EASTERN IOWA REVIEW
  • Home
    • EIR Updates
    • About Us
    • Masthead
    • Port Yonder Press >
      • Chapbooks
    • Eastern Iowa Review
  • Guidelines
  • FAQs
  • Current Issue
    • Issue 19
  • Past Issues
    • Lyric Essay Issues >
      • The Lyric Essay
      • Issue 16 - Come, Wander
      • Issue 10 - Spring 2020
      • Issue 8 - Spring 2019
      • Issue 7 - Print Anthology
      • Issue 6 - 2018
      • Issue 3 - 2017 >
        • Editors Note - Issue 3
      • Issue 2 - 2016
      • Issue 1 - 2015
    • Themed Issues >
      • Issue 18 - Heaven(s)/Sky
      • Issue 17 - Nature >
        • Editors Note - Issue 17
      • Issue 15 - Love
      • Issue 14 >
        • Those Elves - Origin Story
        • Those Elves - The Collection
      • Issue 13 - Winter
      • Issue 12 - Water
      • Issue 11 - Hope in Renewal (An Intermission)
      • All Things Anne - Issue 9
      • Issue 5 - The SmartApocalypse
      • Issue 4 Contributors & Samples
  • More
    • Maggie Nonfiction Award
    • The Prose Poem >
      • The Christine Prose Poetry Award
    • Fictions >
      • The Dory Ann Fiction Award
      • Contemporary Mystery
      • Dark Fiction
      • Debut Fiction
      • Fan Fiction
      • Honorable Mentions
      • Literary Fiction
      • Mythical Fiction
      • Speculative Fiction
      • Woods-Western-Mountain-Appalachian
      • Young Author
      • Unclassifiable
    • Prizes
    • Interviews
    • List of Contributors

Dark Fiction


JUNE 2019

​STANDING RESERVATIONS

REBECCA JACKSON
~

Paul looked up as Melanie entered the restaurant. He stood and pulled out her chair, resting one hand against the small of her back. He leaned in, placing a lingering kiss on her proffered check. “You look stunning,” he murmured, pleased when she blushed and dropped her eyes to the linen tablecloth.   

 Continue reading.

MARCH 2019

​PASSAGE

LAWRENCE CADY
~

Though the lake teams with fish and the fields are replete with grains, peppers, and legumes,
the community hasn’t seen a single newborn in more than a decade. 

 Continue reading.

JANUARY 2019

​I KNEW HER AS VADA

ANDY BETZ
~

Actually, her name is Vada Panourgias and she is as Goth as a girl could get.  

Vada and I attended the MFA program at the local university and quickly became close friends.  She edited my works (as I did hers) and soon we became an old married couple without being married or old.  The first calendar break from classes, Vada invited me to her home to meet her Greek family.  I initially had reservations about such an encounter until I spoke to her twin brother, Bacchus, who told me since we were not dating, and did not participate in any funny business; it was OK by the family.  Having an invitation endorsed at the proper levels, I accepted.
Continue reading.​

JULY 2018

​THE ANIMAL INSIDE

CHRISTIAN CARTER-STEPHENSON
~

​Dr. Hunter settled himself in the vacant chair at the centre of the interview room - a windowless box lit by a single pendulous light bulb. The prisoner eyeballed him across the table as he opened his notebook, her mouth taut with hostility.  Powerfully built with matted mousy hair and a number of prominent tattoos, she looked like she was ready to take on the world. 
Continue reading.​
​

MARCH 2018

​THE ONE BEFORE WOODSTOCK

NANCY CLARK
~


     “Lord knows how many trucks and vans and what-all they’ve got out there.” Reba squinted out the window. “Them ruts must be a good foot deep.” 

Jacob yawned. “Ain’t nothing a good plowing can’t fix come spring.”

Continue reading.


FEBRUARY 2018

​TO SOAR LIKE A BIRD

RICHARD RUBIN
~


     Steve was getting ready to take a nap following a hard day’s work at the robot factory, pressing buttons for three hours straight.  He sighed; life in the year 2025 was certainly no walk in the park.

 
Continue reading.

​JANUARY 2018

THE CARLSON BUILDING

PAUL SMITH
~


I had never actually been in the Carlson Building. I had seen it many times. I’d seen it from the Chiromega dental chair in R. R. Davy’s dental office. When I got cleanings and exams as a child, I saw the Carlson Building a block away, its rooftop sign formal and comforting. When I had a simple extraction in my teens, I saw it. When I had cavities fixed, I saw the Carlson Building sign outside the window as Doctor R. R. Davy would say, “Now, open wide. This won’t hurt. You may feel a little pinch.”

 
Continue reading.

NOVEMBER 2017

THE PHANTOM JOURNEY

​REKHA VALLIAPPAN
~
​
Fifty years ago my grandpa went missing.
 
3 June 1978----- The train that was to arrive in Bucharest was an hour late. It was dark, the skies gloomy with gathering storm clouds. The presentiment of misfortune that had accompanied me did not diminish, although much of Romania enthralled me. Perhaps it was the strangeness. My traveling companion seemed morose, but in her tight-lipped silence I sensed a dread she did not wish to share.
 
Continue reading.

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.