First up, "Grocery Store Mama" by Shayla Frandsen! This story also won The Smokey this year. www.smokelong.com/stories/groc...

Grocery Store Mama - SmokeLong Quarterly

I opened a grocery store even though Nana told me I might as well stuff my money into the garbage disposal and let the blades whir the cash into bits the way tigers maul the humans who had raised them...

smokelong.com

I’ve been nominated for a Pushcart!! Delighted, humbled, excited! Hooray!!!

SmokeLong Quarterly@smokelong.bsky.social · 2y ago

Congratulations to our Pushcart nominees Shayla Frandsen, @esmepromise.bsky.social, @laurenkarcz.bsky.social, H.J. Shepard, Banchiwosen Woldeyesus, and Karen Kao! Much success to you all from the SmokeLong team!

"At night I would walk the shelves and run my hand along each item with no skips, I mean I’d touch every single box of Jell-O and cereal and I would hold the cauliflowers and stroke them a bit like they had hair." Stunning! by Shayla Frandsen @smokelong.bsky.social www.smokelong.com/stories/groc...

Grocery Store Mama - SmokeLong Quarterly

I opened a grocery store even though Nana told me I might as well stuff my money into the garbage disposal and let the blades whir the cash into bits the way tigers maul the humans who had raised them...

smokelong.com