Read the issue introduction from editor Michael Duck

• Counting Genocide (City of Winds)

  by Kim Peter Kovac

  Conflict and nationalism and the meaning of 613 dead in Azerbaijan.

• The Face of Fear

  by Bryce Journey

  A head-bashing, life-threatening, five g-force tear down a mountainside. Fun?

• Baker’s Lament

  by Phillip Russell

  A glimpse of transcendence over a warm chocolate chip cookie.

• Trapped

  by Diane Payne

  An obsessive search for a missing cat.

• Señor Tico

  by Julia Rubin

  A journey of self-discovery with an orange dinosaur piñata.

• Caroline

  by Rachel Wimer

  A presence, and an absence, deeply felt.

• The Taxi

  by Darlene P. Campos

  A drive around Dallas on a trip fraught with danger.