Most read stories

After He Stays

14551455 views66 comments11 fav

When the sex that is new and promising in its awkward moments is over, you turn to him. You expect that he’s figuring out a way to leave; the parts of you that know wait for him to stand up and put his clothes back on, quicker and with more eagerness than

Farewell Letter to the Blues

14541454 views33 comments33 favs

And, you peasy-headed shrew, don’t you dare think I didn’t notice that it was you who stuck that fork into my neck in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot late Tuesday night . . .

Again

14541454 views1313 comments1010 favs

Well, it's midnight and here I am drinking alone at the Stick It Inn, watching the clock because that cute, brunette waitress with the home wrecker tits, Julie, is working again, thank ya, Jesus, and she just came over and murmured she'd be off at one and come over and…

I'll be Home for Christmas

14541454 views2121 comments66 favs

She hasn't called me in days. Before calling her, I search my memory for something romantic to say. Shakespeare's Sonnet 73 says exactly what I'm thinking. But she doesn't need to hear it. She already knows, as all human efforts come to an end, my core energies are tapering…

One of Them

14541454 views33 comments00 favs

Who the hell wasn’t aware by now? What about prostate cancer awareness? One out of six men got prostate cancer, but you didn’t hear them whining. They weren’t waving blue ribbons in your face.

Five Million Yen: Chapter 18

14541454 views00 comments00 favs

Detective-Sergeant Claude Mulvihill was seasick. He was in a New York City Harbor Police boat in the East River headed towards the George Washington Bridge. There was a good chop in the harbor, which became worse when the Police Boat reached the Battery.

When the buck stops (3-Minute Fiction entry)

14541454 views33 comments11 fav

This was looking down from what we know as The Grassy Knoll.

2001, What I Wanted

14541454 views1010 comments44 favs

feet that would run until their soles were pages of Gideon’s Bibles, worn too thin to touch

High Jinks

14541454 views00 comments00 favs

“Gorgonzolla!” The remnant croaked, his eyes wild as he thrust an open hand in Jaffron's direction. A burst of energy tilted Jaffron's pod on its axis and sent it hurtling backwards...

we're all in there somewhere

14541454 views44 comments44 favs

We ask was that me? The one on the corner with his hat tipped to the jaunty side? I've wore hats, I've stood on corners. Am I not jaunty?

The Sound of Human Lives

14541454 views55 comments00 favs

The room smelled of an old rank basement. Boys and girls of all ages crowded the stage. The room was dark with only a few lights that hung from above keeping the crowd dark and silhouetting Chris on drums.

Same Old Song and Dance

14541454 views44 comments22 favs

You want to get laid talking socks

The Face in the Oatmeal

14541454 views55 comments44 favs

It was uncomfortable to realize people had agendas. That there could be invisible realities.

Lorelei

14541454 views22 comments11 fav

It was all things considered a particularly odd sight, which Annalise did not know how to handle.

End of Shift

14541454 views1616 comments1212 favs

He was losing his fight with malaria, but you would never know it from his dreams

Cornelius van Linjpleel's Contributions to the Study of Etruscan Tombs

14531453 views55 comments44 favs

Cornelius van Linjpleel discovered and excavated for himself a lone Etruscan tomb not far from Populonia in 1898.

Meaning

14531453 views66 comments44 favs

His face was creased with sadness the first time in the room and he danced his tai chi like a young man half his age, and laughed, like headtrippers do, from the neck up.

Prophetstown

14531453 views22 comments11 fav

The elders of the town will tell you that as soon the prophet mill arrived everything went to Hell. Before the process was streamlined, prophets used to be grown organically in the community. They popped up only where the ground was tilled and a prayer was planted. They…

Barnyard 1961

14531453 views66 comments55 favs

The boy heard loud barks and squeals, climbed on a chair, and looked out the window at the barnyard and the faded blood red barn.

I Don’t Think Her Last Name Was Tucker

14531453 views1010 comments99 favs

I ran into Tanya at “Pearl's” — maybe it was still called “Big Balls” — over in the Stockyards (Ft. Worth) in '72 and right up front we both admitted to loving honky-tonks and “done me wrong” songs which is why we were there…

The Window

14531453 views44 comments11 fav

Just beyond the tree, beyond the fence, close to the grey clouds that hung almost to the earth, a boy sat on another tree's stump. Beneath his crossed legs that he moved up and down rhythmically, under his bright red, Superman shorts, inscribed in the stump, a symbol which…

Streets of Gold

14531453 views1212 comments77 favs

I was beyond broke.

The Discovery of Infinity

14531453 views66 comments55 favs

Infinity occurs as an afterthought, for discoverers like Columbus as for countries like America.

Rent a DNA

14521452 views00 comments00 favs

“Yo, Paciorek. Lend me your DNA, cuz I left mine on the farm, and I have a test tomorrow,” Feller ordered in a commanding voice, because he had gumption.

Mariposa

14521452 views2121 comments1212 favs

He would not take Prozac and talked Jesus to her as if from a bucket.

Familiar Things

14521452 views99 comments77 favs

After lunch I left my office and trickled along like a slow leak, a notch above meandering; gravity had become a lateral force that pulled me forward.

Barbarian(s) Within the Gates

14521452 views66 comments55 favs

This writers' conference (sponsored by VQR, which had run its banner ad atop the Fictionaut home page in the summer of 2014, which begins to explain both my attendance and this essay) revealed itself as an apt subject . . .

High School Bards Face Tough Summer of Two-a-Day Practices

14521452 views44 comments11 fav

Joe Don followed the route taken by an increasing number of Texas teenage jocks whose football glory days are prematurely cut short and joined his high school's Cowboy Poet Squad.

The Dock

14521452 views11 comment00 favs

Row, Caps of white, A salted escape beneath reflected light. Brother, remember those old lies? I’m off to sea to make those things right, now.

A Body Unable

14521452 views77 comments44 favs

Once again there's too much to handle and no space to process