Satire
When My Guide Is Lost
Miraculously, you’ve survived. Even more miraculous though, is the survival of your best friend, who, secretly, you’ve always loved. The two of you happened to be together when the downtown area of the major city in which you’ve both lived near your entire lives was bombed. Because you were far enough outside the city you are not killed by the initial explosions but expect to be dead within the next 48 hours because you know that these kinds of bombs release colorless, odorless, and tasteless gasses that kill everything within many hundreds of miles. These are the kind of dangers you and your friends have long known about and come to terms with and there is a prearranged meeting spot. Everyone is there within a few hours, but you learn that some of your friends have already died.
By Pat McNabb5 years ago in Fiction
Piratica
Five hundred year ago, they come. A band of pirates. One ship at first. They happen upon an isolated land, not by hook or by crook, but by mistake. They take it for a deserted place, they do. Bury their treasure, an' all. Aye. They come and go and come back again. That’s when they gets an idea in their heads. One among 'em had read a book. In Latin, an' all. Thebook, he says. Thomas More’s, like. And this was it—Utopia, he says.
By Victoria Reeve5 years ago in Fiction
Power
March 1, 2024 was referred to as “the day the music died.” All radio stations and television channels stopped playing regular programming and switched to Nuclear News around the clock. We had entered a second cold war in the US, only this time it was turned into worldwide entertainment. Donald Trump had been re-elected. Of course, this angered Kim Jong-un, who declared there would be no talk of a button or whose worked better. He stared directly into Trump’s eyes at a lunch he had invited him to while his translator explained North Korea would not be made to look like a fool again. They were leaders of powerful nations and needed to act like it. Donald Trump, with the whole world watching, leaned in and whispered, “I rigged an election to lead the greatest nation on Earth for a second term. I’ll do whatever the hell I want.” He hadn’t realized he was being recorded.
By Brandy Enn5 years ago in Fiction
The Aviary
When you check into the Aviary, they take away your shoelaces, phones, pens, headphones, purses, wallets, aspirin, keys, and plastic bags. Then, they give you a cockatiel; everyone gets a cockatiel. They name it for you; they name it after you. It says all this right in the brochure. It’s the morning of day 5 and my brain feels like a mangy, buzzing porcupine. My cockatiel, Alice L. Karp, sits on a rusted copper perch in a rusted copper cage that dangles from the ceiling. The single bright peach circle on her butter-yellow cheek is so perfectly formed it looks like a design flaw. Not one thing in nature is perfect, and that’s easy to forget.
By Sarah Ulicny5 years ago in Fiction
A Mentally Balanced Society
Georgia looked down at her silver heart-shaped locket. In it was a picture of her mother. She had dark hair and wore red and purple. A color combination that had been forbidden for as long as Georgia could remember. She hid her locket and turned her attention to her closet. There was not much in it. She was a design student so this month she was scheduled to wear blue and white. In her closet was one special item. She was graduating this week. Her special colors were yellow and tan. The outfit had been chosen for her. It had arrived the other day. Her new job had been preselected as well. Her new job would be in this department. She would assign the colors for the ease and betterment of her fellow citizens. Her society's main goal was to look after the mental well-being of its citizens. They eliminated all self -determination and free choice. They had no jails, no crime, no hate speech, and no mental hospitals. People did not have the ability or need to make a bad decision.
By Antoinette L Brey5 years ago in Fiction
GALA
TW: Don't start celebrating me TOO MUCH yet. I'm kind of/sort of PROJECTING the day that my absolute favorite of all of my books gets picked up by a traditional publisher (oh; WITH an Amazon Prime deal on the way). This is all in good fun; and pay specific attention to the acceptance and thank you section. You just MIGHT know someone...
By Kent Brindley5 years ago in Fiction
The Hawtest of Dates
We locked eyes while I was dancing. He was walking over from the bar, two drinks in hand - is one for me? I wondered. He skulled one then the other immediately. We never broke eye contact; I was weirdly transfixed, he walked up to me full of confidence. We danced together until his two drinks had obviously kicked in and he couldn't keep up with the beat. I lead him to the front door, but when we exited the club he started to lead me instead while waving down a taxi. He kept waving at yellow cars until he accidentally caught the attention of the taxi driver that was already parked in front of us in the taxi bay. At this point, I knew for sure I could rob him blind when he passed out.
By Eloise Robertson 5 years ago in Fiction
