Issues » The Golden Key

In the Belly of the Bear by A.A. Balaskovits

by Editors Posted on March 4, 2018

The Golden Key Flash Fiction Open 2017 Honorable Mention, judged by Carmen Maria Machado She was indigestible – this, a gift from her godmother, the one with whose lips danced around wine cups. The blessing was blurted out because she … Continue reading →

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When Tigers Used to Smoke by Jeffrey MacLachlan

by Editors Posted on May 29, 2017

When tigers used to smoke, there were houses where death didn’t come. When night fell, fog poured in from the woods, and the decrepit inhaled sweet purple steam. Cheeks smoothed as if exiting a long spa, and posture restored itself … Continue reading →

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Serpentes Love by Renjana S.

by Editors Posted on May 22, 2017

I was given no contract to sign, no disclaimer listing the drawbacks of being human. No one told me that my tongue would begin to split at the slightest emotional trigger, that my skin would start to wrinkle and fold … Continue reading →

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Before and After the Battle of Los Angeles by Mark Danowsky

by Editors Posted on May 15, 2017

Oregon, 1927 A bowler hat is seen in flight Volunteer firefighters snap a photo The hat drifts off into evergreens * In 1952 the hat visits Passaic, New Jersey * 1960: the hat goes on holiday to Italy with two … Continue reading →

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Aftermath by Lisa Baird

by Editors Posted on May 8, 2017

She saves spent light bulbs, wraps blown bulbs tenderly in tissue saved from birthday parties, stows them in stacked boxes, carefully labeled as close as she can get to the exact time the tungsten fragmented. She holds a service for … Continue reading →

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I Followed Lydia into the Great Thaw by Shelby Tuthill

by Editors Posted on May 1, 2017

I came upon Lydia in the garden, plucking her one-eyed cat’s glass eyeball from the soil. Flakes from the white winter were burrowing into the ground, into the blood- stream of the earth. Bluebells reflected in her eyes. Twigs snapped … Continue reading →

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Medium by Ann DeVilbiss

by Editors Posted on April 24, 2017

A hand, eggshell white, hangs over the chair’s arm in a stillness that draws out the dead. Where before she seemed ordinary, now she flickers as though lit with a faulty bulb. The room perches on the rise of each … Continue reading →

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The Coldest Woman Still Alive by Maria Mills

by Editors Posted on April 17, 2017

You want me to tell you what’s going to happen? Grease ice will form first, then slush. We must be careful not to bury too suddenly those who are very cold. A woman in Norway skiing in the mountains fell … Continue reading →

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The Ghost’s Story by Gordon Brown

by Editors Posted on April 10, 2017

I thought she’d be fat. I thought there was a rule about these things. You don’t get to sing Wagner unless you’re a rosy giantess. Unless you look like you stepped out of a paint by Rubens. Then and only … Continue reading →

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Second Birth by Shahé Mankerian

by Editors Posted on April 3, 2017

When we killed the wolf, the butcher began to carve open the stomach. Inside the fuming belly, we found a sheep, a cock, a hood the color of pomegranates, Parlophone records of Lili Kraus, a Citroën hubcap, Bonaparte’s last letter … Continue reading →

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