Archive - The Shadow Canon

IN THE YEAR OF THE TIGER

A screaming comes across the sky. It is not the wind, not a siren, not a missile finding its mark. It is the calling of a name.

Apr 11, 2022

IT MUST HAVE BEEN THE WORK

Imagine, if you can, a small room, hexagonal in shape, like the cell of a bee. Its walls are of glass, so strong that it is impossible to break them…

Apr 4, 2022

January 2022

There was a man standing against the north wall, barely visible. He was twisted in the light, as if caught in a wind, stooped and hunched, half-seen. He…

Jan 11, 2022

December 2021

I DON'T THINK THEY KNOW

All the world began with a yes. GOD: The heart. The ocean. The silence. The mirror. EVE: Yes. When they woke they were in bed. The sheets were thin and…

Dec 25, 2021

WHAT ABOUT TOMORROW

Marianne answers the door when Connell rings the bell. She’s barefoot and wearing a white cotton dress that drifts down to her calves. It’s the same…

Dec 19, 2021

August 2021

THEY'RE BEAUTIFUL CREATURES

He speaks in your voice, American, and there’s a shine in his eye that’s halfway hopeful. You have no patience for it. “You’re artificial,” you say…

Aug 1, 2021

July 2021

IT SHOULD BE FUN

It was almost December, and Jonas was beginning to feel frightened. He had been at the Center for nearly eight years, and he had never seen anything…

Jul 22, 2021

THE BOOK OF TIME

All this happened, more or less. But I’m getting ahead of myself. My wife and I were driving to New York City for a trip. We were in the car for a few…

Jul 10, 2021

THE LIGHTNING MADE IT BLOSSOM

Past the flannel plains and blacktop graphs and skylines of canted rust, and past the tobacco-brown river overhung with weeping trees and coins of…

Jul 3, 2021

June 2021

I'VE MADE SOME GOOD SANDWICHES

People are afraid to merge on freeways in Los Angeles. It’s a whole thing. Everyone hates it when the person in front of them in traffic starts to merge…

Jun 29, 2021

THE WAY OF THE PIE

The Deliverator belongs to an elite order, a hallowed subcategory. There exists a small, fiercely proud tribe of men and women that lies outside the…

Jun 22, 2021

ROOTS OF THE WILD ARTICHOKE

See the child. He is pale and thin, he wears a thin and ragged linen shirt. He has a little hoe in his hand, and he is not used to it, for he grasps it…

Jun 17, 2021

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