The O:JA&L Masters Series
Flash Fiction: A Writer’s Portfolio
Featured Writer: Tom Hazuka
MIXTURE
Click on the link MIXTURE to explore or download Tom Hazuka’s new chapbook in the O:JA&L Masters Series.
“Sex and violence don’t mix. Why waste good violence on sex?”
I look for a smile; I feel it in his words. But Roger–my best friend as a kid, best man at my wedding six years ago–is concentrating too hard to smile. He’s staring down the barrel of his 30-06, waiting for that snapping turtle to stick his head above water again. He doesn’t want it eating the game fish in his pond. I’ve seen him shoot half a dozen since junior high.
“I never hit her,” he says evenly. “I never hit her even once.”
“Of course you didn’t.”
“I don’t know what makes her say that, Donny.”
Roger never uses Carla’s name since she left. But she’s not a “cheating bitch” or “worthless whore” either, like some other friends’ ex-wives–or my own, once or twice, when pain won out over pride.
“Come on, don’t worry about it. Nobody believes her.” The lie feels like dirt on my tongue
I like Carla. She’s smart, and secure enough about it that even in high school she didn’t play dumb. One time she told me of a nightmare Roger had, years after he got back from Vietnam. He was writhing on his stomach, she said, whimpering over and over Burning people smell so bad without waking up.
“I didn’t dare touch him,” she said. She put her hand on my arm. “You’re the only one I’ve told this to. Not even him.” Carla stared off at nothing, nodding slowly. She shrugged. “Especially not him.”
Roger’s finger is tight on the trigger. Suddenly he looks away from his target, straight at me.
“Remember when we were kids, and found that dead bullfrog on the other side of the pond? Nailed down on a stump?”
I nod. I can still see that spread-eagle frog, belly-up and leathery black from the sun, its gut a squirming ball of maggots. It gave me nightmares for a week.
Roger takes aim again, out across the water.
“I didn’t do that,” he says.
About the writer:
TOM HAZUKA has published the novels The Road to the Island, In the City of the Disappeared and Last Chance for First, as well as seventy short stories, two books of nonfiction (both co-written with C.J. Jones), and a memoir, If You Turn To Look Back, which explores his return to Chile twenty-three years after he was a Peace Corps Volunteer there during the Pinochet dictatorship. Visible Human, a collection of his flash fiction, was published in 2025. He has edited or co-edited ten anthologies, including Flash Fiction, Flash Fiction Funny, Flash Nonfiction Funny, Sudden Flash Youth, A Celestial Omnibus, You Have Time for This and Flash Nonfiction Food. Tom is also a singer-songwriter; links to his writing and original songs can be found at tomhazuka.com. He taught fiction writing at Central Connecticut State University for many years.
Image: Delta Afternoon (AI-assisted digital image) by O:JA&L staff creative. 2025. Public domain via MidJourney AI.
OJAL Art Incorporated, publishing since 2017 as OPEN: Journal of Arts & Letters (O:JA&L) and its imprints Buttonhook Press, HOT BUTTON PRESS Contemporary Issues, and HIGH BUTTON PRESS Contemporary Art, supports writers and artists worldwide.
O:JA&L’S BUTTONHOOK PRESS MASTERS SERIES
Click on the titles below to explore or download the free PDF chapbooks in the O:JA&L Masters Series.
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Brian Clements on Prose Poetry
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Mark Budman on Flash Discourse
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Ray Gonzalez on Prose Poetry
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Master Series: Michael Martone on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Master Series: Roberta Allen on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Master Series: Peter Conners on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Maxine Chernoff on Prose Poetry
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Pedro Ponce on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
MORE TITLES IN PRESS
