morgan dick
Fiction
"Autopilot Malfunction," The Humber Literary Review Vol.11 Issue 1, Spring/Summer 2023
He has a good life, Danny—a normal life. A life completely undefined by random tragedies like autopilot malfunction and control system failure.
"Bonnie," The New Quarterly 166, Spring 2023 (Honourable Mention, Peter Hinchcliffe Short Fiction Award)
Long before Mom introduced me to Jonny, I had made up my mind to hate him.
"Bisnonna," Cloud Lake Literary Volume 5, Fall 2022 (Previously an Honourable Mention for the 2021 Alberta Views Short Story Contest)
Someone flips a switch, and the room comes raging back into focus: bottles of Fanta, bowls of polenta, walls of pink terracotta brick.
"The Broken Horse Cookhouse and Dancehall," CAROUSEL 48, Fall 2022
This was all Lily’s idea. The last place I want to spend my Saturday night is an abandoned country bar.
"Just Cats," The Prairie Journal 78, August 2022 (Finalist, 2023 Alberta Showcase Award for Fiction)
You tell yourself they're just cats. Not cougars, not tigers—house cats. Fluffy, whiskery, and what, ten pounds apiece? Yes, their claws could decimate your eyeballs, and yes, their furry bodies could smother you in the night. But what’s the likelihood of that actually happening?
"Sprout," Vagabond City Lit 74, August 2022 (Nominated for a Pushcart Prize)
There’s a look Dallas gets on his face when he’s about to lose his shit. His lip curls, his eyeballs shake inside their sockets, and it makes you wonder: is this really a four-year-old boy and not some Antichrist birthed from a jackal and hidden amongst human children with the aim of mankind’s eventual destruction?
"Brett Lundy May or May Not Be Normal," Grain 49.4, Summer 2022 (Previously shortlisted for Room Magazine's 2021 Short Fiction Contest)
Dr. Fitz latches her fingers, scrunches her eyebrows at me in that doleful way of hers, and says, “You look like you don’t want to be here.”
"Dave Standard Time (DST)," Geist 119, February 2022 (Third Place Winner in the Short-Long Distance Contest)
She is twenty-three again, scuttling into a Saskatchewan courthouse in pink eyeshadow and a wedding dress one might guess was made of mascarpone cheese. The memory leaves a sour taste.
Nonfiction
"I come from a long line of royal watchers - whether I like it or not," CBC News, June 2022
Grandma Fleming's scrapbooks are much like the monarchy itself. They're dusty and irrelevant, but no one can seem to get rid of them.
“In the COVID era, nobody seems to care about my acne – me least of all,” CBC News, October 2021
While I braved my new affliction with platitudes, prescription drugs, and an outward look of indifference, on the inside — try as I might to deny it — my ego was smarting.
“What’s in a name?” The Globe and Mail, October 2019
Oh, I thought. So that’s why everyone laughs. It happened often enough – at school, at the dentist, at Blockbuster – but I’d never understood why. People would snort or giggle or spew their coffee, and I would shift between my feet, red-faced and confused. Here, finally, was the answer: Our last name was a popular epithet for the male reproductive organ.