Most discussed stories

Sleeplessness

853853 views33 comments22 favs

The retina was burning, the liquid had dried up, and the veins bursting. My eyes bled. But I kept them open. The sound was like nails on glass, screeching endlessly. Coming close to me louder, harder, faster.

Tincture Shunt Lunch Box

912912 views33 comments00 favs

Most people don't understand what it's like being a pop idol. I am not most people. I am Tincture Shunt, and here I present you with my trajectory to stardom, in case you want to copy it for your own personal use. Unfortunately (for…

We call them the Removal Men

11691169 views33 comments33 favs

They came early and parked up, under cover of the night and the giant oak. I only know this because people told me afterwards. Watching us, they were. It was six o'clock before they smashed their way in, scaring the three of us out of our wits. Baby Billy screamed the place…

Superlative Land

12031203 views33 comments22 favs

You are walking through a canyon made of shelving units lined with colorful masterpieces of three-dimensional minimalist design

Five Million Yen: Chapter 61

960960 views33 comments11 fav

Dan Arris sat in Chez Colette enjoying a roulade of veal stuffed with root vegetables. He was not a happy man.

my son

11801180 views33 comments33 favs

his mother brought him to me/ when he was very young/ maybe a few months old,/ born in arizona july.

The Purple Prose of Cario

11281128 views33 comments33 favs

I contemplate the words that did not make it; the lost ones. The words deprived of their moment in the sun. These words. These words that are not part of the story.

Karma Wash, Hog Wash, and Swill

914914 views33 comments33 favs

The beer on the shore is Lapping at the foam of memory And I can’t sit still Until I take my pill Karma Wash, Hog Wash and Swill I went to the top of the heap At the bottom of the Hill I saw a bum’s sign that read: “Will eat dog food for

Customer Service Circa 2017

11971197 views33 comments00 favs

Quantum transport rearranges grandma.

maybe just a little too sensitive

11301130 views33 comments11 fav

"do you know what your problem is when it comes to girls?" she must mean other than the fact that they're all completely insane. or at least all the ones i've dated.

The DreydelMaker (excerpt)

10111011 views33 comments11 fav

Gimmel. As if ordained.

Beer Pong With the Nobel Prize Winners

10571057 views33 comments11 fav

Alcohol and American writers have always had a connection–about 70 percent of American winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature could be considered heavy drinkers if not more.

Assiduity Twenty Five

989989 views33 comments33 favs

" . . . it's overcast with scattered rain along the Wabash River as I approach the federal correctional complex . . . "

Searching for Mr. Bharath Seshardi

814814 views33 comments22 favs

This tall, very fair, very blonde, very female, very feminist friend of mine, with a smile the moon and stars must take lessons from. . . .

Dead Uncle

10641064 views33 comments22 favs

When Roy had seen the first of the movies in his dorm's weekend double feature that night (the University of Maine at Orono — as Stephen king once quipped, “that crossword-puzzle favorite”) …

Cloud 9, Really?

537537 views33 comments11 fav

I wonder, just a thought Who even dreamt to Teach a pig Latin? And why a starfish Mirrors the stars We do not know There’s a whole lot To wonder about Like, I don’t know How about Cloud 9? I want to know what happened On Cloud

Feeling Marlene (from OPEN CITY Magazine Number 16)

17711771 views33 comments33 favs

I got your card in the mail via my ex-wife in Saskatoon. On it you wonder where I am, if I am still writing, and if I have any stories I would send for you to look at because you think I should be published, too.

This Can't Be True, But I Remember It

10051005 views33 comments33 favs

She calls me by my name. She says I am her daughter.

Slammer

693693 views33 comments22 favs

“Please, please grant me probation and a deferred sentence with no time behind these walls. I have never had a driving ticket before. NOW one Margarita and a DUI. Never again!”

The Truth About Storytelling

804804 views33 comments33 favs

irretrievably we tell ourselves stories irretrievably as beaded water slides off our skin

Prince Charming

10481048 views33 comments22 favs

They could have heard a pin drop in the car for the rest of the ride to her house, where she looked at him one last time and found nothing admirable, nothing memorable about him.

Puzzle Pieces

966966 views33 comments11 fav

temporary objects of desire

Carnival

963963 views33 comments33 favs

I’m well aware of the shadow stalking just to my left, her mannish voice flirting with my sensibilities.

A Catalogue of Ways to Die at Sea

10831083 views33 comments33 favs

Quimby’s eyes lit up. “Oh, lads, there must be a thousan’ ways to die at sea! I’ve made th’ Atlantic passage a good many time; lemme recount some manners of death I’ve witnessed with mine own eyes.”

Europa Sonnets - Interstice 1

795795 views33 comments11 fav

Interstice 1 Carved apart for Zion, set against a void,The wrecking dell of yet the Second War,Does Operation Hellstorm fill the floorOf still the firestormed ballroom? We forsworeOur filiality in killing you, and EidBells the invasion's consummation: and besideThe…

A Bear Story

13941394 views33 comments33 favs

In the spring, my father would dress for class in a bear costume and chase students around campus.

Why I Cannot be your Facebook Friend

11631163 views33 comments11 fav

The TV projects from an insect arm. It has the face of my ex-husband, smiling and void. I like to set small fires and inhale them.

Hemera Rises

11201120 views33 comments22 favs

The woods. They say don’t wander too far into the woods, where those ghosts can’t hear you and the moonlight won’t trace you a path. In the black crowd of trees there’s something waiting. Don’t go to the where the siren is singing...

I know everything's broken, but still I pretend

11321132 views33 comments11 fav

Rumor was their only mission was to smash all the glass in the world. They sneezed and smashed and laughed like hell.

Something New

10391039 views33 comments00 favs

You see the ocean for the first time on our honeymoon. Your large feet dig deep into the muddy sands of the Maryland coastline as your blue eyes swell at the infinite water before you. I wrap my…