TW: child abuse I took a deep breath of the cold air. Although it was summer, this night was chilly. The moon was hiding behind dark clouds, so I could barely see the asphalt in front of me. Even the buildings surrounding me were only black shapes. But it didn’t matter. I knew this neighborhood … Read moreThe Taste of Caramel by Sarah Filippczyk
Hi Mixed Mag! I’m Capri Huffman, a new contributor. I run a book-themed Instagram (@sobstorybooks) with my friend Gabby, reviewing and promoting books by LGBTQ and BIPOC authors. My goal with my new book review series here at Mixed Mag is the same: to help great books by marginalized authors find the audiences they deserve! … Read moreJade Legacy Review by Capri Huffman
CW: intimate partner violence Gloria sat on the stiff motel mattress horrified, staring at her daughter’s silhouette in the next room. She shuddered, looking around Room 48 which was probably no larger than a prison cell. It smelled of a suspicious amount of disinfectant, lightly scraping her nostrils as she breathed in. Gloria could only … Read moreHOPE by Mimi Mutesa
My family has the luck of a penniless black cat at a high-stakes casino. When I was twelve, my mother, my father, and my older brother Jeffrey took a vacation to Hawaii. Jeffrey went surfing in the deep, blue ocean while I stayed ashore and observed jittery sand crabs as they popped in and out … Read moreThe Most Beautiful Things Could End Us by Zach Murphy
I recovered consciousness two days after my abuela died. I “came to” in a speeding Luis Muñoz Marín bound car somewhere between Mayagüez and Ponce. My eyes settled on an orange green-blotted vista; indeterminate and soft enough to accommodate a reluctantly awakened awareness. Three inert blinks sketched a peak – backlit by the dawn – … Read moreIf I Could Memorize Those Mountains by Paulina Calistru
[The Beginning of My Conscious’ Enlightenment] “Though Kameny did not have a word for it yet, by exposing the arbitrary logic of the purges with his own, contrary logic, he formulated gay pride as a political tool of resistance, a weapon to be wielded…” – Eric Cervini, author of The Deviant’s War, the Homosexual vs. … Read moreAnd That Was That by Jackson McAlister
What are you supposed to do when it all seems to disappear? Never at once, do they leave but one by one. Slowly as to not stir a commotion. Tell me what I’m supposed to do when they glaze over me? Tell me how to feel when they look the other way and forget. I … Read moreDown Goes the Black Sheep by Amber Lee Varnado
In late 2019, as I was taking yet another Twitter break from writing my novel, a short video caught my eye. The little image showed a lively fire in an outdoor grill, the kind of grill my family never used when we went up to Bear Mountain because we always brought a cooler with hard-boiled … Read moreOn Watching Them Burn Her Books by Gina Isabel Rodriguez
When you go to buy oranges on Martha’s Vineyard, don’t take the 10am ferry. The boattraffic at that time will be terrible—crowds of burly fishermen, sticky children, and wivesin feathery hats will swarm the port of Oak Bluffs, desperate to start their day. Thecarousel will have just opened for the summer, off-tuned music and candy-colored … Read moreWhen You Go Buy Oranges by Maya Sistruck
Chico Rex A bird falls from the sky right outside the house of a boy who will become a preacher to tame his fellow-man. He rushes to the bird, who dies in his hand, so green, he’s never seen such colors. He wants to care for it, but his mother shows him the bird’s heart … Read moreO Evangelho do Diabo (Pt 3) by Fran Attié