Latest Stories

Most recently published stories in Fiction.

My World
Rain continued to pelt against the window of the living room. It was constant. Never ending. To some it was a peaceful sound to the ears that allowed them to forget their worries for that time. To others it was a reminder that the sun never shined again on the city. An empty feeling. It made one crave the simple warmth that was taken for granted ages past. That constant heat which pounded against the back of your neck as you moved about and lived the life you thought you understood.
By Chase Thomas Brackenridge5 years ago in Fiction
The Stranger
Part 1 Elliot Mayfield lied motionless on the snow-covered ground. The cold wind sent chills throughout his bones. He opened his eyes. It was dark. The light of the moon barely cut through the thick of the forest that surrounded him. He stood, his hands and face red from winter’s embrace. “Hello!?” he shouted, his voice echoing throughout the clearing. A murder of crows screeched from the trees, startling him. He was alone; lost.
By David Dausch5 years ago in Fiction
Hold Me While I'm Gone
It was eight o’clock in the morning, sometime in June, I think, when he stopped being affected by everything. It might have been an interesting sensation had he still the capacity to be affected by things, which he didn’t.
By John Roebuck5 years ago in Fiction
The Reyna
You know how the world ends. It was inevitable. Earth sat in a pressure cooker for years, eventually something had to give.
By Crystal Storm5 years ago in Fiction
King of the World
Now available in print in Apocalyptales: Judgment Day, a collection of stories of the apocalypse. Listen to the recorded story on Spotify:
By Stephen A. Roddewig5 years ago in Fiction
Nothing New to Report
Nothing New to Report “Nothing new to report. Outside observable area status: unchanged. Inside pod status: unchanged.” Petra turned off the observation cameras surveilling the ten-mile perimeter around the RUSH. She couldn’t shake the uncanny feeling that enveloped her whenever she was on duty and had to hear her own voice on the security recordings. She ignored it and recorded the status message in the three other languages that she had been assigned. First in French, then in Japanese and Romanian. Everyone on the pod was assigned languages and cultures to assimilate and preserve. Petra’s pod was a small one with only twelve residents in six couples, so she had been assigned one additional language. But she was happy about the Japanese. She had become quite fond of it over the years and watching old recordings of performance arts shows had become one of her favorite things to do on the pod. The haunting masks and chanting in the nō plays were one of the most spiritual experiences she has ever had.
By George T. Sipos5 years ago in Fiction
The Heart-shaped Lockets of Alpha 4
Charmaine Fatima and her friends were commiserating at an observation deck overlooking Alpha 4, considering their new home and the realm of possibilities. Below the observation deck, the children were jovial, chasing each other after an intense morning of botany, mathematics, and civics. As Fatima sipped her tea, a pungent mix of dried leaves from Earth and new berries engineered by her friend Ari’s lab, a general announcement by Captain Katja sounded across the ship:
By Michael Marshall, PhD5 years ago in Fiction
The Locket
This morning, I finally arrived home, or what I used to call home. The trip here took so many months I convinced myself that arriving here would be just like coming home from a business trip. I would look at the beautiful exterior of the two-story craftsman I inherited from my grandmother five years previously and fondly remember old times. Then, I would enter the front door to be greeted by Brooks and Dunn, my two faithful golden retrievers. My wife would be walking up behind the boys, wiping her hands on a dish towel, and grinning at me with that smile that lit up the world. I would be at peace.
By SE Baran5 years ago in Fiction
The Pulse
I was instantly awake when I heard the creak of the stair leading up to the attic. Quickly I grabbed Sarah’s arm and put my hand over her mouth in case she made a sound. I put a finger to my lips and motioned with my head towards the door. Eyes wide, she glanced over my shoulder in the direction of the door, then slipped silently out of bed. I slid my hand under the pillow and grasped the comforting handle of the hammer. Laying there motionless I kept my hand hidden under the pillow, waiting. They were coming up the only way out so we were going to have to fight to get clear.
By Robb Hassell5 years ago in Fiction
Alone In the Dark
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. “When the picture changes, say when.” I hear Dr. Ambrose’s voice leading me through the mental exercise as I tap on my temples, trying to shift the image in my head to a more pleasant, healing one.
By Jennifer Ching5 years ago in Fiction
Memories
The year is 20xx. Two decades after a cataclysmic event caused by one of the world's most trusted heroes. Solstice, the master of flame and frost, lost control over her unparalleled power of fire and ice and sent the world as a whole into an ecological disaster. The sudden, planet-wide flash freezes and flash fires caused the immediate collapse of the global order. They killed a lowball estimate of 90% of the world's population within 24 hours. In the years that followed, the Solstice Pulses, as they came to be known, were less intense, but they could change from walls of fire to subzero, icy wind, and vice versa at a moment's notice.
By Tyler C Douglas5 years ago in Fiction
A Cup of Sugar
In the olden days, she would have been called a witch. She lived alone in a cottage on a plot of green land by the Seine. Her days were spent in the company of the bees and the chickens she tended. As evening drew near, her knees were always brown from the dirt of her garden, where she grew potatoes and carrots and fresh herbs for her dinner table.
By Rhiannon Lotze5 years ago in Fiction