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The Falling Marbles Bimonthly
An every-other-month offering of and about fiction from the premier publisher of literary fiction in the State of Texas
ISSUE I (Jul/Aug ’25)
featuring a poetic look at foggy grime, a fairy-tale’s warning about lingual misuse, the first part of a tale of two universities, and much more
Previous Issues
“Cascading worth, one work at a time”
Stories
THE BALLAD OF EDMUND TUPPENCE, CANTO THE FIRST by Mark Gullick
The first of four cantos in The Ballad of Edmund Tuppence, a look-in at the state of postmodern London
THE HATCHLINGS OF FALL ’08: A TALE OF TWO UNIVERSITIES by Stewart Berg
Part one of the novel The Hatchings of Fall ’08, the story of two Tacoma-area institutions of higher learning and a group of friends who find themselves at the center of the two schools’ traditional rivalry
CHAPTER ONE
An Opening Night
CHAPTER TWO
A Questionable Morning
CHAPTER THREE
A Celebratory Evening
CHAPTER FOUR
A Continuing Night
CHAPTER FIVE
A Capping Morning
HOW TO LOSE ONE’S VIRGINITY IN OLONGAPO by Michael Long
A chapter from Michael Long’s Not Just A Job, a novel following young Gary Thorpe into his service with the US Navy in the 1970s West Pacific. A quartermaster, his job is to steer and navigate the ship, but he learns quickly that being in the US Navy entails much more — and much less — than advertised. Authored by a former Navy quartermaster, Not Just A Job is sure to relate to anyone who has ever found himself in a situation less than he imagined.
WHAT KILLED THE CATS by Connor Nathans
The short story behind the complete collapse of a prosperous and powerful community
THE GIRL WHO CRIED WAR CRIME by Shay Martin
A lesson, in fairy-tale form, about what can happen to those who employ disparaging language against language itself
MY RIVAL by Stewart Berg
A reply across time to Kipling’s “My Rival.” Where that work concerns a young woman’s complaint toward the attentions paid to older women, this is about a similar complaint made by a young man.
THE NO-SOULED, FULL-HOLED LYIN’ PURPLE PEOPLE-EATERS by Shay Martin
A poetic equation of the people’s elites with people-eaters
On Stories
FOREWORD TO VANIKIN by Stephen Paul Foster
An author’s recommendation of the novel Vanikin in the Underworld
THE INVENTION OF LOVE by Stewart Berg
An essay that provides attribution, after so very long, to true love’s true inventor
