Life

Price of Authoritarian Faith
Religion and authoritarianism shouldn't mix. One can bring liberation, dignity, and love. The other demands control, submission, and fear.
By Rev. Jason Carson Wilson25 days ago in Writers
Suspended
As the clock struck As the clock struck 5:30 pm, Danny was straight out of his seat and heading home. It was the end of another long, soulless day at work in which the highlight was getting a Subway deal at lunch. While waiting for the lift, he started to scroll on his phone, but it wasn’t connecting to the internet. Without thinking anymore of it he put his phone back in his pocket and got into the lift alongside three others who were already in there. The lift started moving as normal before shaking a couple of times and then grinding to a halt between floors 13 and 14. He wasn’t overly concerned, but one of the other passengers appeared to be panicking, wanting to try and help. He asked if she was ok and found out she suffered from claustrophobia. Another passenger pressed the alarm button to try and get through to the lift maintenance team to alert them to the situation, but there was no response, just a faint crackling noise coming from the tinny speaker.
By MadlynLee25 days ago in Writers
A Beautiful Winter Day
The snow falls down, the ground is white. Some frost is found, a lovely sight. The cold wind blows; it seems to bite.
By Darla M Seely26 days ago in Writers
GHANI KHAN
Ghani Khan was born in Hashtnagar (PAKISTAN). He is widely considered the best pashto language poet of the 20th century and stands on a par with Khushal Khan Khattak and Rehman
By GHANI KHAN26 days ago in Writers
Looking 4Words. Top Story - December 2025.
“Sometimes softness is what leads to change.” A quote by, well, me. Why? Because not everything has to be loud and done with a bang. While simulatenously, too much is too loud and filled with banging (of metal, bodies, heads…)
By Oneg In The Arctic28 days ago in Writers
Burned Out
A candle flickered, in and out Between us on the table. Almost romantic if not for The low hum of the cable. There’s a light between us,
By Britt Creech28 days ago in Writers
Two Men Died Wearing Lead Masks — And No One Ever Explained Why
On August 20, 1966, a young boy flying a kite on a hill in Niterói, Brazil, stumbled upon a scene so strange that it would puzzle investigators for decades.
By Sen Sab28 days ago in Writers
Harper Lewis. Content Warning.
I get a feeling that some of y’all are wondering, “Who is this Harper Lewis, and where did she come from?” I’m new here, so new that I have no idea who the “same old names” are. I know that I’m new and some of my pieces have been noticed. I’m very appreciative of that, and sometimes I post with genuine hope and confidence that I nailed it, that what I tried to convey resonated, that my weirdness doesn’t alienate me.
By Harper Lewis28 days ago in Writers
Is There Anyone You Hate?
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What If? Writing Exercise for Fiction Writers prompts The Exercise — Week one - write a scene that brings to fictional life someone you hate. Make the reader hate her. It might be someone who annoys you-- someone whose manner you can't stand, whose voice grates on you. Or it might be someone who has offended you or done you some harm, or someone to whom you have done some harm - there are many reasons to hate people. If you have the courage, take on someone who is evil on the grand scale. It can be someone you know, someone you know about, or best of all, invent a real nasty. The Objective: Story and only story is the peaceable kingdom where you and I and the next fellow can lie down on the same page with one another, not by wiping our differences out, but by creating our differences on the page. Only on the page of a story can I look out of your and my and the other fellow's eyes all at the same time.
By Denise E Lindquist28 days ago in Writers
Untitled . Top Story - December 2025.
I pat my brows with a handkerchief I fancy, and I think about the plight we are in today; it makes me squirm. In all my words you seek to find a formula, but your ledgers are filled with trending tabs (ephemeral tallies). You make me feel like I should be held in a box. It is impossible for someone to grow or be better than they were yesterday; simply by choice, they wish to step back and publish a little slower, less frequently.
By Caitlin Charlton28 days ago in Writers
Forever And Always
She was created by choice. That was what the Elders said, and the people believed it. Creation was not accidental, it was intentional, sacred. She was selected, shaped, and welcomed with ceremony. When she first opened her eyes, voices surrounded her. Warm, affirming, certain. They gave her a name that meant belonging, and with it an identity she would never question. Names were gifts. Names were anchors.
By Ashlee Guerra28 days ago in Writers
Not Funny At The Time
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What If? Writing Exercise for Fiction Writers prompts The Exercise — Write about something that happened to you that didn't seem at all funny at the time, for example, being stuck in a traffic jam and having a bee fly in through the car window or the time your tenant set your stove on fire and the firemen wrenched it from the wall and tossed it into the backyard. Bring the incident under the humor spotlight and transform it so as to emphasize things that will make your reader smile or laugh.Pacing is important, as are crucial details, and your own confidence that the story does not need analysis or authorial nudging. The last thing you want to do is tell the reader that you're about to lay a funny story on him. Limit: 550 words. The Objective - Because humor resides largely in what attitude you assume toward your material, you must be able to discover and exploit those elements that highlight the comic, the exaggerated, and the unlikely. Keep in mind that you could just as easily take the bee story and make it tragic (bee bites driver, driver crashes into another car, killing infant in back seat).
By Denise E Lindquist29 days ago in Writers