It’s been a while for Friday Rex. How’ve you been? You been okay? It’s great to see you. Sorry we were away for so long. We hope you missed us. We missed you.

There’s been a lot of good stuff out recently. This should be quite the round-up.

First, have you heard about Cheap Pop, yet? It’s a new mag of micro fiction (500 words or less) and the first story is out: Joe Stacksteder’s NOT FOR WOMEN. Also, Leesa Cross-Smith’s ALL THAT SMOKE HOWLING BLUE will heartbreak you in the best way.

Sundog Lit Issue One contributor Casey Hannan has a new story in NOO Journal Weekly, THE BOY DIES:

The knife handle is engraved with your name. You write a word in the air using the tip of the knife. Your boyfriend asks what word.

“Hollywood,” you say.

You are not an actor.

Your boyfriend circles you and sweeps the floor. You ask if he’s a witch.

The new DIAGRAM is loaded with all-star stuff, but this essay by Dave Madden really killed it: A RAP I WROTE. 

PROPERTY DAMAGE, by Games Issue contributor Andrew F. Sullivan, over at Elsewhere:

So I grab this chunk of parking lot, just lyin’ there cause Oscar is too cheap to get the fucker sealed, and I hold it up over my head. I can see myself in there and the dog and it’s all blendin’ together like one kinda person, like the same. Like one of those illusion paintings where you can see a skull or a boat or like the future if you don’t focus too hard. If you let yer eyes go limp.

Brandi Wells has a powerful essay on her father and his brother/her uncle over at The Rumpus: THIS MAN IS NOT MY FATHER.

Sam Martone’s bringing it hard over at matchbook lit mag with THE CAVE WHERE YOUR FATHER DIES:

This is the cave where a man holds a scythe at your throat. This is the cave where two men attack your father. This is the cave where your father will die. This is the cave where your father died. This is the cave where your father dies, the cave where your father is dying, where you can do nothing to save him, where he is in a state of almost-death, always.

Matt Fogarty is really doing some cool things lately and this story – TONTO RIDES A BUS TO VISIT HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW, WHO IS DYING FROM CANCER – is no different. It’s live over in the new JMWW.

Jill Talbot wrote this essay on Ryan Van Meter – over at Essay Daily.

Over at Passages North, Gary Leising’s SUNGLASSES. Also, our own Richard Hackler has a new story up at PN, too – ALABAMA AT THE BANK.

John Hodgman is great. Here’s something from The New Yorker he wrote: “DOWNTON ABBEY” WITH CATS.

You want a good listen this week, some music to accompany your Friday reads? J.M. Gamble suggests you listen to Night Bed’s Country Sleep. It’s available on Spotify. Also, Pitchfork posted a single from St. Vincent’s new album this week, which is killer: “Digital Witness.”

And, finally, how about a poem by Laurel Hunt? Here’s ALMOST VERY PRETTY from Diagram.