Reva Speaks a New Dialectby Shastri AkellaBWR 2024 Fiction Contest Runner-upReva doesn’t get a bridal welcome: she hears neither shehnai nor danka when her palanquin is lowered in front of her husband’s house, and when she steps out, in place of a group of women...

Annual Report; or, The Achievements of the Junior Colleagueby Corey Van LandinghamBWR 49.2 Poetry Contest WinnerI restored the Capitol and the theatre of Pompey, both works at great expense without inscribing my own name on either.  [….]  I am pontifex maximus, augur,...

from River of Loveby Kami EnzieBWR 49.2 Flash Contest Runner-UpLike a morgue of oranges inside the lower crisper laid. Loose rinds bruised, and if not torn, still their battered segments will again never repaired be, not really. Waxy bodies deep welled yet near zested...

Occipitalby Engram WilkinsonBWR 49.2 Flash Contest WinnerHe sat, experiencing the familiar itch in his brain along the edge of a lobe whose name he could never remember. A body is a simple disappointment. He used it to look at his co-workers, who looked at each other...

Mother Roadby Lauren HohleBWR 49.2 Fiction Contest Runner-UpBefore she was my mother, my mother performed in a hallelujah band on an Alaskan cruise ship. She sang “Shine, Jesus Shine”  and shook a tambourine and strummed a pock-marked Sears catalog guitar for three...

Theatre Masksby Dennis MugaaBWR 49.2 Fiction Contest WinnerI remember the day Gumato disappeared so clearly. We had just arrived from Johannesburg at six in the morning. We were outside the airport arrivals terminal. Our history teacher, Mr. T, was calling our school...