Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Fiction.
Tales of Bette: Robert & Ami - Matchmakers
Bette On It: Weird Adolescence. Senior Year 2003-2004. Excerpt... January 2004 In the week leading up to the dance, Mark told Robert that Bette had asked him to the Darling Dance and Robert invited them to join him, Hank, and their dates Ami and Sonja at dinner at The Lodge. Bette was happy to go with a group outside her usual group of friends. She still drove her dad's truck and picked Mark up.
By Tinka Boudit She/Her5 years ago in Fiction
Serialized Storytelling
I have always loved reading. From a young age, I would spend countless hours buried underneath a blanket with some sort of novel in my hand. From fantasy to nonfiction, I fell in love with each one. One of the genres that I was not much of a fan of growing up was comic books. Though I loved drawing, comics seemed like a cop-out to me. Rather than allowing your imagination to run wild, I felt constricted by the artist's interpretations of the characters I knew and loved so much. But, as people grow, so does their understanding of the world, and it was in the smallest moment that I fell in love with comic books.
By Robin Laurinec5 years ago in Fiction
THE JOURNAL
Many years had gone by since the world went completely sideways and did two or three summersaults in the process. All the signs of impending doom had been blatantly right in everyone’s faces, no exceptions, but like everything else, unless the big-ugly comes knocking at your door, no one does anything about the problem. And that’s what eventually happened, the big-ugly came knocking at everyone’s door at exactly the same moment, and when they opened their doors, all hell broke loose. Civilization should have paid more attention to irreversible climate changes due to mass deforestation, uncontrolled industrial growth and nonrestrictive mining and fracking procedures. Since the air was polluted, the soil and water poisoned and the massive accumulated ice at the North and South Poles was rapidly melting at an unprecedented pace, the oceans swallowing up entire cities; water, food and land becoming scarcer and a premium commodity, nuclear warfare erupted on a global scale.
By Len Sherman5 years ago in Fiction
JACK OF DIAMONDS
ii Reggie entered The Arrogant Frog, a small pub on the corner of Greek Street and Romily he knew as Charlie Sabini’s haunt of old, hoping he’d find him at his usual table. Sunlight slipped in through the drawn venetian blinds, where it scattered across a parquet floor through upturned chairs resting on tabletops. He could see dust motes floating in the bars of light as a barmaid swept the floor. The girl looked up briefly, hesitating at her chore, the broom almost stuttering before she turned, looking at the barman standing behind the counter who nodded briefly. The bottles and glasses lining the wall caught the light coming in through the blinds, reflecting diamonds of light that danced across the room. A lazy fan with one broken fin slowly spun in the shadowy depths of the timbered ceiling, a trail of cobwebs caught in its orbit as if part of the tail of a distant comet.
By ben woestenburg5 years ago in Fiction
Frith
Dystopian adjective : relating to or denoting an imagined state or society where there is great suffering or injustice. "the dystopian future of a society bereft of reason" noun : a person who imagines or foresees a state or society where there is great suffering or injustice. "a lot of things those dystopians feared did not come true" -Dictionary Definition
By Leah Harris5 years ago in Fiction
The Chest's Contents
A foreboding noise came from the locked chest. Though ominous, it made a familiar, comforting sound like a long-lost timepiece. Such ancient technology shouldn't be running at present, right? Very few things were running at all anymore, after all. Yet the chest pounded once more, "tick tock, click clock." The owner recalled a fable she heard as a young child, the story of Pandora's box. She remembered the woman who unleashed the demons into the world. She often wondered if that was her ancestor. Old sayings like, "curiosity killed the cat" were found in what was left of old literature books she noticed scattered in crumbles of buildings. She often wondered if those were true literary novels or the crumpled remnants of a note one wrote to their child or partner in hopes of keeping something secret.
By E.L. Martin5 years ago in Fiction
A GIRL UNPOISONED
The concrete tapped rhythmically under my feet with each purposeful stride. Cigarette fumes swirled around me and I pretended not to be offended by their pungent infiltration. I caught myself habitually straightening my jacket and smoothing my hair back. As I walked past a spindly side-walk tree I brush my fingers through its dancing lime-green leaves, appreciating it's bright juxtaposition against the grey backdrop. In front of me, four strangers did the recognizable street-cross that indicated danger. I crossed with them, looking over my shoulder to see a mid-thirties man, wearing a crusty, yellow-stained tracksuit, he was yelling incomprehensibly at a uniformed safety officer. On his neck, a thick locked collar flashed a bright red light indicating the man was in crisis. It appeared crisis presented as rage, agitation and aggression, as he lunged at the safety officer with a dinner knife, halted by the officer’s swift application of a taser. The man fell twitching to the ground as the officer spoke into a black box, calling for a pick-up. I frowned at the familiarity of it. As I rounded the corner towards the café, I passed several more people wearing the collars, eyeing them carefully for the flashing red light. Down a dim alley I turned the key in a grimy doorknob and entered the cafe. I plonked my bag on the stainless-steel bench and tied my apron around my waist. I cleaved open the heavy aluminium roller door and turned on the coffee machine. I took orders and frantically whizzed milk, making a few at a time to keep up with the demand. Diurnal Variation; A term used to describe the natural shifts in energy and mood every 24 hour cycle, usually signposted by morning depression. I sold a cup of temporary relief, and the money came flowing in. The only people making money in this city were those selling a short dose of mitigation from the all-consuming black.
By Ellen Brady5 years ago in Fiction
Love, the Aliens
For everyone left on earth.... Only adults who were wearing heart shaped jewelry, tattoos or clothing with hearts and kids under two years old, were spared. My husband survived because he was wearing his lucky hearts boxers at his weekly poker game. He watched his poker buddies crumble into piles of ash. Talk about stakes being high. I guess, none of them were holding any hearts. So they got “dusted”. Instant incineration. Dusted, sounds nicer than incinerated. But same result.
By Dayna Clark5 years ago in Fiction
The Infinity Café
“... of this before…?” Bernard trailed off, looking confused. Suddenly, a loud crash echoed through the dimly lit café as one of the waitresses dropped a handful of plates. She knelt down and began to scrape up the shards in a panic, exposing a silver chain necklace which hung around her neck. There was a moment of silence as the crash resonated around the room before the conversational mumble gradually resumed.
By J. R. Lowe5 years ago in Fiction
