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The Falling Marbles Bimonthly

An every-other-month offering of and about fiction from the premier publisher of literary fiction in the State of Texas

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“Cascading worth, one work at a time”

Stories

THE BALLAD OF EDMUND TUPPENCE, CANTO THE FIRST by Mark Gullick

The first of four cantos in The Ballad of Edmund Tuppence, a look-in at the state of postmodern London

HOW TO LOSE ONE’S VIRGINITY IN OLONGAPO by Michael Long

A chapter from Michael Long’s Not Just A Job, a novel following young Gary Thorpe into his service with the US Navy in the 1970s West Pacific. A quartermaster, his job is to steer and navigate the ship, but he learns quickly that being in the US Navy entails much more — and much less — than advertised. Authored by a former Navy quartermaster, Not Just A Job is sure to relate to anyone who has ever found himself in a situation less than he imagined.

WHAT KILLED THE CATS by Connor Nathans

The short story behind the complete collapse of a prosperous and powerful community

THE GIRL WHO CRIED WAR CRIME by Shay Martin

A lesson, in fairy-tale form, about what can happen to those who employ disparaging language against language itself

MY RIVAL by Stewart Berg

A reply across time to Kipling’s “My Rival.” Where that work concerns a young woman’s complaint toward the attentions paid to older women, this is about a similar complaint made by a young man.

THE NO-SOULED, FULL-HOLED LYIN’ PURPLE PEOPLE-EATERS by Shay Martin

A poetic equation of the people’s elites with people-eaters

On Stories

FOREWORD TO VANIKIN by Stephen Paul Foster

An author’s recommendation of the novel Vanikin in the Underworld

THE INVENTION OF LOVE by Stewart Berg

An essay that provides attribution, after so very long, to true love’s true inventor