Spectral Graffiti
LORRAINE SCHEIN
Keith Haring, now a bespectacled ghost, sprays ectoplasm diluted with dirty water onto the cold walls of Heaven.
They freeze into grimy ice sculptures of flying saucers, big babies and antic fornicating gay men.
Hell doesn’t consider this art. Demons rise up to destroy his work, melt it down with flame throwers.
But just as the first spark ignites a mud-spattered baby’s rump, a flutter of angels swoops down and banishes the fiends back to their fiery home.
“Why?” yowls one demon. “He’s defacing your Heaven!”
Arms crossed, one angel says smugly, “But God and the American ghosts like it.”
Lorraine Schein has published in Strange Horizons, Scientific American, and the anthologies Wild Women and Tragedy Queens. Her latest book is The Lady Anarchist Cafe, available from Autonomedia and Amazon.
This month...
Contributions from...
April Crumbs Winners
Joan Sosin, K.A. Vargas, Kelsey Flaherty, Lorraine Schein, Nicholas De Marino
and...
Andrew E. Love, Jr., Beth Sherman, E.J. LeRoy, Gabrielle Bleu, Gail Brown, H. Marin, Isabel Night, Jason Ryberg, Karama Neal, Karl El-Koura, Katie Dee, Lisa Timpf, Marina, Matt Handle, Moira Richardson, Nicholas De Marino, Nissa Harlow, Pamela Love, Paul Hostovsky, Rachel Cordasco, Sam Lesek, Stephen Ground, Sy Power, Sylvie Soul, Ziggy Schutz
Cover art
featuring photograph by Redd Francisco (2017)
PDF and EPUB zines of June's stories available exclusively to paid subscribers:
CRUMBS Vol.003 Theme
a drabble writing contest
We are pleased to announce that submissions for our third themed writing contest are now open!
The theme for June's drabble contest is...
OPEN TO ALL GENRES FOR JUNE'S CONTEST AND SUBMISSIONS ARE FREE
(one per person)
Emma and I can't wait to see what you come up with!
Winners are will be published in August and awarded:
- Miette d'Or: $15
- Bouchée du Benêt: $10
- Three Les Brisures: $5
CRUMBS Vol.002 Winners
a drabble writing contest
It is time to announce the winners of our second CRUMBS drabble writing contest!
As a reminder, the theme for April was...
And here are the winners:
Les Brisures
- Kelsey Flaherty
- Lorraine Schein
- Nicholas De Marino
Bouchée du Benêt
- Joan Sosin
Miette d'Or
- K.A. Vargas
We will be publishing their stories over the first five days of June!
Report
E. FLORIAN GLUDOVACZ
Dear High Commander,
The journey to the Dark Lord’s lands is long and arduous and our quest is far from over. We have been sneaking along back roads, battling goblins and orcs at every turn while being chased by the Lord’s minions and dark spirits. We are cold, hungry, and oh so weary. Our mode of travel seemed like a good idea at the time, but it has taken a toll on our health and morale.
As far as we are concerned, our mission has failed. We recommend that our backup teams take the train instead.
Best regards,
The Fellowship
Florian writes long and short stories, likes cheese, and is a friend to dogs and pandas everywhere. @ndbag.bsky.social
The Finest Horologist This Side of Tycho Crater
CHRIS DOTY-DUNN
Dear Malcolm,
Please find enclosed your antique pocket watch—your grandfather's, as I recall?—returned in working order and no longer silent.
As I suspected, moon dust had caked the inside, gumming up the mechanism like plaque around a heart. An interminable problem when using a watch like this up here, where dust is so ubiquitous.
As a watchmaker, I suggest keeping your heirloom sealed in the hermetic case provided. But as a grandfather...
Perhaps with both clocks and hearts, there's no reason to have them if you don't intend to use them.
Yours in ticks and beats,
Jonathan Montgomery
Armstrong Horology
—Chris Doty-Dunn
Again
MONICA WENZEL
“Wait!” Someone shouted at Noah. Someone who sounded like him.
Someone who looked like him, too, except for his bandaged wrist and dirty clothes.
“Don’t do that.”
Noah stopped with his hand on the time machine door. “Are you me?”
“From the future. I came back to stop you.”
“Wait, it worked!”
“Not exactly.”
“But it worked. I gotta warn them.”
“They won’t listen. Save us the trouble. Don’t go.”
“I have to try.”
Noah entered the machine before he could stop himself. Another dirtier Noah ran up to the time machine. They looked at themselves.
“We didn’t listen?”
“Again.”
Monica lives in Minnesota with her family and cats. She teaches high school Spanish.
The Clockmaker’s Last Minute
ETTA WYNN
The village clock refused to strike thirteen. Every night, Ezra wound it, hoping for a crack in time, a whisper from tomorrow.
Neighbors complained. “It’s just a clock,” they said. But Ezra knew better. He had seen the shadows of moments yet to come, stretching like fingers across his walls.
One evening, a woman in violet shoes appeared at his door. She held a watch that ticked backward. “I’m late,” she said. “Or maybe too early.”
Ezra took it, felt the tick slip under his skin. He wound his clock, listened, and the walls of the room softened into something liquid.
The thirteenth chime arrived—silent, soft as a sigh. Outside, the villagers moved like marionettes, repeating yesterday in reverse. Ezra stepped out.
He felt the wind rearrange his hair, his thoughts, even the order of his memories.
When the woman left, the backward watch vanished. But the village still hummed to the thirteenth chime, and Ezra smiled. Time, after all, had grown curious.
—Etta Wynn