Issue Nine

Welcome to volume three of Devilfish Review. We are pleased to announce the addition of poetry with this issue. It seemed a logical next step in our growth as a serious literary institution. So think of this as our growing issue, a good Spring issue. A lot of our pieces this time around deal with growth and self-discovery and declarations of independence. And for those pieces that don’t fit this theme, well sometimes we just publish things we love, even if they don’t seem to fit in. After all, our roots are in not fitting in. That’s the whole reason we created Devilfish Review in the first place. We may be growing, but we’re still us.

Fiction

Steel Kelly by Bridget A. Natale – When I was a kid, I hated the desert. But then everywhere became the desert. Everywhere that didn’t freeze, that is. So I had a choice: I could keep hating the desert or I could learn to live with it.

Path of Needles, Path of Pins by Kris Millering – You must remember this; there is always a wolf. In the seventeenth century, Emma de Longchamps, a girl of seventeen and just married, was seen walking down a lane on her husband’s country estate.

Reina by Teresa Giordano – It was February, summer, when an old woman sat dozing, her bare legs splayed across the wooden platform of her house on stilts.  The sun was nearing its zenith when the woman, Alvita, was bothered by the call of a macaw – persistent and unusual for that time of day.

Space Sharks by Brandann Hill-Mann – By the time Emmaline hauled her rear-end over the rail of the ship, Dayle and the rest of the crew had slashed the lines to drop the foil sail. Capsizing in space didn’t have the same repercussions as once existed back when sailing meant mist in your face and leagues of blue reflecting blue as far as the eyes could see.

Storm by Ariel Durkee – Evaline never liked taverns. They were too dense and smokey. As alcohol poured, japes inevitably turned to harsh words and then to violence. Though she preferred quieter settings, the loud noise and crowded atmosphere were working in her favor that night. And there was thunder on the horizon, providing a background symphony. Sitting hooded at the bar, nursing a glass of water, she was closed off in a room full of people. It was easy to hide there.

The Scheme Below by Elizabeth Heald – There was a sky above him and Henry felt grateful. It was a lovely winter blue surrounding the great gauzy ball of the sun, which was gold and bright to look at. Henry squinted, blinded by the dazzling light until he found relief beneath the tunnel of tree branches denoting the mouth of the rail… no, trail.

Phenomena by Eric McFarlan – Malcolm regarded the figure on the other side of his desk with distaste. Percival Principal was his name. A small creature with hunched shoulders and a large ego, he was chief investigator in the reports unit.

Elementary Physics by Laura Garrison – Detective Arthur Benson twisted the key the janitor had given him, and felt the padlock spring open in his hand. The heavy chain jangled as it slid out of the handles. His partner, Detective Wilma DeLacy, pulled the door open and stepped inside, and Benson followed behind her.

Poetry

Jennifer Ruth Jackson
What Manner of Sorcery – Quaffed concoction, minus eye of newt
Thunderbird -Ten foot black wings carry a sleek body

Jennifer Neely
Itzpapalotl – Her flesh-naked jaw hangs open;

Mary Hotlen
A Month for Ghosts – Cranes and / Turtles, a / Red moon / As sign;
In The House – Someone is in the house. Like a satisfied / Cat named for a queen, it dresses in gentian light

Lisa Grove
How We Make Love in Lake Michigan – Back right left belly back halflefthalfbelly

Mark Petrie
Invisible – Heading home from San Diego, somewhere / on the desert stretch of the I-10 between Yuma
Visiting the Farm – The stretch from Black Canyon / City to Verde Valley winds up

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