Richard Chiem

Jul 24, 2024 | joylandmagazine.com | Richard Chiem

I am a gold medal hopeful, battle worn, battle angel. I am a calm nervous system. I am the man you thought you loved back when. I am a knight with no queen, I am a queen with no knight. I have seen you abandon me in a heartbeat without looking back and I would still do anything for you. In what would be known as the knife mandate, the city sends everyone a single knife in the mail in a blue envelope. Even small children receive a knife in the mail with no limits to each household.

Nov 16, 2023 | joylandmagazine.com | Richard Chiem

JANICE IS NOT LIKE THE OTHER GIRLS IN THE THRIFT SHOP, she is not like other girls, she gets what she wants, ashes to ashes. Janice is a survivor, she plans to survive for a long time. Often, other people make her want to rage inside. Holy shit, they make her want to rage. They don’t really know what she has been through, she thinks. They really don’t know. Everything hurts a little more for her, everything feels a little better than it should feel for her.

Sep 8, 2023 | pen.org | Richard Chiem |Dantiel W. Moniz |Erica Galluscio |judges Venita Blackburn

In the coming weeks, we will feature Q&As with the contributors to this year’s Best Debut Short Stories anthology, published by Catapult. These stories were selected for the 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers by judges Venita Blackburn, Richard Chiem, and Dantiel W. Moniz. A program evaluator at the FDA, Patrick J. Zhou lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife Joy, newborn daughter Naomi, and their cat Bobby Newport. “Tàidù” was originally published in Carve Magazine.

Mar 14, 2023 | joylandmagazine.com | Richard Chiem

Jennifer wakes up in the driver’s seat of a Lamborghini, a lime green lambo, her favorite shade of any color, and the glowing dashboard light is turned on. She is waiting for an illegal poker game to commence, and she loses track of the time. She loves losing track of the time, the battery is dead. Her money is young, her lungs hurt, and it’s dark outside already. Everyone is talking about how dark outside it is already.