fiction

"Judaism is not a religion for cowards," he said.

Tehorah

Preaching purity, a man with a mission finds out how messy life can be.

"What was it like to commit suicide?"

Sitting Shiva

Two lovers retrace the scars that brought them together.

"If someone calls you a shell," she asked, "do you think it's meant as a compliment?"

Seashell

In a church basement support group, the help you find isn’t always the help you’re looking for.

A mosque in Lahore.

The Moderate

A tale of Westernization, lubricated by beer.

The Fortune Teller (detail), 1628

Reading Signs for the General

When the stars fail to align, a fortune teller makes her own future.

"'Do you know anything about abduction?' he asked..."

The Soul Molecule

They are among us, and they are watching what they eat.

Peter Bruegel, "Fall of the Rebel Angels"

The Descent of Man

The true story of the extinction of the angels.

"Adam and Eve Temptation 1," Oleg Maslov & Viktor Kouznetsov

Genesis, At Rest

When Adam and Eve fall, they fall hard.

Edith Wharton, b. 1862 - "'Edith? Is that you?' 'Yes,' the pen wrote, wobbling a little on its inky point."

Inflections

What do you call yourself when names like skin can be shed?

"What is it to be in the jaws of a lion, how must it feel to be eaten?"

Xmas in the Lions’ Den

Or, “What’s Up, Daniel”; a tale of bibical danger retold for this most dangerous of seasons.

Domovoi

The Domovoi

Can an ancient Russian ghost shed some light on a modern marriage in trouble?

Mesquite

Entrance Wound

We believe in cells and protoplasm and sex, and stench and dirt and slime
and screams in the night.

kimmel

Amos Awake

Reading the book he’ll never write.

Tulip

Buddherotica

Sneak a peek at Siddhartha’s not-so-immaculate conception.

"Pigeons don't talk."

Another Room

Remember when God was just another cashier behind the cage?

Killing the Buddha

White Challah

“One day a neighbor broke the leg of a stray dog with a heavy stone, and when Vasil saw the sharp edge of the bone piercing the skin he cried.”

Kinkakuji Temple, Kyoto

Princessing Lessons

No need for jumbo-jets full of pre-pubescent sex slaves, Japan’s Great Goddess has arrived.

Torquemada

Torquemada

What if every prince or pope who ever stoned or burned the Chosen People had a party in your head?