Most read stories

Brothers

15271527 views44 comments44 favs

The young boy woke to the sound of laughter. He blinked himself out of deep sleep and allowed…

three gretchens

15271527 views22 comments00 favs

The story of a second, a stone, and an android -- all curiously interrelated and all, coincidentally, named Gretchen

Tales from the fictionaut Fave Side

15271527 views55 comments33 favs

Into the bowl I put Tales from the Crypt, The Far Side and an episode of Numbers. Wisked for a moment, then let the dough rise.

Laughing All The Way To The 2020 Election

15271527 views55 comments44 favs

After President Trump was elected, my first impulse was to spend the next four years cowering under the bed, whimpering.While I knew that I needed to keep track of what our new commander in chief was up to, watching the news made me too angry and too sad and just too…

Secrets of Philadelphia

15271527 views00 comments00 favs

Bruce Springsteen begins singing from the loud speaker he was bruised and battered and couldn’t tell what he felt.

As the Wine Keeps Flowing

15271527 views1010 comments77 favs

My blood has turned to flour I've been in Babylon too long My heart was singed by fire But it's drowning in my song We raised a prayer to Mary We had to take our share We took our places in the ferry But we didn't pay the fare And we don't know…

Postcard from Shambhala

15271527 views33 comments22 favs

Dearest Z— There is no way to describe this place. It is a pendulum, caught at mid-swing or maybe just a millimeter on the up side. It is a sense of sweeping, a cleanness. Distant clouds remind me of the day we took the train and the mountains acted petulantly,…

Convenience Store

15271527 views33 comments22 favs

I’m casing the place; my boyfriend Jimmy is about to bust in and rob the store.

The Gallery of Wounds

15271527 views1616 comments99 favs

The blood is memorable/ as is the copper taste of that/ momentary certainty of lockjaw.

ANALOG

15271527 views66 comments22 favs

We’re going to talk about our future like the Rick Dees Weekly Top 40. Like there are 40 great songs this week about our future.

One Sick, Two Sick, Red Sick, Blue Sick

15271527 views66 comments55 favs

I found a diseased fish / wedged between some boulders near the pier

Bedtime Stories

15271527 views33 comments11 fav

I want to read a story that ends unhappily ever after: one where the bad guy wins and no one gets the girl.

Open Wounds

15271527 views11 comment11 fav

Where the skin had grazed, shredded by the coarse gravel to form scabs, fascinated Jack. It reminded him of his youth and his own grazes, scratches and stitches. As a boy he imagined scabs were rough foundations of igneous rock, blood like lava pouring th

Osama Retires

15271527 views00 comments00 favs

Osama couldn’t see any reason he shouldn’t retire. No way he could top BP Oil in the Gulf or Pacific Gas & Electric in San Bruno.

5 Things I've Learned After 5 Years of Reviewing Small Press Books and Writing 2 of My Own

15261526 views11 comment22 favs

In today’s print-on-demand and digital world, there are unlimited avenues for aspiring writers to circulate their work, but deregulation and limitlessness often leads to chaos. Writers are more inclined to release unpolished work that fails to rise to the

The Sound Of...

15261526 views11 comment00 favs

What if Everything I have been doing Hasn’t been heard By anyone?

The Centre of the Universe

15261526 views33 comments11 fav

"Look Emily, I’m charging your solar powered calculator and helping you relieve your dependence on foreign oil."

Snow

15261526 views77 comments11 fav

She talks about window treatments, how the place is maybe too much for one. Wants me to know she’s not much of a cook, and wants me to smell what’s in her oven and compliment her cooking anyway.

Water Hitting Water.

15261526 views44 comments44 favs

Jenny was certain nobody saw her when she took the slinky shirt from her father's store. It was blue with buttons shaped like cherries, the fabric light as air. She balled it up in her hand. Her father owned a chain of boutiques called Body Electric. The racks were…

This Can't Be True, But I Remember It

15261526 views33 comments33 favs

She calls me by my name. She says I am her daughter.

Lovelandtown Tavern

15261526 views44 comments44 favs

James Hubert III sat at the bar. It was late. His wife and kids were long in bed and he knew he should be, too. But with the Lovelandtown lift bridge stuck in mid-air, a drink beckoned him. He sat next to Vince DeSantos, a small, stout man, with a bowling

Triolet

15261526 views1111 comments88 favs

the magic is our making

Settled

15261526 views44 comments11 fav

Zusman snored on the sofa as Motel gathered his belongings in the dark. He moved quietly as had become his custom in the mornings. Initially he had tried not to wake his nephew on his way to work in the…

What He Lost Round the Mountain

15261526 views44 comments33 favs

The plane passes the runway, dips sharply, its shadow straight down below, too cold in the cabin, the sun hitting your arm like a machete below, it is 94, the humidity too, it has just rained for 3 days, it never rains this time of year......

The Fourth Prague Defenestration: 10

15261526 views33 comments44 favs

But the restaurants put pig in every little dish. You couldn't eat there without encountering some portion of pig. It was in everything, including the cabbage. Who puts pig in the cabbage? I'm asking you. And in the dumplings too. For God's sake, give it

Blind date

15261526 views11 comment00 favs

“I'll have the Ribeye cooked medium rare,” says Bill, who looks over at Julia, blonde hair and disarming smile, and he thinks that she's not bad for a blind date. He doesn't like the way she butters her roll, however, and it agitates him that she spreads…

You'll Never Get Anything Accomplished on an Empty Stomach

15261526 views66 comments00 favs

The Star Trek marathon ends, and he flips channels. An episode of Full House is on. The cheesy plot lines and attractive women (specifically, DJ Tanner in the late seasons) have become a freakish comfort. In today's episode, the Tanners are baby sitt

Wings

15261526 views1010 comments88 favs

He knows I talk to angels, what he would call angels. I don’t talk to him.

Bag

15251525 views11 comment11 fav

No chance for Hallo, we sank into an unlit station doorway and he fumbled through my shorts.

Bats in the Catacomb

15251525 views1010 comments77 favs

Dreams / of being a millionaire are replaced by dreams / of being a billionaire