Inside This Edition

For the month of February, we’re pleased to present you with a group of stories that each interpret—in their own strange and unique way—the theme of guilt and regret: Stories of repentance, remorse, and all manner of mistakes. Though, despite the heaviness of the topic, it’s not all doom and gloom. We have a wide variety of genres and storylines, styles and voices; comedy and drama are both on the menu, and since each story does something new with the theme, there’s no risk of boredom.

Samantha Bloom’s The Fig Tree is sophisticated and engrossing; the gorgeous writing, reminiscent of classic literature, will make you savor each word. The paragraphs burst with lavish, three-dimensional descriptions, enticing characters and well-placed flashbacks, and build to a conclusion that is satisfying and masterful.

Other stories featured in this edition include The Mustard by Andy Covert, a wildly entertaining piece that will keep you in stitches, buoyed by a clever what-if premise that reaches new, absurdist heights; David’s Robe by Matthew Heimgartner, a romantic tragedy and a well-constructed glance at a doomed former couple’s briefly-rekindled romance—which makes for a perfect post-Valentine’s Day treat for the cynics and broken hearts among us; and Zofia’s Evil Inside You, which challenges the reader to step into the story and assume the life of the paranoid, evil-doer protagonist.

While we can’t promise our guilt-and-regret edition will alleviate you of any guilt and regret you may harbor, we can promise that this issue is 100% guilt-free, and reading it will never be a regret.

Enjoy!