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**PRINT: A LITTLE MONEY DOWN, by Doug Milam, is No. 27 in our broadsheet series and marks our 8th anniversary. Milam's a frequent contributor and wizard of experimentally styled prose that still burns bright around the campire -- this issue comes with a new design, an excerpt from Susannah Felts' first novel, and more.

**WEB: THE PLATYPUS: PART 2 Zach Plague
TIPATEACHER.COM Francis Raven
NEW AUDIO "MISDRECTION: SLEEP WRITING" Todd Dills
DREAMS OF YOUR FATHER Greg Gerke
DJINN DUMMY David Gianatasio
MEDUSA Kate Duva
THE ANTIPURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE: BILLY, I | Andrew Davis
WING AND FLY: INTERVIEW WITH DOUG MILAM | Todd Dills

THE PLATYPUS: PART 2
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Zach Plague

In the first installment of this serialized portion of Plague's first novel, boring boring boring..., Adelaide entered into a pact with art-scene tyrant the Platypus to deliver the mysterious "gray papers," purported to be in the hands of savant Ollister...

PREVIOUS SECTION

She was in her pajamas. The rain slathered gray against the windows and tiptoed around the perimeter of the house, as if searching for a vulnerable point for forced entry. This day had been born sans potential.

She tried to wrestle her cat Action onto her lap, its claws splaying out like pitchforks raised from an angry little mob, vicious and unwarranted.

THE LEFT HAND: Soap, Lit

After dinner with The Platypus, she had been unable to get the image of Ollister looking at her through the mirror out of her head. Had he orchestrated the entire thing? Were the two of them playing with her? Should she feel bad for sending the White Sodality after Ollister? This had to come to an end. Maybe that should be the last look, she told herself. It was time to let go. She couldn't become involved with him again. Not even to give him up to The Platypus. Not even to get into the White Ball.

Her heart felt like a dead starling, cold and weightless. It was an origami model of itself.

She had found a thank you card, in a dry white envelope, taped to her door when she woke up.

Dearest Adelaide,
Looking forward to your delivery.
Firm regards,
D. Platypus, Chair

Upon seeing it she became frightened. But then a plan occurred to her: she could throw The Platypus off her and Ollister's trail by sending them after someone much harder to catch. She wrote "Punk has the gray papers" on the back of the card, and taped it up where she had found it. It was still hanging there now.

Action had chosen her own place to curl and nap. Her face tucked inside the great pocket of warmth that a pelt provides. It would be nice to sleep like that, face tucked away, turned inside.

She wondered what time it was.

PART 3
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