Welcome to our first week of Creative Writing Wednesdays, where we feature the writing talents of our queer counterparts. Our first series is Red Light Special, an intriguing urban mystery written by Norman Kyle Futrell. We will be featuring the first book in serial over the next few weeks. A downloadable PDF is provided below.

Red Light Special, Book One: No Doors or Windows

My bed was always comfortable when I was a kid. It was full-sized with linens my mother picked out for me. The comforter was huge, so enormous that when I peed in the bed, there was still enough dry spot to cocoon myself in. Every morning it would agonize me to move. I never wanted to get out of bed, not only because school sucked massively, but my bed was where I got to dream. And when I dreamt things, I always got what I wanted. I loved that the most. It was strange to me how whenever I closed my eyes to fall asleep, all my fantasies came true. I could be a cop, a super hero, a private eye or even a rock star and people actually depended on me. The thing was that I liked feeling needed. But I was just a kid. Who would need me?
I opened my eyes to a clear yet pale sky. It was morning, but the sun was being blocked by a veil of clouds and fog. Fall was fast approaching. I was getting used to that morning view. After three months on the street, who wouldn’t. I was also getting used to waking up on cold, ridged surfaces. Homelessness was no joke, that was for sure. And homelessness at 18 was even worse. I guess coming out to your bigot parents right after your high school graduation is a big fat no-no. It was too late to go back though, three months too late.
I got up off the ground and grabbed my bag, a tattered old army surplus green with emblems from all over the world sewn on it. The ironic truth is that I’d never been to any of the places that were on the bag. I just found it somewhere.

In an effort to provide additional resources to queer writers and writers of queer content, we will be featuring literary magazines, journals and contests to submit to on a regular basis that are LGBT-friendly. This week, we’re featuring online journal LIES / ISLE, which editor M. Kitchell handily describes for us:or Windows

“Literature: Influence, Echoes, and Systems / Influence of Systems on Literature (as Echoes)

LIES / ISLE is a journal dedicated to expanding the domain of experimental literature. While acknowledging that our work is influenced by the systems under which it operates, we also believe that it possesses the agency to affect change. From an editorial point of view, we contextually echo the history of the avant-garde, looking for pieces that approach their subjects through new aesthetic strategies.

To this end, LIES / ISLE welcomes submissions that pay particular attention to form or the hybridization of genre, including but not limited to conceptual writing, visual fiction and poetry, and works that deal with the space between static and time-based elements–conscious experimentation that subverts the idea of the homogenized system [-- a system that underlines not only the state of contemporary literature, but also the system that undermines contemporary life in general].

LIES / ISLE is currently looking for entries to theme. For our second issue, the theme is Architecture & Landscape.”

The second issue deadline is Tuesday, September 15th. Submission guidelines can be found here.