"Chicken Finger" out in The Dark (+bonus rex)

Hello! In case you haven’t been following along, I am still shouting into the void about how my story “Chicken Finger” is now up and free to read in the latest issue of the Dark.

People who've read this one seem to enjoy it, which is nice! They’re saying complimentary things about it like “weird” and/or “gross”. It’s the story of a family outing to something called 'Innard Expo'. It’s Bridget’s first time and she’s hungry for something

“I’m so glad you were finally able to come,” Father said, and now he and Mother both looked down expectantly at her, as if she was meant to reciprocate, as if there were some secret password she was meant to invoke. Teachers and family friends gave her no small amount of grief for being so quiet, so shy, but it was her right, wasn’t it? To keep herself to herself, if she so chose? People loved to ask what she wanted to be when she grew up, they insisted on knowing this tidbit about her, but she would never answer, for the simple reason that she did not envision herself existing in the future. Grown-up Bridget was not a firefighter, or hairdresser, or the CEO of a pharmaceutical company; she was a non-entity, an emptiness where one of those people might one day stand.

And lest things get too self-promotional, allow me to recommend you another story about someone who’s hungry, in this case a guy named Trevor in the aptly-titled "Trevor is Hungry" by Sasha Brown, a flash-fiction romp out now at Small Wonders. Over on Bluesky, Brown called this "the most Sasha Brown of all Sasha Brown stories" so either you know Sasha's work and have some idea of the level of hijinks this description implies, or you've never read him in which case, well, you’re in for a treat.

Also, I’ve said this before but: if you don’t read The Dark, you should! I've recommended quite a few things here, and here's one more: "Vain Knife" by Dare Segun Falowo, which is reminiscent of the cruelest of fairytales, complete with wicked witches and deals with the devil, all rendered in nightmarish detail. Also, I've never done this on the newsletter but I'm gonna spoiler this next bit [highlight to read]: I love how the title basically gives the game away, albeit in perhaps the most cryptic possible way…

Of course you also owe it to yourself to check out the rest of this month's issue with stories from the likes of Nelson Stanley (“Mercy”), Kelsea Yu(“Obedient Son”), and Ai Jiang(“Red God Waiting”).

(And finally, in case you missed it, I’d encourage you to check out my story "Enselfening" which was in The Dark as well last October.)

Thanks!