Out Today: 34 Orchard Literary Journal, Issue 5!

New Release, Writing

I love 34 Orchard, and I especially love this issue because it contains my little horror story, “Mollusk Madness”!

In this excerpt, it’s dark outside, and mollusk expert Katrina is studying her slugs:

Back in the garden, I kneel and aim my headlamp at the mulch. The slugs’ crisscross trails of mucus glow pink in my red light. I follow the shiniest trail knowing it’s the freshest slime and the slug can’t be far away. The trail passes the ripening chili peppers, circles the fallow tomato vines, and disappears at the base of a three-foot-tall broccoli plant. The broad, sturdy leaves look black and rotten, but I know it’s just the poor lighting in this early hour. I lift a leaf that’s twice the size of my hand.

“There you are,” I whisper.

“Mollusk Madness,” Priscilla Bettis

Take a look at this rockin’ table of contents. I’m flattered to be among this company:

  • Darker Beach: The Five of Cups – Annie Dunn Watson
  • Mister Skinandbones – Selah Janel  
  • Any Little Spot – Ali Seay  
  • Less Than Twelve Hours After She Is Dead, We Begin To  Erase Her – Lynne Schmidt 
  • Showdown at Dark Rock – Douglas Van Hollen
  • Mollusk Madness – Priscilla Bettis
  • Yet Another Poem About Birds – Robert Bulman
  • Gone for Good – M.C. Herrington  
  • Bummin’ to the Beat of the Road – Eric J. Guignard
  • Cell – Victoria Nordlund  
  • Little Red – Paula Weiman  
  • Day One-Hundred and Sixty-Four – Sam Berkeley
  • Mommy Monster – Elizabeth Falcon  Rereading Auden – David Donna 
  • Floor Five – Die Booth  
  • The Mascot – B.C.G. Jones  
  • Not All There – Ken Craft  
  • Lexie – Kimberly Moore 
  • The Price of Survival – X. Culletto 
  • Chernobyl Spring – David Holper  
  • A Cracked Screen – Alice Avoy 
  • Excerpts from Kinesiophobia – Meghan Guidry 
  • Scrapbook – Kevin Grandfield  
  • What if he remembers? – Judi Calhoun 
  • Around Here Somewhere – Jeff Adams

Best of all, the spring 2022 issue is free to download and read. Bestest of all? 34 Orchard is an awesome literary journal! 34 Orchard, Issue 5, Spring 2022.

Today’s feature image by Victor Grabarczyk on unsplash.

Published

80 thoughts on “Out Today: 34 Orchard Literary Journal, Issue 5!”

  3. Pingback: Out Today: 34 Orchard Literary Journal, Issue 5! – Nelsapy

      1. To be honest, Priscilla, I can’t recall ever seeing a slug. We have lots of snails. They are quite destructive but I don’t have the heart to kill them. They are entitled to life and are interesting to watch. Some of my bird visitors help keep the populations down.

        Liked by 1 person

  12. Congratulations. Never heard of this publication before so I checked it out. I noticed it’s a non-profit magazine. I’ll have to remember to add it to my A to Z Challenge next year, if I participate.

    Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.