From The Editor

Dear Miscreants and Malcontents,

I’m not one for fluff, so let’s cut to the chase. We’ve pulled together our Best of the Net 2025 picks, and they’re not here to play nice. These pieces dig deep, get under your skin, and leave a mark.

In Poetry, we’ve got Ron Riekki's Sometimes the Boss Likes it When You Are Considering Suicide, a punch to the throat for anyone who's danced with the edge. John Yamrus delivers A Rock Band, the kind of piece that hums along until it tears you open. Azari Mistry’s On Silence speaks volumes without a word wasted, and Mary Beth O’Conner’s I Didn’t Tell Her—well, let’s just say you’ll feel that one long after the last line.

Fiction isn’t pulling any punches either. JD Clapp’s A Perfect Cover For Mayhem is exactly what it sounds like, chaos wrapped in a clean narrative. Then there’s Mather Schneider’s A Lady in the Night, a story that feels like a late-night confession in a bar where the lights are too dim and the whiskey’s too cheap.

And for Creative Nonfiction, we’ve got Knead by Christine O’Donnell, which stretches you out, working through life’s tough dough, and Kendra Maria Pintor’s Wrest Your Head, an honest gut-wrenching piece that lays it all bare.

These aren’t just stories or poems—they’re life, unvarnished and unafraid. So, read them. Absorb them. Let them wreck you.

Best,

Cody Sexton

Managing Editor/Founder/Creator