They asked me if I’d go to Mars for science. I said I’d go just out of spite. The engineer said that was the best reason he’d heard in all the years he worked here. He handed me a helmet. It didn’t fit, but neither did my life on Earth.

Sarp Sozdinler has been published in Electric Literature, Kenyon Review, Shenandoah, Masters Review, Pithead Chapel, and 100 Word Story, among other journals. Besides writing, he edits the literary journal The Bulb Region: sarpsozdinler.com.