September 24, 2011 Issue: One More Theory
8:57 PM | Author: Paul Mullin
It's a crazy age we live in. Things are constantly changing, so we must reevaluate our world and ourselves. We are forced to be scientists: We will always have to come up with One More Theory. This issue of 50 to 1 features work by Andrew J. Stone, Chris Rhatigan, J. Alfred Costanza, Paul Beckman, Ryan Werner, Jessica Knauss and Michelle Morouse.




Paul is moving to Queens...stay classy, New Jersey.
They Say I'm Sick by Andrew J. Stone
8:56 PM | Author: Paul Mullin
They Say I'm Sick by Andrew J. Stone

The room walked around my eyes counterclockwise. The man sitting in the sun burnt chair clinched his chin in criticism. My forehead sweatclouds and the scratch of the pen on paper drones over silence. The psychologist suddenly stops recording my voice and asks how I feel. Dead, I feel dead.




Andrew J. Stone lives and writes in Southern California with iced coffee and mint tea. His previous publications have probably been posted on his Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/AndrewJStone1.
Guy With A Barbed Wire Tattoo by Chris Rhatigan
8:55 PM | Author: Paul Mullin
Guy With A Barbed Wire Tattoo by Chris Rhatigan

Cobra left the club shitfaced, pissed off and, unbelievably, sans pussy.

And some bum had broken into his Civic.

“What the fuck is this?”

Bum turned, fists flush with coins. Cobra crushed his skull with the car door.

Now to get rid of the body… Fuck it. Just a bum.




Chris Rhatigan is the co-editor, along with Nigel Bird, of the crime anthology, Pulp Ink by Needle Publishing. He talks short fiction at Death by Killing.
1st Line by J. Alfred Costanza
8:54 PM | Author: Paul Mullin
1st Line by J. Alfred Costanza

“From this moment forward, I’ll be a new man!” she shouted after the operation.




J. Alfred Costanza is unemployed and lives with his parents in one-night cheap hotels and sawdust restaurants with Jujubes.
Communication That Works For My Parents by Paul Beckman

He tried to call home — he really did, but his voice wasn't strong enough and once again his wife didn't believe him, so he did the only thing he could think of when she gave him that look — he gave her the silent treatment, which was something she could believe.




Paul Beckman is a real estate salesman, photographer & writer of short fiction. Sometimes his fiction shows up in his real estate ads.
1st Line by Ryan Werner
8:52 PM | Author: Paul Mullin
1st Line by Ryan Werner

We’d been following the mountain lions for years, and the only thing they held in common is that they all, when presented with the option, walked fifty miles north into Canada and died at the base of the same hill.




Ryan Werner is a janitor in the Midwest. He runs the music/literature project Our Band Could Be Your Lit.
Buyer Beware by Jessica Knauss
8:51 PM | Author: Paul Mullin
Buyer Beware by Jessica Knauss

Our first night, the previous owners’ grandfather, all wafting essence and cold emanations, floated up to the ceiling, where he resembled a cobweb. Mother extended the mop and pushed at him until he became those blobs that look like spider egg sacs. Don’t worry, the house isn’t infested with spiders.




Jessica Knauss is a fiction editor at Fireship Press in Tucson, Arizona. She has published fiction, poetry, and nonfiction in numerous venues and is working on a novel set in medieval Spain. Get updates on her writing at her blog: jessicaknauss.blogspot.com.
Shuttle Bus by Michelle Morouse
8:50 PM | Author: Paul Mullin
Shuttle Bus by Michelle Morouse

He’s muscular, thick around the middle, wearing jeans with a rip at the knee, hair aggressively short. She reminds herself that any hair is a plus at her age. Still, why not grow it out, show it off? She resists the impulse to touch him, just his shoulder...




Michelle Morouse is a life-long Michigan resident, pediatrician and novice writer.