The Molotov Cocktail (Paperback)

Explosive writing from the second year of quarterly contests at the The Molotov Cocktail lit zine. This anthology features 50 pieces: 40 bite-sized works of flash fiction under the themes of Monsters, Phenomena, Felons, and Icons, and 10 dark and offbeat poems.

In Colin Rowe's "The Testimony of the Accused," a harvester follows the malevolent advice of a black toad in the mouth of a milk snake. Shane Page's "House Spiders" takes the reader on a magical-realist stroll through a neighborhood of anthropomorphic arachnids. The undead scam the family of the recently departed in Jan Kaneen's "The London Umbrella Company." And F.E. Clark's "The Solstice Shade" will help you see Georgia O'Keeffe in a whole new light. Meanwhile, Amanda Chiado earned a Pushcart Prize nomination for her Shadow Award-winning poem "The Devil's Taken His Dress Off." And that's just the tip of the literary iceberg.

All told, Prize Winners Anthology Vol. 2 features work by Colin Rowe, Cassandra A. Clarke, Manuel Royal, Aeryn Rudel, Shawn Campbell, MB Vigil, Colton Adrian, Rhett Davis, Chris Milam, Sherry Morris, Shane Page, Robin Jeffrey, R.A. Roth, G.G. Silverman, Jan Kaneen, Leanne Radojkovich, Premee Mohamed, Seth Augenstein, James R. Gapinski, Henry Whittier-Ferguson, Melissa Monks, Emily Livingstone, Joshua Patterson, Rich Larson, Warren Buchanan, Charles Scott, Allison Spector, Amanda Chiado, Christopher P. Mooney, B.T. Schweitzer, Sara Ryan, Frances Klein, Elizabeth Vignali, Hannah Craig, John Gosslee, Forrest DePoy, F.E. Clark, Fiona Smith, Fred Senese, Christopher Stanley, Gabriel Thibodeau, Robyn Ryle, and Shane Gannaway.

Josh Goller started out in the Midwest but transplanted to the damp and gloom of the Pacific Northwest. He founded The Molotov Cocktail lit zine in 2010. He earned his MFA in Fiction at Pacific University and now resides in Portland where he enjoys driving through fog and hipster-watching. When he's not lurking behind the curtain, he can be found critiquing music, film, and books for Spectrum Culture, where he also serves as Managing Editor, and as a contributing music writer for Slant Magazine. His short fiction, essays and articles have appeared in many online and print publications. He wishes the wages of sin would include a cost of living increase every once in a while.

Mary Lenoir Bond spent most of her life in California, where she worked as an actress in Los Angeles before studying fiction, poetry, and theater at the University of Southern California, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. She went on to earn her MFA in Writing at Pacific University. Mary has studied advanced fiction with T. C. Boyle and Aimee Bender, and learned the art of poetry with Marvin Bell, Ellen Bass, Dorianne Laux, Anna Journey, and others. Along the way, she fell in love with San Francisco, where she lived for many years, but now lurks under the gloomy skies of Portland, where she makes jewelry, perfume and other sensory products. She is the recipient of the Virginia Middleton Award for poetry and has seen her poetry published in Prairie Schooner, december Magazine, and Silk Road.