Brace for impact, this fiction will blow you away.
12 Authors. 12 Unforgettable Stories.
Eggplant Emoji returns with the most engaging collection of fiction you will read all year.
Featured Stories:
1. “Hungry Eyes” by Laura Dumont
This absurd romantic comedy served as the inspiration for Eggplant Emoji’s first short film, available now on YouTube. A blind date is rudely interrupted by a sexually-charged narrator.
2. “The Curmudgeon” by Neil Weiner
Witness the accidental creation of a cultural phenomenon. The journey of one man’s lifetime will change the world, even if they never understand who he really is.
3. “Everyone Here is Grieving Something Stupid” by Harsh Vardhan Singh
A man seeking grief support is stunned to find what trivial matters those around him grieve, but these crazy people might just be exactly what he needs.
4. “The Goat-Handed Bridegroom” by Anatoly Loginov
The mistranslation of a language app results in the wedding of the century between an unwitting traveler and the finest goat in the village.
5. “Live, Laugh, Love” by E.J. Schaefer
A jaded author toils through her latest draft while surrounded by people she hates, none more so than those who read her work.
6. “My Mother’s Third Husband Ruined My Rehearsal Dinner” by Subham Rai
Everyone has a Gary in their life – that person who makes your eye twitch from stress. At this rehearsal dinner, mitigating the damage of Gary is a full-time job, but the damage has already been done.
7. “Henry’s Third Gettysburg” by Richard Zboray
A man seeking escape through the fantasy of Civil War re-enacting, finds what was missing in his real life.
8. “Red, White, and F*** You” by James P.W. Martin
After happening upon the sexual blackmail of US politicians, a man is thrust into the world of the deep state, witnessing the Epstein class up-close and too personal.
9. “Dudeplex” by Unstoppable Buffalo
In this abysmal housing market, there’s a cool new word for having roommates. Welcome to the Dudeplex. They withstood the turmoil of buying a house, but can the dudemates survive each other?
10. “The Immaculate Stranger” by Darry Dinnell
When a lunch between two work friends is interrupted by a dapper stranger, both of their lives are changed forever.
11. “Potato Salad” by Trivikram Pujar
A grocery store wedding isn’t all that it appears to be on the surface… or, perhaps that’s exactly what it is.
12. “Banana Surprise” by Robert Garnham
If I told you what was in the banana surprise, it wouldn’t be a surprise.
Edited by:
James P.W. Martin
Unstoppable Buffalo: Dudeplex
Unstoppable Buffalo is secretly a spy, He’s such a good spy that you still don’t know he’s a spy even though he just told you. If I had to describe him? Um, one sentence? He was a strange one. That’s it. Wild. Shoeless Lumberjack. Even though his chains are heavy, he is light-hearted. Crafty, I don’t know, is that good?
Darry Dinnell: The Immaculate Stranger
Darry Dinnell has been a knife salesman, encyclopedist, lecturer, ethnographer, and rapper. His fiction has appeared in The Washington Square Review, Prairie Fire, Defenestration, On Spec, and The Oddville Press, among other literary outlets. He holds undergraduate degrees from the University of Saskatchewan and graduate degrees from McGill University. He lives in Saskatoon, Canada. Follow him @darrydinnell.bsky.social.
Laura Dumont: Hungry Eyes
Laura Dumont is a long-time reader, first-time writer. She’s secretly been an octogenarian from the tender age of eight, and still enjoys all the hobbies that come with the territory: knitting, crochet, tea, jigsaw puzzles, being baffled by modern technology, and going to bed by 7pm. Still in the market for a rocking chair, though. When she bends her mind toward literary pursuits, she loves reading and writing about monsters, mayhem, and all kinds of things that would terrify her in real life. She currently lives in Texas and spends most of her non-book-related time playing both hostage and negotiator to her cat.
Robert Garnham: Banana Surprise
Robert’s short stories have been published widely in magazines such as Stand, Defenestration, Flash Fiction Magazine, Ink Sweat and Tears, and his poetry in Acumen, Tribe and the Broadsheet. In 2021 and 2022 he was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He writes a humorous newspaper column in the Herald Express. He performs comedy poetry all over the UK at fringes, festivals and TV, and had one of the funniest one-liners of the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe. He was recently featured very briefly on Britain’s Got Talent. In 2024 he won the Wergle Flomp poetry competition. He has a phobia of sofas.
professorofwhimsy.com
X: @RobertGarnham
Anatoly Loginov: The Goat-Handed Bridegroom
Anatoly Loginov is a clinical psychologist from St. Petersburg, which means he spends his days listening to other people’s problems and his nights writing about his own. His work has appeared in over twenty international journals across fifteen countries — none of which, until now, have asked him to be funny. He is the recipient of the Grand Prix at the All-Russian Literary Competition “Ecology of the Soul.” He writes prose, poetry, and essays about memory, identity, and the quiet catastrophes of being human. He is deeply honoured to appear in Eggplant Emoji Volume 6 and sincerely hopes his next submission will not be rejected on the grounds of good taste.
James P.W. Martin: Red, White, and Fuck You; Editor
James P.W. Martin believes a better world is possible – all we have to do is guillotine a couple billionaires and corrupt politicians, and the rest will fall in line. He’s not advocating for violence, because that would be illegal, but I think we all agree with him that something needs to be done to stop these fuckers, and voting ain’t working. He recently learned that more than 90% of millennials in China own their own home, while in the U.S., more than 50% live with a parent. It’s the kind of statistic that makes him want to grab a hammer and sickle and fight the masters. He feels grateful to live in an area with clean drinking water, which is becoming a rare commodity in America. James is an optimist. Even though all the food is poison, it’s still safe to eat the rich.
jamespwmartin.com
Insta & X: @jamespwmartin
Subham Rai: My Mother’s Third Husband Ruined My Rehearsal Dinner
Subham Rai is a writer from Kolkata whose fiction and poetry have appeared in Strange Horizons, Macrame Literary Journal, Cohesion Press, Zoetic Press, Bindweed Magazine, Graveside Press, Horror Tree, Hollow Oak Press, and Consequence Forum. More is forthcoming. He writes horror, speculative fiction, and literary stories about people who are doing their absolute best and still somehow making everything worse.
He has never announced a surprise reconciliation during someone else’s rehearsal dinner, but he has definitely been the person sitting at the table with a twitching left eye, counting the exclamation points in a group chat. You can find him at linktr.ee/subhamraiauthor and amazon.com/author/subhamrai. Please do not tell him about any boats.
Trivikram Pujar: Potato Salad
Trivikram Pujar is a writer based in Princeton, New Jersey. His stories drift across sci-fi, drama, dark humor, slice-of-life, and the quietly surreal. His short fiction has appeared in Free Spirit, Half and One, Eggplant Emoji Lit, and Henniker Review. His nonfiction has appeared in 5 Minute Lit.
He is a co-editor of the literary magazine Laughing Gull Quarterly.
Insta & X: @trivikrampujar
E.J. Schaefer: Live, Laugh, Hate
E.J. Schaefer is a horror writer who shares a home in tornado alley with her mother. She enjoys annoying her friends and family with information they never asked for about veganism and environmental collapse. When she’s not writing, you can find her reading offensive literature, pole dancing or spending time with her feral maltipoo Sheldon.
Insta: @ejsnovels
Harsh Vardhan Singh: Everyone Here is Grieving Something Stupid
Harsh Vardhan Singh is a student and aspiring entrepreneur from India. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s in Digital Business and Entrepreneurship at IIM Bangalore, alongside his studies in Agriculture. His interests include entrepreneurship, technology, writing, and digital media.
Harsh has been involved in various academic and creative projects, including podcasting, social media, and early-stage technology ventures. He enjoys exploring new ideas and learning through hands-on experiences.
Outside academics, he spends his time reading, listening to music, working on personal projects, and discovering new perspectives through conversations with people. For him, writing is a way to pause, observe, and put into words the thoughts and experiences that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Insta: @therealharsh_17
Neil Weiner: The Curmudgeon
Dr. Neil Weiner is a clinical psychologist with more than forty years of experience treating trauma and anxiety — much of it caused by other people. A lifelong curmudgeon, he uses humor and storytelling to help readers discover their resilience, heal old wounds, and find socially acceptable alternatives to strangling irritating relatives.
His work has appeared in professional journals and more than fifty literary magazines, proving that rejection letters occasionally arrive at the wrong address. His psychology books include Shattered Innocence and The Curio Shop.
His non-psychology books, Across the Borderline and The Art of Fine Whining, demonstrate that he can write without diagnosing anyone, although he generally chooses not to.
He also dispenses questionable wisdom through his monthly Portland newspaper column, Ask Dr. Neil. Readers send him their problems, and he explains why they are probably someone else’s fault.
He can be reached at nweiner@usa.net — preferably with compliments, publication offers, or grievances more interesting than his own.
Richard Zboray: Henry’s Third Gettysburg
Richard Zboray lives in Stratford, Connecticut where its Shakespeare Theater burned down and Jerry's Shakespeare Pizza closed. William Shakespeare never visited either but Richard did. He enjoys watching birds grow from seeds bought at the farmers market.
@ZborayR.bsky.social
