A clown questions his actions during the Hartford Circus Fire, a woman spends hours calling for the missing, and a man’s unsettled conflict with his brother rents his world in two. A dog mommy may fail at making the ultimate choice and an uncertain slaughterhouse worker may end up without one. In Issue 8, twenty-four artists ponder the dangers in unanswered questions, and the effects on us when things are left unresolved.

The downloadable PDF is designed so that it can be printed on double-sided paper for easy reading like a print magazine. As always, the issue is free, but there is a donation link should you choose to contribute.

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We’re thrilled to announce 34 Orchard’s Autumn 2023 issue’s Table of Contents!

Teeming with unreliably-narrated ghost stories, Issue 8 includes many burgeoning and experienced voices as well as special surprises. We’re privileged to bring you a brand new tale by Edgar Allan Poe Award winner Lynne Barrett, whose stories have been featured in more fine anthologies and journals than we can count and has also won the Moondance International Film Festival award for Best Short Story (we can’t do her accomplishments justice in this small space). And in a piercing piece of creative nonfiction penned exclusively for our readers, real-life ghost hunter L.E. Daniels—also an excellent short story writer—shares a tactile encounter with tormented souls in the ruins of Pompeii.

What’s been left unresolved for you? As the days get shorter and 2023 trundles toward its close, Issue 8 may be just what you need to remind you that you are not alone.

Cover Art: A Story to Tell – Trisha J. Wooldridge

The Solitary Man – Leen Raats

Weary Willie – Bethany Bruno

Missing – Sarah Cannavo

Forever Plastic Playhouses – Patrick Malka

Falling – Julie Sevens

Breaking Water – Nancy Byrne Iannucci

Split – Sam Rebelein

Adultery in Modern Massachusetts – Lynne Barrett

Cleansing Me of You – Deborah L. Davitt

Perfect Quiet – Kathleen Smith

The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa – Wailana Kalama

Do I Just Let the Cancer Take You? – Lynne Schmidt

Keepsakes and Mementos Mori – Cormack Baldwin

Who Else Can See? – Megan Wildhood

Fog Over Jennings Beach – Jackson Kuhl

Beneath the Ice – Harrison Demchick

The Thing Under the Sink – Liam Hogan

Famine – Melanie Simutis

The Millstones on That Path – Robert Mayette

East St., Providence, RI – Joshua Rex

Weird Witness – L.E. Daniels

Only the Shape – Anj Baker

No Winter Maintenance – Susan R. Morritt

You’ll be able to download Issue 8 right from our Issues page here on November 10, 2023!