New Content
January 2009
- Here is where the editors at Rumble explain why they have not published an issue for so long: The submissions were good but not good enough, so we waited. We played the waiting game, and won. Sorry it took so long. Now everything will be better, because Obama is almost president. The writing will be better, and you will be better humans, won’t you? Yes, you will.
- Before and Well After Midnight, a new chapbook of poetry by long-time Rumble contributor Luis C. Berriozabal, is reviewed here.
- HTML GIANT, a new magazine of literary news, criticism, and occasional pictures of naked boobs, has been born.
- Where Have You Gone, Sinead O’ Connor? (Poem) by Luis C. Berriozabal
- Pinned by David Erlewine
Matt asks me to pass the salt. I hand it to him, not looking at the pin affixed to his shirt... - Pencils by Tai Dong Huai
In Mrs. Kaye’s fifth grade social studies class, every first Thursday of the month was Guest Speaker Day. From 2:10 until 2:40, some unfortunate adult would be roped into talking about what they did for a living... - The Last Cannibal In Brooklyn (Poem) by David Kowalczyk
- Pink by Ann Walters
They meet at the motel, where neon light licks the wet ground...
New Content
September 2008
- Now We Are 4
- We celebrate our 4th anniversary with stories by Peter Cherches, Merle Drown, and Tai Dong Huai, plus a poem by Arlene Ang. We congratulate Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal on the publication of his new chapbook, Garden Of Rocks and Bob Thurber for winning the Newport Review's 2008 Flash Fiction contest.
- The Body At Rest (Poem) by Arlene Ang
- Mr. Mondrian’s Confusion by Peter Cherches
A former Mr. Mondrian, three-time winner of the Mr. Mondrian pageant (a Mondrian lookalike contest (not Mondrian the painter but rather the paintings of Mondrian... - Embattled Are We All by Merle Drown
My brother Andy changes the talk from the cancer that could kill him, talk I’ve flown two thousand miles to have... - Pride Goeth Before A Fall by Merle Drown
In July of his fiftieth year he bought a large, red motorcycle and paid for private lessons to learn to ride. He kept the chrome gleaming, the paint shining, the leather clean. During his summer vacation from teaching, he rode one day and removed dirt, dust, and grime the next... - Deception by Tai Dong Huai
I have been warned by my adoptive dad a million times. “People you meet online are not necessarily who they say they are.” But this guy seems all right. He’s told me that his name is Chase, that he’s my age – sixteen – and that he has a Samoyed named Rosalie that’s impossible to train...
New Content
July 2008
- Clouds are anti-sponges. You can use silver iodide to seed clouds, to make it rain. These stories are anti-literature. You can use Kurt Vonnegut and Swamp Thing to seed your brain, and anti-literature comes out.
- There Are No Hills In This Town by Jimmy Chen
From a car stopped at red, Jill looks small for a human. This is an optical illusion created by the large building she stands in front of. Jill waits for the bus trying to read her book... - Christmas 1989 by Audree Flynn
It’s medicine-red, and vaguely tastes like cherry kool-aid; they don’t waste sugar down at 201 Poplar... - The Tallest Man by James Grinwis
When I met the tallest man in the world, it was noon. He was ten feet nine inches, and he walked like an enormous sail in a uninspired breeze, or a hull bumping against the shoreline with a lone tendril of wind... - The Garden of Modern Bureaucracy A Poem by Ernest Williamson III
New Content
May 2008
- Four new microscopic stories that will kick your ass with a golden boot and make you feel yummy in your brain. You may feel a little floaty too, but that is normal.
- Misinformation by Luis C. Berriozabal
I have been tinkering with my DNA, scraping off my fingerprints with a file, and making funny faces to change the way I look. I have changed my name each week and signed my name differently every time I have to sign something.... - In The Car by Merle Drown
“We had to go outside to screw,” Connie said. - The Guy Who Writes Faster than Me by Matt Marinovich
I can understand the fact he’s inspired and even forgive him for wearing a culturally significant scarf as he types on his silvery Apple laptop in the public library, but it’s the pause between the clacking, the soft chuckling, as if he knows he’s really nailed it this time... - Excerpt 3 from Pest by Wayne Sullins
Like everyone, I learned to walk as a child. But in Paris I learned to love to walk, to get lost in the narrow sinuous lanes of the 9 th and 18th arrondissements... - MICRO FICTION CONTEST: Submissions are now being taken for the 1st Annual Micro Award, an award for previously published fiction not over 1000 words in length. Authors and editors may each submit one story published in 2007. The submission deadline this year is September 30. Submissions may be mailed to Micro Award, POB 9110, Chico, CA, 95927-9110.
- Rules are posted at the Micro Award Official Website.
New Content
March 2008
It is Spring now. Here are 5 fresh pieces of microscopic fiction. After you read them go outside and look for flowers. Encourage bees to feed, to drink deep.
- The Red Lesson by Jill Barth
When the girl came to me for help, my initial thought was not concern, certainly not concern but stupid confusion. What is she asking me? I couldn’t recall if she was in my second or third period... - Tangerines and the Magic Feline by Michael Frissore
There was once a girl named Amy. She was a silly girl, very cute. She rooted for the Dolphins so that she and Mike could win some money. But when they didn’t win, a mean Italian man broke both of Mike’s legs... - Forsaking Corporate by Larry Gaffney
His employment at the Corporation having reached its breaking point, Myles Dunning arrived at work in a starched white shirt, yellow power tie, propeller beanie, bronco-buster pajama bottoms, and fluffy Bunny slippers... - At the Café Select by Amy Nawrocki
Rue Montparnasse bustles outside the café window. It seems that there are very few hours of daylight in the Paris winter, though perhaps when something is condensed we can find the best part of it, like the pulp of a nut... - Making Small Things by Siolo Thompson
When I was seven I had one sister and two brothers. When I was eight I had two brothers, but no sister. When I did have a sister people would always say that we didn’t look alike at all...
Important
March 2008
Jacques Rancourt’s story Fireflies has been chosen for inclusion in the Dzanc Books Best Of The Web 2008 Anthology. We nominated him so we will take 1% of the credit.
Rumble hasn’t published for a while. For those who are submitting, please be patient. We will publish a new issue as soon as we have some good writing to publish. For readers, why not have a look at some of our previously published material? If you like what you see, please send us a free mac airbook. We would appreciate it and say nice things about you.
New Content
December 2007
Catch snowflakes on your tongue! Be nice to your friends! Soon it will be Christmas!
- Micro Fiction by Tao Lin
Not fiction, but a monograph by the author of the novel Eeeee Eee Eeee. We recommend the purchasing of this novel. It is unique and thoughtful. - My Sixth Birthday by Karina Mahan
The day of my sixth birthday, my parents took me to a Chinese restaurant. This was one of my precious few childhood memories. I can’t remember much of my life up until my parent’s divorce, which was two years later to the date... - Small Hands by Shellie Zacharia
She had small hands. Like doll hands her old lover used to say. He had big hands and a need to hold her tight...
New Content
November 2007
- I Taste Fire by Brenda Nicholas
When I was five, my father’s girlfriend set our house on fire. My mother shook me from sleep and yelled “We have to get out!” She carried me in her arms and my surroundings hazed together... - 55 Word Story by Kengo Tsutsumi
- The Web Death 2007 New Absurdist Anthology has been published and is available for free download, courtesy of Bust Down The Doors. It features the Absurdist writings of past and present members of the temporarily dead website The New Absurdist.
New Content
October 2007
- This is the month where you say “Boo” like ghosts and eat candy.
- The Auditorium by Billie Bernard
There is a moment I always come back to, my mother in my ear and she is saying you don’t have to stay if you don’t want to, and I am in an auditorium that smells like boy-sweat, which makes me ten years old and wishing I had a penis... - Cemetery Hill by Laura A. Ciraolo
There’s a recurring dream I have in which all that’s familiar fades out where Cemetery Hill goes off into infinite grasslands and forests... - Objects by Lasse Saillard
Throwing things, throwing things, throwing things. Nat is in the kitchen and Jess, he’s in the room next to the kitchen, the only other room, and he’s not yelling, he’s receiving the objects...
New Content
August 2007
- Rumble conducts a digital interview withWayne Sullins. Wayne’s new book of micro/flash fiction is Najimi from Wasteland Press. Rumble published two excerpts from Najimi back in 2004.
- Stop (Bus) by Ayn Frances dela Cruz
It always seems that way, like the way you feel when you been left by the bus again, because you did not raise your head... - The Striped Blue Afghan by Erica Lorraine
The striped blue afghan is already on his lap and I pull it on mine. It’s late and my sister is out with his sister and we’re watching Twilight Zone, the movie... - i have dogs that will ruin you by Gene Morgan
My dogs sniff DVDs. These are my dogs. They will find your shit. They will sniff your DVDs. Bill Paxton and Meg Ryan will get that mad DVD money. You will lose your family... - FIREFLIES by Jacques Rancourt
Melissa liked to store things: confirmation cards, copper bells, old shoelaces. She saved all her Halloween candy until Christmas and all her Christmas candy until Easter, and saved that until her eighth birthday that summer... - FIREWORKS by Jacques Rancourt
At night, the sky sprouts with fire. Jamie and his family sit on the dock and watch blazes of blue, red, purple and green light up Greenwood Pond and then disappear. Gunpowder echoes through the surrounding mountains after each pop... - Red Delicious by Loree Stark
She stands up. She’s holding an apple. As she tells me why she’s leaving, I stare at the apple—the last piece of evidence that she’s doubting her cause...
New Content
July 2007
- We celebrate our 3rd anniversary with this issue.
Everyone at Rumble extends sincere thanks and happy thoughts to all the writers who have helped make our publication what it is—a home for quality micro fiction and poetry. We wish we could hand out slices of cake, because you deserve cake, but we have no cake. - A Grateful Town by Sean Mclain Brown
Everyone in our town believes in the war. Mobs in other towns are angry at the way the wind blows. Us? We get along just fine, bending like bamboo in a Hurricane. So very Zen... - Hired At Growlers by Shane Jones
Nancy did as instructed by the young man and the young woman before she went to bed. That is, she put on her Growlers costume... - Elegy for Samuel by Nicholas Ripatrazone
His teeth were corn, his gums were salted meat. The hair on his forearms bunched in furred clusters. His laugh was long, absolute, and released a healthy amount of spit... - Past Life by Ross White
Cold only a few days, already the memory of warm was fading. The bark of the long magnolia he had climbed as a child, from which he had surveyed continents, measured the continental drift of his parents’ silence...
New Content
June 2007
- Johnny Twilight by David Ensminger
Johnny Twilight spent half of each day trying to get up, the other half preparing to get up. Around 4:00 p.m., he’d do some crystal meth and grab a few Budweisers, always adding a note of reduction to his high... - Mercado by J.B. Hogan
Two nuns from South America, brown paper bags of pan de agua from a nearby panadería clutched under their arms, crossed a bustling street into the Rio Piedras mercado about two blocks east of the main University of Puerto Rico campus...
Rumble Recommends
Minimalist Fiction Novels
- Eeeee Eee Eeee by Tao Lin
- The Human War by Noah Cicero
- i will never write a book by Ellen Kennedy
- Najimi by Wayne Sullins
New Content
May 2007
- Mass Media by Jai Britton
"Here's the plot," he says, "This guy, no one likes him, see? And then he listens to the news and his body parts start dropping off one at a time." - Detritus by Eric Freedman
Her tattered dress flutters from the flurry of her stick legs dashing out to meet my cab. She waves her hand in a circular motion and yells something I can't hear... - Spill by Kerri Quinn
This guy, she can't remember his name, is on top of her, his bony hips digging into hers. Last night against the cool white bathroom sink he couldn't remember her name either, whispering baby, baby into her ear... - Something To Remember You By by Bob Thurber
My father's taxi arrived early, nearly half an hour ahead of schedule. The driver blasted the horn continuously until Dad, carrying a single suitcase, ran out to talk with him... - Fever by William Wilde
The paving on the street outside is black gum, the residential yards are miasmic tangles. In the news, an arsonist sets fires somewhere, perversely...
New Content
March 2007
- A review of the short story collection Believers by Nathan Leslie. Nathan made his debut on Rumble with Magazines. This is Nathan's fifth published volume of short stories.
- A French Quarter argument by Teresa Tumminello Brader
You walk down the alley from the courtyard of the Royal Street apartment. The quiet is absolute until you pull on the massive door that leads to the street and then you hear the trill of a trumpet... - Bath by Mary L. Hamilton
Heat makes steam and steam covers the mirror in condensation. Condensation covers her reflection in streaks of solid mist. Marisol turns from the mirror and lets go her robe. Tests the water with her toes. Opens a jar of bath salts... - Full Moon On A Winter Morning by Roger Poppen
Its solemn face hangs in a yellowish gray swath between pink horizon below and deep blue vault above. The stars have faded, the sun not yet risen, and this pale, mottled ball floats alone in the frozen sky... - Hysteria by J.R. Salling
(Poem) In Paris he gathers soldiers, on leave from battle, looks for red softenings in exposed gray matter... - In Preparation for Martyrdom by Edward Salem
I imagine young Katherine Hepburn in Rafah or Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip in an iridescent robe among a swarm of Intifada youths... - Joy by Eva Konstantopoulos
There is a picture of her, maybe twenty or twenty-two, on the wall in the corner. She stands in a blue leotard with a huge crooked smile on her face, a man with a tall hat beside her... - Less Hyper by Edward Salem
All six of the boys' fathers were arrested. The six boys separately wept a little with their families before stealing away after dark to meet at Abu Suf, a kind of makeshift haunt on the steep hillside of a fertile valley abandoned by Bedouins... - Undertow by Miriam N. Kotzin
Walking here in the late afternoon, my feet sank ankle deep in sun-warmed sand. I lie on the thin blanket we used on our bed when we were first married. Beneath me the sand is firm as a mattress... - We Create Earth As We Sleep by Eva Konstantopoulos
She wore a bra for him on Thursday. She hadn't worn one in weeks, months even. Not since she went to the beach and realized she could get by on a windy day with just a thick shirt...
Notice & A Style Note
New E-mail Address
Spamming on Yahoo e-mail accounts has skyrocketed, and occasionally legitimate submission e-mails get bounced to the bulk folder. Because of this we've acquired a new e-mail address you may use for submissions:
rumble dot microfiction at gmail dot com
You may still use the old e-mail address but you risk having your e-mail deleted unread from the bulk folder.
Style Note
Sometimes I forget that people still browse with Internet Explorer. I always browse with Firefox, a modern browser that allows this site to strut its stuff. So if you see something obviously wrong with the site, do me a favor and e-mail me with the header "Your Page Sucks in IE!". I happened to look at the site with Explorer today and saw some errors and (hopefully) fixed them. So let me know. Thanks!
Other Content
Well preserved by our Webmaster
Mini Archive of content published on Rumble over the past few months. Because the front page gets too crowded. And please don't forget to check out the fabulous Author Biographies page and learn more about the Rumble contributors.