Most read stories

The Nude Pianist: A Novel: Chapter 25

14861486 views66 comments44 favs

It was 6 a.m. when the phone next to the bed awakened Francesco.

Beside the Still Waters

14861486 views00 comments00 favs

“You. There,” said the fellow, pointing his gun like a dead finger. “You believe that water saves the soul, don’t you?” Thomas looked to the other boys for an answer, but they didn’t know any more than he did.

Capt. Love's Last Command (poem)

14861486 views66 comments11 fav

The old man is dead, body propped in its cart like the dead El Cid strapped on his horse by Jimena to save Valencia, and yet...

Haying

14861486 views77 comments55 favs

It is not unusual for farmers to see the future before it’s begun—but I am not speaking here only of the need to hope but more. . . .

Chocolate Biscuits

14861486 views00 comments00 favs

Josh was having a hard enough time getting through his final year of studies without having his sister point out his fledgling love life to his parents.

An Open Letter For Zombie Rights

14851485 views1010 comments33 favs

We are what we are, and that is zombies.

I See Your Face Before Me

14851485 views00 comments00 favs

The summer was announcing itself in thick waves of heat that rolled like a slow motion hurricane inside Mark Keeler's 1971 Mercury Montego. The car baked in a…

Wait

14851485 views66 comments11 fav

I'm not dying. What is it called if you think you might have Hypochondria but you really don't? I'm worried that's what I have. Is it cold in here? Or is it me, dying?

Game Night

14851485 views00 comments00 favs

Randy stood in the alley behind Krasnowski Construction with a loaded gun shoved down the front of his pants. His friend Todd was inside, unloading the safe. And when Todd walked out the door, Randy was going to shoot him in the face.

whistle stop

14851485 views99 comments66 favs

good bye suckers

Propped Up

14851485 views22 comments00 favs

Christmas Muzak was piped through to every store in the shopping mall. Giant red velvet bows adorned reproduction Victorian gaslights. Yards of glittered cotton pretended to be snow. A Santa rang a brass bell.

Beer Pong With the Nobel Prize Winners

14851485 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.

Stuff

14851485 views44 comments55 favs

Art books, paintings, antique chairs, marble tables, full length gold gilded mirrors, oriental rugs, tapestries, a Louis XVI painted French armoire, a wrought iron Deco coffee table, flat ware, silver flasks, mantel lamps, iron gates, a silk settee, theat

The Woodsman

14851485 views77 comments33 favs

In winter The Woods sleeps and the Woodsman comes. He collects the dead wood and makes coal. He nurses the injured animals and prepares the dying. He distributes the snow and regulates the temperature. In his fur hat…

Secret Lives of Cell Phones

14851485 views1919 comments88 favs

...collapse of the human world. Go, cell phones!

Frail Flowers, Sitting Monks

14851485 views77 comments44 favs

The world is slick as alabaster, taking the guesswork out of the rain. Junction Road moves like thick grease under the tires of my '89 Skyhawk. The old car's making a clicking noise somewhere underneath the high-beam switch and the damn…

Flicker

14851485 views33 comments22 favs

His eyes were marbles floating over a void.

BUNGEE

14851485 views88 comments66 favs

The drop is like a hangman's drop, an executioner's, but farther and longer, perhaps three or four seconds.

Some Pianos

14851485 views1010 comments66 favs

We bought a grand piano at Steinway Hall after 9/11, chased uptown by the dust of death and awakening from dreams of miniature jumpers stuck in the icing of white wedding cakes

The Real Story Behind The Lipstick On Obama's Shirt

14851485 views66 comments11 fav

The lipstick on your collar walked up the steps and through the front door, without a key. Her smile was hypnotically red and bountiful. The guards standing around didn't dare frisk her for weapons, her lips were weapon enough.

Pool

14851485 views33 comments44 favs

“That pool will be the death of me.”Which Dad said at least a couple of times a week. Ten times the week after he'd read the TXU bill.“Goddamn pump, and that twitchy little Polaris. We should fill that pool with dirt and plant some trees and Asian…

You Can't Always Get What You Want

14851485 views77 comments55 favs

I was tired and lonesome when I checked into another insufferable, shop-worn Holiday Inn. It was the only motel around with the internet — dial up only — in that little jerkwater town, Notmuch, Alabama. It was too late for a nap, so I jumped in the shower,…

MUSE

14841484 views55 comments33 favs

The bar was dark and a little dirty, and that suited Splinker's mood just fine.

Gipetto's Sin

14841484 views22 comments00 favs

The boy grew frightened when his grainy wooden skin began to melt, every fiber humming and softening.

Skew

14841484 views88 comments55 favs

Stroman reached over and stroked the perimeter of Rouge's chin with his thumb. 'I am just joking. You are my soul-mate, you know that?'

Palm of Her Hand

14841484 views1616 comments1010 favs

He trembled as she splayed open his palm...

Make Not Thy Head a Grave

14841484 views88 comments55 favs

the emergence of the Beatles and the Vietnam War sad human electricity no buzz of any wheel

Iowa

14841484 views77 comments66 favs

"It was John-Darren who once told me that he felt sorry for women."

In Search of a Meaningful Moment

14841484 views00 comments00 favs

She wheeled more deeply into the office towards Mason’s desk. Keith hurried to the desk and pulled the chair out of the way for her and a sat down next to her. She was blue-eyed, pale and completely hairless, which made it difficult to guess her age.

Leap

14841484 views00 comments11 fav

I was driving by with a dampened eye