I remember the first time we played Minecraft. Years ago. We spawned in a barren snow biome. Resources were scarce. We needed food, so we killed some cows and pigs for raw meat. Then we spent a long time walking before we found a tree to punch for some wood. It was nighttime by then,…
https://poolpartymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Brandon-Diehl_Banner.jpeg4381030Brandon Diehlhttps://poolpartymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/pp-logo-500.pngBrandon Diehl2025-06-19 01:00:062025-06-18 14:57:02Let’s Start from an Earlier Block of Save Data
My friend Shadow wrote me a note the first time I took care of his dog, Apple. I’ve kept it as a valuable reference, and also like a wartime letter from the battlefield. Here it is in its entirety: Thank you in advance for taking such good care of Apple. While dogs remain a popular…
https://poolpartymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Sean-Ennis_The-Last-Great-Letter-Writer-by-Sean-Ennis.jpeg6561545Sean Ennishttps://poolpartymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/pp-logo-500.pngSean Ennis2025-06-05 01:00:552025-06-03 08:45:04The Last, Great Letter-Writer
As you all know, with the help of our generous donors, I have been studying the relationship between men, rats, hope, and arrogance, and have prepared a general overview of my findings. Before I go on, I’d like to acknowledge that this presentation should serve solely as a summary and not as a comprehensive disclosure…
https://poolpartymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Lydia_Mae_Grant-funded-Missing-Men.jpeg5251236Lydia-Maehttps://poolpartymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/pp-logo-500.pngLydia-Mae2025-05-22 01:00:082025-05-20 12:31:43Grant-funded Missing Men
Sam was older than me and one of her nipples was pierced and I did whatever she said. I was barely a person, more of an ill-fit together explosion of hair, limbs and teeth spilling all over, my body a gangly nest of messiness. We had met through friends of friends, she found me clinging…
https://poolpartymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Diaries-by-Brian-Stephen-Ellis_Banner.jpeg4381030Brian Stephen Ellishttps://poolpartymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/pp-logo-500.pngBrian Stephen Ellis2025-05-15 01:00:252025-05-15 09:04:46Diaries
I knew Paula was lying about the way Bruce had died. She claimed he’d become so depressed that he retreated to his bed and did not eat or drink for many days. When his friends’ calls went unanswered, one of them went to check on him and found him barely conscious, lying in urine-soaked sheets. As we spoke, I heard the line crackle.
https://poolpartymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/A-Ghost-Like-You-by-Katelyn-Convery_Banner.jpeg350824Katelyn Converyhttps://poolpartymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/pp-logo-500.pngKatelyn Convery2025-04-30 01:00:422025-04-30 08:29:18A Ghost Like You
We called Kofi the People’s Champ because he was the only manager at the Vide Hotel that didn’t care about us drinking on the job and, in fact, would sometimes hit joints with us in the bell closet.
There’s a woman in town who performs healing with a net. I pay to watch the show, front row, metal folding chair creaking in the spring grass, half-brown, half-waking. She sets the scene like a traveling circus— a communion of strangers searching for something together at the edge of the woods—bodies watching body brave contortion,…
When we were freshmen you told me all the cool kids take flowers out to Carrie White’s grave on the night of prom. (The grave belonged to some poor woman named Carolyn White, but it was close enough.) Senior year I ordered a bouquet just like Sue’s from the movie: red carnations, yellow daisies, baby’s…
The ultimatum that Will’s fiancé, Leslie, had given him wasn’t sincere, and he knew this. Really, it was more of a nudge, an encouragement to push past whatever the fuck it was which rendered him incapable of accomplishing such a rudimentary task. Shit, even small children with their limitless imaginations and even grander terrors have…
The oldest of the King boys became a kind of murderer, but most people weren’t surprised. We grew up on the Texas coast, roaming beaches and loping through waist deep saltwater—shooting birds or gigging fish, playing with death the way students fidget a pencil. We went to the same school but weren’t friends. I always…
https://poolpartymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Brian-Allen-Carr_Banner-2.jpeg350824Brian Allen Carrhttps://poolpartymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/pp-logo-500.pngBrian Allen Carr2025-02-20 01:00:092025-02-20 09:12:27The Oldest King of the Coast
Let’s Start from an Earlier Block of Save Data
by Brandon Diehl//| PoemsI remember the first time we played Minecraft. Years ago. We spawned in a barren snow biome. Resources were scarce. We needed food, so we killed some cows and pigs for raw meat. Then we spent a long time walking before we found a tree to punch for some wood. It was nighttime by then,…
The Last, Great Letter-Writer
by Sean Ennis//| FictionMy friend Shadow wrote me a note the first time I took care of his dog, Apple. I’ve kept it as a valuable reference, and also like a wartime letter from the battlefield. Here it is in its entirety: Thank you in advance for taking such good care of Apple. While dogs remain a popular…
Grant-funded Missing Men
by Lydia-Mae//| FictionAs you all know, with the help of our generous donors, I have been studying the relationship between men, rats, hope, and arrogance, and have prepared a general overview of my findings. Before I go on, I’d like to acknowledge that this presentation should serve solely as a summary and not as a comprehensive disclosure…
Diaries
by Brian Stephen Ellis//| FictionSam was older than me and one of her nipples was pierced and I did whatever she said. I was barely a person, more of an ill-fit together explosion of hair, limbs and teeth spilling all over, my body a gangly nest of messiness. We had met through friends of friends, she found me clinging…
A Ghost Like You
by Katelyn Convery//| EssaysI knew Paula was lying about the way Bruce had died. She claimed he’d become so depressed that he retreated to his bed and did not eat or drink for many days. When his friends’ calls went unanswered, one of them went to check on him and found him barely conscious, lying in urine-soaked sheets. As we spoke, I heard the line crackle.
The People’s Champ
by Kyle Kouri//| FictionWe called Kofi the People’s Champ because he was the only manager at the Vide Hotel that didn’t care about us drinking on the job and, in fact, would sometimes hit joints with us in the bell closet.
The Bee Charmer
by Lauren Mantis//| PoemsThere’s a woman in town who performs healing with a net. I pay to watch the show, front row, metal folding chair creaking in the spring grass, half-brown, half-waking. She sets the scene like a traveling circus— a communion of strangers searching for something together at the edge of the woods—bodies watching body brave contortion,…
Ben Wiley Burns in Hell
by Jan Stinchcomb//| FictionWhen we were freshmen you told me all the cool kids take flowers out to Carrie White’s grave on the night of prom. (The grave belonged to some poor woman named Carolyn White, but it was close enough.) Senior year I ordered a bouquet just like Sue’s from the movie: red carnations, yellow daisies, baby’s…
Like a Tsunami Barreling Toward the Shore
by D.T. Robbins//| FictionThe ultimatum that Will’s fiancé, Leslie, had given him wasn’t sincere, and he knew this. Really, it was more of a nudge, an encouragement to push past whatever the fuck it was which rendered him incapable of accomplishing such a rudimentary task. Shit, even small children with their limitless imaginations and even grander terrors have…
The Oldest King of the Coast
by Brian Allen Carr//| FictionThe oldest of the King boys became a kind of murderer, but most people weren’t surprised. We grew up on the Texas coast, roaming beaches and loping through waist deep saltwater—shooting birds or gigging fish, playing with death the way students fidget a pencil. We went to the same school but weren’t friends. I always…