Most read stories

Magnum Opus

19781978 views44 comments33 favs

The scaffolding had been difficult to construct. The rock floor of the bluff offered no purchase, so he'd been forced to anchor braces to the trees behind, then span some thirty feet. A cantilevered gallows reached another fifteen feet past the stage...

Letters from the Asylum (3)

19781978 views22 comments11 fav

She stepped into a pair of high heeled slippers and began to dance. She was Salome, a witch, dancing like the most beautiful, the most skilled whores of Paris.

Purple IV

19781978 views1313 comments77 favs

Purple not rain! I guess Prince left. It is said that Prince owned the aquifer under Jordan, Minnesota, and that he sold it but to whom? And moved to Canada—

Three: A Heavenly Mansion

19781978 views33 comments33 favs

She went up first, I followed, a respectful three paces behind. Now, I know what you’re thinking: I was perfectly placed to steal a quick, if innocent, glance, and she would never see. The house is a center hall colonial, and there are no mirrors on the s

Where Is Daddy?

19781978 views66 comments55 favs

He checks the bedrooms first, then the hallway, followed by the living room and the bathrooms. When he can't find you he takes to calling out, daddy, I'm sure the neighbors hear.

Small Change

19781978 views1414 comments1414 favs

Life seemed okay…for the most part.

The Whippy Guy

19781978 views11 comment00 favs

He was the tall, whippy type. Dangerous.

Wrong Number

19781978 views77 comments33 favs

The package arrived, delivered to her work as was her preference. She took it to the ladies room and sat on the lounge, carefully opening the box, removing the new black patent leather FMQs, pulling out the tissue paper stuffed into the toes and placing her well-worn…

The Book Mind

19781978 views66 comments66 favs

The book mind, just like its namesake the book, is capable of movement only after its assembly: otherwise, it boasts no moving parts.

Gazpacho

19781978 views55 comments33 favs

It's a pretty strange feeling when you think you're about to bite into some ice cream and instead it's gazpacho.

Cut

19771977 views1515 comments88 favs

Effluvium is such a lovely word, so hey surprise it covers rancid butter, vomit, fertile gingko fruit trekked in from the pavement.

Antigone Détente

19771977 views1717 comments1414 favs

Tan my hide. Feed me to rabid / macaques.

Stumptown Mary

19771977 views22 comments11 fav

so one time the Holy Ghost come down to Stumptown

Goodnight, Travel Well

19771977 views44 comments33 favs

An excerpt.

Matisse, in the Jardin des Tuileries, 1904

19771977 views77 comments66 favs

The World's Worst Mime stood there next to the iron carousel, portraying something, and the crowd understood none of it, except that whatever thing he was trying to portray was not being portrayed well at all.

We Don't Need a Guitar Man

19771977 views55 comments22 favs

The courtroom smelled a lot like mold and it was hot as you could imagine. I sweated through my shirt and wondered if he wasn’t dying under his robe. He looked down at me from his bench and I just knew he was going to call me a commie and sentence me to l

Welcome to the Dark Walls

19771977 views99 comments88 favs

“No one ever notices everything: but sometimes it happens, when no one is noticing everything, everyone misses the same thing in the same moment . . ."

Modulus of Elasticity

19771977 views1919 comments1515 favs

The limbs lift again,

The Madness of the Gods

19771977 views00 comments00 favs

“Have you heard about Lucius?” The lawyer turned to the carpenter. “They say he's gone mad. Just gone; the madness of the gods.” Sitting in the barbershop were the former two, one in his forties and the other of his fifties; a gray-haired…

I Like it This Way

19771977 views1717 comments77 favs

Through its branches we saw a couple. Teenagers, narrow and pale, two young birch trees, their roots twisted, submerged in the water.

Three Network News Ledes on the Death of Jimmy Buffet

19771977 views44 comments11 fav

“He spent four lonely days in a brown L.A. haze, and now Jimmy Buffet is dead.” —Brian Williams, NBC Nightly News “Jimmy Buffet—beloved parrot-head singer-songwriter—has given up his search for that lost shaker of salt. He…

Three Thirds

19761976 views44 comments22 favs

"I was hit by an Amtrak train and dragged a hundred feet, and I'm going to die from smoking cigarettes."

Worms Shouldn't Drink Whiskey

19761976 views66 comments55 favs

I have two memories of my dad. The first is a story he liked to tell: So my old woman came home one day with a worm. She sets the worm on the counter and goes into…

Christmas Morning

19761976 views1313 comments55 favs

Dad woke us up and said it was time to go.

The Chicken In A Can Incident: A Cautionary Christmas Tale

19761976 views33 comments33 favs

Don't feed it to the dog, it has bones, it is a whole goddamn chicken in a can, and I can't stress that enough. Besides one year you gave me a toilet seat for Christmas. I couldn't even eat that Ky

Conversation on Thanksgiving

19751975 views88 comments00 favs

“You always use that as a crutch. You, a sixteen year old girl. The way you were…” She looked at me, shaking her head, looking at my body as if remembering some wrong, some thing that should not have been.

Nobody Steps Forward

19751975 views33 comments11 fav

I can only see their eyes in the dark, reflected in the light from my flashlight. It's so quiet. I only hear the sound of my own breath. I hold the flashlight steady. Maybe they will think I'm not a threat if I'm not moving. It's a small hope. Yet here we are, at a…

Good Deed Punished (Matthew IV)

19751975 views1616 comments99 favs

homelessness, you called the lie,

Arcana Magi Behind the Scenes: The Rule of Mana Ver 2.0

19751975 views00 comments00 favs

A Nonfiction behind the scenes look at how Mana works in the world of Arcana Magi.

The Ouija Board Guide to True Facts about Cremation

19751975 views00 comments00 favs

Oh, and take off all your jewelry unless you want your relatives sifting you through a window screen looking for your diamond.