashes at bay, so hard it’s a fight to get the blade to him. His screaming and the metal reek of his blood make my mouth water. I shake the gore off my hands once he draws still.

The pack clears a path for Redbone, who takes his share first. His yellow eyes flash up at me and I step away, too. Then it’s my turn.
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Sarah Oechsle lives in Western North Carolina with three dogs and one man. Her short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Ploughshares, Flash Fiction Magazine, Bright Flash, Weird Lit, and elsewhere. She loves to write about animals.
Read “Dog Person” in full on www.feignlit.com by @feignlitmag

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2 months ago

Drift back to Deck Ten and bathe in the tender prose of Sirrudeen Nahar’s “Undine.” Exploring the emotions of a failed love triangle from a new perspective, Nahar’s “Undine” is a fresh experiment on an old myth. Read “Undine” in our archives, found in Previous Decks on www.feignlit.com. A new interview with Sirrudeen Nahar can also be found on www.feignlit.com/featuredinterview. by @feignlitmag

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3 months ago

As the pack let me get closer, I was able to prove my usefulness. I followed them into a ruined Walmart and showed I could move objects, climb ladders, retrieve cans from the high shelves and puncture them with an old pair of gardening shears. I wanted to show the pack that we could help each other. That I could be a bridge between their world and whatever fruits remained of our old one, in hopes they might offer me the same.

It was protection I needed most of all. I learned firsthand one pre-dawn when a pair of ravaged outlaws came upon us and showed me the gleaming blade of a machete. What did I have but Granddad’s hunting knife and four limbs weak with hunger? Redbone caught one man by the calf and tore him up so badly that his friend just left him behind. Like a drunk executioner, I missed his neck and left the machete sticking out of his sternum instead. The dogs stopped his screaming. After that, it seemed we were friends.
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From Sarah Oechsle’s “Dog Person” which can be read in full on www.feignlit.com. #litmag #shortstory #fiction #writer by @feignlitmag

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3 months ago

Fiction that suits you, cowboys and maidens and cryptids all. ♧ ♢ ♤ ♡ Feign is an online fiction magazine, where writers are welcome to submit stories up to 6,000 words long. Recent contributors include Allegra Armstrong, Sarah Oechsle, Malsoma, Eileen Stelter, Jackie Alvarado, Abdulrahman A. Yahaya, Burke De Boer, Salvatore Difalco, Clark Merrefield, Sirrudeen Nahar, Thomas P. Balázs, Shane Joaquin Jimenez, and Jarret Keene. Feign is always open for submissions and free to read online. Submission guidelines can be found at feignlit.com. To get a feel for what we accept, consider reading one or all of the amazing stories on the site, or check out the featured and archived interviews with our contributors. #fiction #shortstory #litmag #writer #submissions by @feignlitmag

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3 months ago