A Sunday series from RVA Magazine featuring writers from Richmond and Virginia Writer’s Block is RVA Magazine’s Sunday series highlighting contemporary writers working in Richmond and across the Commonwealth. Each week, we feature original poems, short stories, or...
Richmond has always been a literary city. We follow the bootprints of beatnik ghosts around Shockoe Bottom, laying our claims to Poe. We have a history with Tom Robbins, and gave birth to Tom Wolfe and Margaret Gibson. A legacy of letters flows through this town as surely as the river on its path from Piedmont to Tidewater. In this spirit, we...
I wanted to give a bit of context for this piece. I was introduced to Bill one afternoon at the local watering hole by a mutual friend. Bill, a talented and experienced writer, shared some of his work with me, and I was interested to read more. When I asked if he had anything we could publish, he sent over a series of travel vignettes. You can...
The rules are simple: don't get in anyone’s way and try to look good while doing it. The warehouse off Williamsburg Blvd mimics many of the same buildings near the Richmond International Airport. But on Wednesday night, when many of the local businesses have locked the doors and shut off the lights, the parking lot of the roller skating rink...
Booze, Bombs, and Backyard Politics
We stepped down the cobblestone steps, our backs to that gothic tower of bricks seeing us off into a damp night. Jesse’s face was blue as he stared down into his phone and said: C’mon, I think it’s this way. It’s west? I asked. No, it’s in this direct—I mean yes… it’s west. You’re sure? He told me he was good for it. The guy who walks...
My god, I thought, this place will kill me one day… The door squeaked shut behind me; there was no turning back. The second floor of the office was as wide as a football field, with a maddening yellow tent and the stench of stale coffee and bleached paper. There was an unnerving clattering of phones, fax machines, and keyboards filling...
Vice published an article in ‘99 declaring RVA “a black hole”, “a sedative”, and “the easiest place in the world to do nothing and still have the best fucking time in the world”. After living there for 6 years in my early 20s, I couldn’t agree more. Anyways, I hope you enjoy! Suddenly, I had forgotten why I was in the kitchen. So I fixed...
ed. note: This story is just for fun and obviously a work of fiction. Enjoy! I am Elrilion of planet Garcust. It is now I will recount the labor of my glory. Long is my reign as warrior king. Fell is the fatal might of Gemnon, my proven sword. Vanquished are my enemies. Severed and strewn amongst galaxies are the heads of those who conspire...
Step into an unsettling yet eerily familiar world with this latest fictional short story submission. This gripping narrative explores a dystopian reality where personal freedoms and women's reproductive rights are critically endangered. The protagonist's heart-wrenching journey, shaped by oppressive legislation and societal pressures, invites...
