Most read stories

Improvisation on a Theme of Absolute Absence

15781578 views77 comments66 favs

Perhaps nothing has never existed;/ perhaps something always has

September 1969

15781578 views22 comments11 fav

Lake Berryessa, CALIFORNIA It was dusk on the 27th of September when the Stocky Man finished his work and trudged casually back across the…

Lips unsealed

15781578 views00 comments00 favs

They had a vague idea of how lips were to be used. Lips that parted feverishly, lips that burned. Lips - old, but still amateur. It was no wonder, considering that 'boys from good families' would never dream of even looking at a woman, let alone kiss her!

Buzz Kill

15781578 views22 comments11 fav

Blood had soaked through his Converse All-Stars, and into his cotton sox. It was the smell of metal, of iron more specifically, that nudged his mind out from the fog of shock and denial, closer to the reality of his circumstances.

Popcorn Tigers

15781578 views11 comment11 fav

The last row of furniture is all black leather. In unison the tigers hop onto a couch a piece, sit calmly on their haunches, and reach for remote controls buried in the cushions. Roaring, they paw at the remotes.

A Bitter And Unseasoned Business Attorney Makes His Case That "Crazy Heart" Is The Perfectly Nasty Ending

15781578 views44 comments11 fav

In closing, Your Honor:After the interview Bad Blake, a/k/a "Otis" takes "Miss" Jane Craddock back to his hotel, ties her up, and gives her a Cleveland Steamer. For reference, please refer to my Brief, Exhibit A, showing a thespian named Ronald Jeremy…

That Loving Feeling

15771577 views44 comments00 favs

That Loving Feeling How do I love thee? I love the bulge of your breast along the inside of my upper arm when you lie on top kissing me I love feeling the movement of your nipple along the tender skin there It

Not real words about a not real place

15771577 views11 comment00 favs

I'm going up and down elevators all over the Financial District and I have no office.

Small Talk

15771577 views66 comments22 favs

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

Badface Investigates - Fighting

15771577 views11 comment00 favs

I’m lying on the floor curled up in the foetal position and about six people are stamping on me. [...] It’s really confusing down here, what with all the kicking.

Beyond Penderecki

15771577 views11 comment22 favs

From a window, the young Pole Krzysztof Penderecki saw resistance fighters hanged by Nazis...

Four Stories I Cannot Write

15771577 views88 comments55 favs

“Per­haps instead of a book I could write lists of words, in alpha­bet­ical order, an ava­lanche of isol­ated words which expresses the truth I still do not know” — Italo Calvino albu­men before child grit secretlyshame august blood …

Life is Life (or Ode to a great big idiot like Zizek)

15771577 views00 comments00 favs

The words(worlds) have become abstracted through contempt?

Human Spirit - a poem

15771577 views00 comments00 favs

It feels for an exit.

If you're going to write, write.

15761576 views44 comments00 favs

So ya think you’re a writer? First of all, shut up. No, seriously, the very first thing you need to do, this very instant, is to just shut your mouth and take a seat.

Mistaken Identity

15761576 views00 comments00 favs

Scott was sure his father was reassured by the sticky stains in his Penthouse; Dad found them when Scott was thirteen. Dad had just one issue of that venerable porno, which Scott defiled with his joy. It was not the Penthouse models…

Untitled

15761576 views11 comment00 favs

What else, H, is there to say about heartbreak? What else could it be but our hands, cupped as if holding water against our chests, then broken into halves. Or the picture of this one, pretending to load a gun. Or this one, soaked in smoke—asking for

Fun With Literature, Part Two

15761576 views66 comments44 favs

Here are some ideas for stories I have had. 1. A captain of a whaling ship loses his leg to a whale, and makes it is life's mission to find this beast and kill it, and make a pair of boots, belt, and wallet out of its skin. 2. Ten people are invited to stay the weekend at a…

Broken Waters

15761576 views1515 comments99 favs

Some Things You Never Forget

15761576 views00 comments00 favs

Some things you never forget, especially if they are repeated frequently. I cannot hear her voice saying those words, now, I have forgotten its timber, its pitch, but I remember the words.

Rwanda Suite: Ape Woman

15761576 views99 comments99 favs

I should have buried him on the saddleback and kept my mouth shut. I'll murder the bastard who did it.

Dear Zombie William Carlos Williams,

15761576 views00 comments00 favs

If you wanted to retain the ownership of said works, then you should not have died.

The Baby With Monster Truck Wheels

15761576 views77 comments44 favs

Somebody needs to call Frank. The pediatrician who fixes cars on the side.

Street Parking

15751575 views1111 comments77 favs

“Everything is neon, “ I say.

Quantized

15751575 views00 comments00 favs

“Wait, so you’re Burt Lancaster? You’re not tall enough to be Burt Lancaster.” I popped a hand over my mouth. Wine as truth serum would do me no favors.

Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra and A Nice Hot Bath: What I Learned From Magazines This Week

15751575 views99 comments88 favs

Actress Rita Moreno wakes up humming.People (5/1/17)Riding a roller coaster with your partner makes you more attractive to each other. People (5/1/17)The image on the commemorative stamp the Central African Republic recently issued to honor film legend Marilyn Monroe…

10 cities, 7 weeks, 7 countries & poems

15751575 views66 comments33 favs

I'm not sure if this is breaking the rules of Fictionaut, but here's a trailer of a poetry tour of Europe I did earlier this year. We hope to break it down into webisodes soon enough to highlight the brilliant readings, brilliant local poets and such that you can find not…

Okatooga Warhammer

15751575 views33 comments22 favs

They looked like girl’s jeans. Matt held them against himself in the mirror. Not that girl’s jeans were a mark against them. Usually, girls had better jeans anyway. Matt took two of the biggest pairs out of the big chest in his grandmother’s back closet.

A Certain Distance

15751575 views77 comments55 favs

...a headwater stream that has never had a name....

Dilemma

15751575 views1313 comments1212 favs

Myrna came home from her new, midnight shift, waitressing job at the Waffle House saying she was sorry but she couldn't take any more gray-haired Jesus-types with their dollar bills held high, releasing a few so they would flutter, as if borne by wings, onto the tables as…