THE SHOW WAS UTTERLY and unapologetically high-budget trash. That was practically its title. Its actual title was For Love Within Reason. The premise was that an elderly king had three sons, all of whom had married good and sensible wives. The king had ten grandchildren—played by attractive actors in their twenties—who were allowed a bit … Continue reading For Love Within Reason (High-Budget Trash)
PATRICK CARMICHAEL WAS USED to people staring at him. Back in his school days, kids routinely called him ‘the Beached Whale’ or ‘Jabba the Hutt’. But there was something about today’s situation, that he happened to be sitting in a modern air-conditioned waiting-room, surrounded by people of similar size and bulk, bad skin, dated, ill-fitting … Continue reading The Cancer Diet Clinic
MY MARRIAGE WAS DEEP into a tailspin when the video of Bigfoot hit the news cycle and the world shit a brick. Drone footage — 46 seconds of incontrovertible proof. No digital trickery, no blurred imaging. No hillbillies tearing through Umpqua National Forest in a padded-out gorilla suit. Journalists and cranks flooded into the Pacific … Continue reading Now Is The Time Of Monsters
IF YOU'VE EVER WANTED to know if you’re one in a million – just flip a coin. More specifically, flip a coin twenty times and have Heads come up consecutively; well, then, you’re of that rarified air. That’s how Eerum Upso saw it. And where he sat, comfortable but afraid, he couldn’t trust anything anymore, … Continue reading Sacagawea Tossers
THE EVER-PRESENT TEMPTATION to water down the Jim Beam flitted through Miri's mind as she turned the emptying bottle bottom-up. The sloped interior of the shot glass stared up at her, only half-brown. "Hold on, sweetie," said Miri. Her eyes did not roll but her voice did. Hers was a medium-low voice sanded down by … Continue reading The Fourth Shed
WHEN I CAME DOWN HERE I met Gage, and Gage showed me Einshein’s junkyard. Einshein is a large, slovenly man, with two signature looks. One is a chewing tobacco-stained tee shirt that says “I’m With Stupid” even though he’s always by himself, so think about that, and the other, in cold weather, is a flannel … Continue reading Blue Boat
AFTER GETTING OUT, he tried to make a new life. He moved to Upstate New York and started a resurrection project, something that would bring him back to life. It wasn’t going to be easy because he was dead inside. Life had fled from him like a beaten dog. It came back the same way. … Continue reading The Resurrection Project
Here are Hidden Peak Press' 2024 Pushcart Prize nominees.
WHEN THE ARRANGEMENTS needed to be made, I knew who to call. There are some people who have a high degree of skill and experience when it comes to such a topic, and many of them will tell you that the loss of what no longer seems to exist is only temporary. It’s one of … Continue reading The Lifecycle of Stars
SHE WADDLED WHEN she walked, favored her left. It took her four tries to get the order right, doesn't matter what it was — groceries, breakfast, DoorDash, something from Amazon... Took her ten days to learn how to use the TV remote. She loved to cook but couldn't cook worth a damn. Her legs swelled, … Continue reading Because of the Stroke