Most read stories

White Legs

15281528 views1515 comments77 favs

...lotus roots carved with clunky holes like a mouse’s drawing of Swiss cheese.

The Adventures of Tequila Kitty: Chapter Two: Confessions of a Crazy Cat Lady - by Aimee Hamel

15281528 views00 comments00 favs

He took off his sombrero and playfully placed it on my head. “And really, don’t be upset. You’re fine. There’s nothing wrong with loving your cat.” He was right, there is nothing wrong with loving your cat. But there is something wrong with owning a di

Paying for Dinner at a French Restaurant So You Will Love Me

15281528 views55 comments55 favs

What does she have / that I don’t have / that I can’t buy / for myself?

Hopper

15281528 views44 comments33 favs

"Hey, man. All we represent to them, man, is somebody who needs a haircut."

Linear Critic

15281528 views1111 comments88 favs

8) An exercise online calls for the first sentence on page 45 of the book nearest you as a suggested description of your love life. The book 9) nearest me still is _The Quarterly_, 1, spring 1987, that I have on my desk in preparing to write an essay.

Lonely Hearts

15281528 views1515 comments1616 favs

He didn't hide it. He told her he was a mortician when he called. He had responded to her ad in the Lonely Hearts section of the newspaper.

Nothing At All

15281528 views77 comments22 favs

The ice in my drink provides ample cooling. The brew strength of my tea is just such that it combines in a pleasing fashion with the melting ice. My mind is clear and my belly absent hunger. I am completely sated from any physical desire at this very mome

f**k xmas

15281528 views22 comments22 favs

Christmas Eve arrives with a relief that the season of joy will soon be over so I can feel the pain I am denying myself. Rosie presses her face against the kitchen window, leaving ghostlike impressions of the tip of her nose and her lips on the glass tha

Three as She Lay Sleeping

15281528 views88 comments11 fav

As I watched her sleep, I saw gentle frost and sun on crystal.

Small Talk

15281528 views66 comments22 favs

Her fingers scampered over the table, practicing the deft stitching of the basilar artery.

NAN : A Novel-In-Stories

15281528 views00 comments00 favs

My novel-in-stories, NAN, is now available as an ebook for $6.99. Thanks to everyone who read the first 7 published stories here on Fictionaut.

In the Pastel City

15281528 views77 comments44 favs

Then I had / that dream

Reverse Order

15281528 views55 comments22 favs

Robert wants so badly after reading a book where a man wakes up as a bug to wake up as a bug. He researches the avenues of metamorphosis where science has been where it is going. He is disappointed that of all things science has turned into other things, none…

Happy Columbus Day

15281528 views1414 comments1010 favs

Oh to be young and vigorous.

So What

15281528 views1717 comments1414 favs

This morning I heard her downstairs trying to get away silently. I knew she would write a short goodbye note. I knew it would tell me her reason for leaving —she had to be free of my indifference. I dressed, finished my coffee, backed out of the driveway and went to…

Three Second Rule

15271527 views66 comments55 favs

“Can I feel it?” he reached his hands out immediately, expecting I’d say yes. I am the type to always say yes, right? “Sure.” I confirmed, swallowing back my fear of his touch. He didn’t seem himself, like this. I led his hands to my hips and let them

Sounding

15271527 views1313 comments1212 favs

Grey would rather be in the trees or down by the river. When a wind comes up, he grabs the wooly blanket from the hook in the barn and calls Phoebe. They stretch the blanket out between them and sail into the grassy meadow that slopes down the hill from t

Talking Down the Flames

15271527 views44 comments11 fav

She'd always been an odd girl, nearly raising herself. As she got breasts and hips the boys complained that she was easy to get in the backseat, but afterward the car wouldn't run, not ever, like the engine died the moment they used her willingness up. So

Portrait

15271527 views44 comments11 fav

Hers or mine? You figure it out, jackass.

Haiku for the Worried

15271527 views66 comments33 favs

Real life escapes you.

Vivian

15271527 views1111 comments1010 favs

When her husband left she was not yet thirty

Her Head Sounserals Away

15271527 views55 comments33 favs

"Bortne! Bortne! Shushort!" she exclaims, shooting her hands over her wobbly head in pleasure, causing it to again pop off. This time, it's a three story drop from a balcony. Terrified, he yells "Sneeeeew nuuuu! Oh nee padoooo!"

Stones

15271527 views55 comments33 favs

Henry and I had met at the hospital. He'd been forty years my senior, but we'd been in for precisely the same reason: kidney stones.

Ode To Poetry Slams

15271527 views22 comments00 favs

It is a dark and stormy night, naturally We’re trying to get some sleep at a Travelodge in Eureka when I get up at 3 a.m. to write “Hard motel pillow receives snoring from neighboring room” O Thesaurus, we need another word Maybe it sh

Fishers of Hope

15271527 views00 comments00 favs

June Day sprinted with urgency through the halls of the Armistice. Whenever she passed a window looking out into space, if it wasn't already covered, she didn't bother looking out, but not because of her hurry; no one did anymore. She was young, but the…

Fidelity

15271527 views55 comments44 favs

The night before leaving, we have French toast and red wine in Matthew's kitchen, our packs and sleeping bags and tents surrounding us, looming like golems. Because we're nervous, and a little drunk, the conversation inevitably turns to grammar. "I'm sure I learned…

Self Help For Daydreamers

15271527 views88 comments33 favs

I think I’ll get a tattoo. Not just any tattoo, one I’ll regret. I’ll catch people peering at it, trying to interpret the twists and swirls of the black ink on my fair skin.

Mobile

15271527 views77 comments77 favs

They stand together in the doorway looking at the crib.

One of Four

15271527 views1111 comments66 favs

She stood with her sisters, pretty maids in a row, felt cold despite the scorching spring sun. Heard what the man said but didn’t register; words from the Lord flew around her like the flighty trill of the robins up above. The birds made more sense.

Godfrey part 2: Marjory's bag

15271527 views1515 comments55 favs

"when I say bag, what I mean to say is…"