Figs, by Lukas Tallent

Prose, chapbook, 40 pages, from Bottlecap Features. “All I have left…” begins the narrator of the title story in Figs, Lukas Tallent’s second collection of flash fiction, where characters are enthralled, trapped, dislodged, and sometimes, redeemed by their incessant want for another. "Figs is hot and aching. Every story is pulled taut, thrumming with tension: sexual or otherwise. Its characters reach for physical reminders of their desires: discarded still warm t-shirts, lip stained coffee mugs, streaks of body wash clinging to shower walls. They’ve lost something, are hungry, even desperate, to claw it back. By the end of this collection, like them, you’ll want more. So here’s permission if you need it: devour these pages, inhale their scent on your fingers, keep coming back." —Mike Keller-Wilson, editor of Vast Chasm Magazine "Lukas Tallent’s Figs is a tapestry of 21st-century romance and all of its turbulence, weaving between thrilling nights, texts left on read, and all of the confusion in between. This selection of stories is for the person who wakes up at 2 a.m., groans, and asks, “Why did I say that?”" —Anna Andersen, editor of Wrong Turn Lit "In the condensed bouillon of Lukas Tallent's stories, young men and women – gay, straight, and undecided – tumble through their twenties like clothing in a dryer. Backed by a cool jazz score, attire plays a leading role. Wet cotton and dry, stretch fabrics and flannels – it all shares center stage in deft tales of people in the act of raveling and unraveling their lives and desires." —Stuart Watson, author of Ashes to Ashes and Driving and Drinking with Dracula "In Figs, Lukas Tallent demonstrates a fearless commitment to his craft and goes where most writers fear to tread! Here his prose is sublimely lyrical, and his characters have poignancy and depth. His is a voice to be reckoned with!" —Elizabeth Dylan Bercovici, founder of Magical Storytelling "The characters in Lukas Tallent’s tightly crafted chapbook Figs reside in the liminal, transitory space between young adulthood and adulthood. Tallent’s stories provocatively weave together themes of sex, sexuality, longing, and loss into a maudlin portrait that rings true and lingers. Figs is an excellent, engaging read."   —JD Clapp, author of Five Things That Happened in Bars and Poachers and Pills Lukas Tallent lives in New York City. His work has recently appeared in The Forge, Nothing Sacred: Outspoken Voices in Contemporary Fiction, In Parentheses, and many other places. His debut novel is forthcoming from Braddock Avenue Books in Fall 2024. You can find more of him at lukas-tallent.com or lukastallent.substack.com.