Fiction Commons^™

Favorites --- I Hate Them, Isadore Camhi

Manuscripts

It's a natural and very common prejudice, I think. Possibly you foster the same one. In me, however, it amounts to an obsession, a supreme dislike for -- favorites. It doesn't matter what kind of favorite it may be; a favorite book, a well-known actor, a famous food, a highly-touted athlete, or possibly even a favorite teacher. I'm against all of them -- before I know exactly why.

Aesthetic Pleasure, Betty Murnan

Manuscripts

Kitty looked skeptically at the tall soda glass in her left hand. It wasn't too shiny, so she dropped it into the dish water - not that she was particular - but sodas were her specialty. There was nothing she liked better than watching a soda bubble up in a tall glass. She took another glass from the shelf behind her, jerked just the right amount of chocolate syrup into it, tipped it sideways, and ran a thin, hard stream of carbonated water clear around the edge of the syrup until it bubbled nearly up to the rim of the …

Winter In The Forest, Dalecarlia, Anshelm Schultzberg

Manuscripts

Illustration by Anshelm Schultzberg courtesy of the John Herron Art Museum.

The Crest, Edward N. Redfield

Manuscripts

Illustration by Edward N. Redfield courtesy of the John Herron Art Museum.

Educating For Democracy, Fred W. Michel

Manuscripts

Education in a democracy must of necessity be of a type which will perpetuate that democracy. This being true, our problem automatically resolves itself into the discussion of three questions: What is education? What is democracy? What elements must be present in the ideal educational system which will further the democracy that nourishes it?

Question On A Street-Car, Jack Kilgore

Manuscripts

"What do tired-eyed people live for?

They seem to have no joy."

"They have their joys the same as we;

Be silent, little boy."

Prophecy, Joan Fuller

Manuscripts

It was in the days of the great wars when tyrants and despots were conquering the world and all peoples were ground into the earth. And it happened that signs and portents of disaster began to be apparent in all places. There were storms upon the sun and great spots, and on the earth explosions and eruptions of mountains and risings of the sea in great waves and many storms on sea and on land. And at that time prophets began to arise, Jews and Gentiles, old men and young, and women And they all began to prophesy the end …

Editorial

Manuscripts

Editorial from Manuscripts staff about the publication of Manuscripts and the declaration of war against Japan.

Front Matter

Manuscripts

Front matter includes: cover by Constance Forsyth, table of contents, and masthead.

Volume 79, Issue 1: Full Issue

Manuscripts

Full issue of the March 2014 issue of Manuscripts. Includes work by: Bob Barrick, Tommy O'Rourke, Earl Townsend, Cassidy Olson, Wesley Sexton, Ritz Davison, Ella Paul, Maggie Carey, Jillian Wanbaugh, Donald Bradley, and Katie Johnson.

Thumbnails, Katie Johnson

Manuscripts

The test group was comprised of thirty children chosen in infancy: all unwanted pregnancies that would have been wasted in public institutions far inferior to ours, without the extensive opportunities for education, for progress. The children required no mothers in our program. Had they ever wished to know their origins, they might have perused the metal file cabinet in which all of their files were kept, right down to the looping signatures of the women who had signed their lives to us. They never did; they were taught better, instructed that origins were of little consequence when compared with the …

Shadows, Donald Bradley

Manuscripts

Oh silent strength

dont vanish yet.

Reflection Of Fate, Ritz Davison

Manuscripts

Photograph of a reflection of a cemetery.

Written On A Wet Page., Tommy O'Rourke

Manuscripts

I could spell it out

in eyelashes but the invisible

boa constrictors that spring out

from your pupils

to strangle and decipher

every scribble are too busy shedding

their scales to sound out "delicate."

Reaching Lilly, Jillian Wanbaugh

Manuscripts

The trees were bare, twisting around themselves in a lifeless way. Some leaned, almost sagging with agony, while the rest remained erect, giving only the illusion of vigor. There were six of them; six black, dead trees forming a circle around her grave. Each wailed as the wind thrashed at their degenerate forms. Winter had eradicated autumn, mercilessly ravishing the land of all viability.

(No Title), Tommy O'Rourke

Manuscripts

Distilled crystals

in the fine print.

Roses, Maggie Carey

Manuscripts

Illustration of a woman with flower in her hair.

Meow, Maggie Carey

Manuscripts

Illustration of a woman in a hat and sunglasses wearing a cat shirt.

Inside Of Love, Maggie Carey

Manuscripts

Illustration of a woman in a blue shirt with bracelets.

Hat, Maggie Carey

Manuscripts

Illustration of a woman in a hat.

Antidepressants, Ella Paul

Manuscripts

Sometimes

I don't believe in anything

Escape To Tranquility, Ritz Davison

Manuscripts

Photograph of river and trees.

The Body Of Christ, Bob Barrick

Manuscripts

The scent of embalming fluid

from bearing the pall at my grandfather's funeral--

Meditation At The Bell Tower, Wesley Sexton

Manuscripts

This is one of those places that is supposed to be important. It is here so you can have a place to go (not so you can do anything there) but just because it is nice to have somewhere to go. More specifically, this place is a place for two people to go together, a place to spend a delightful springtime afternoon, a place to watch the sunset. In short, this is not a spot for the loner, looking for a quiet reprieve (although today I am that loner, and that is what I am doing); this spot is for …

Yellow, Cassidy Olson

Manuscripts

Magnified photograph by Cassidy Olson.

She's Much More Than Cool, Earl Townsend

Manuscripts

Mussolini's in the parking garage eating Fettuccini Alfredo.

I'm in a museum eating squirrel from Philadelphia.

Sometimes I take a shower with nothing else to do.

Carmelia, Tommy O'Rourke

Manuscripts

Carmelia constantly confused the little hairs on her knuckles for tiny fuses leading to the bottle rocket of her soul. She burnt her fingers bald and even singed some skin into rust blotches with the extra-large matchsticks she used to light her Lucky Strikes. Her fingers were always fiddling with the rosary dangling around her neck, which she constructed in the 7th grade using nothing but speaker wire and cigarette butts, both stolen from her father, like her grey-violet eyes. As she danced, her pupils dilated. The booming music. The record player pushed its needle into to vinyl to make …

4 Tricks To Make Her Orgasm- Askmen, Bob Barrick

Manuscripts

Her shoulder, white like a page.

Her sex; her words.

Front Matter

Manuscripts

Front matter includes: front and back covers, table of contents, and masthead.

Volume 4, Issue 2: Full Issue

Manuscripts

Full issue of the January 1937 issue of Manuscripts. Includes work by Wayne Hill, Margaret Pierson, Elizabeth Messick, Margaret Kendall, Mary Burrin, Grace Ferguson, Betty Richart, Charles Aufderheide, Dorothy Steinmeier, Mars B. Ferrell, Cathryn Smith, Ruth Marie Hamill, Phillipa Schreiber, Robert Ayers, Marguerite Ellis, Wilbur Elliot, Margaret Parrish, William Steinmetz, Glenn White, Jack Howard, Richard Joyce, Anne Horne, Dave Craycraft, Charles Hostetter, Ralph W. Morgan, Louise Ryman, Norman Bicking, Dorothy Schilling, Mildred Barnhill, and Marion Swann.