Most read stories

The Fourth Prague Defenestration: 6

13791379 views11 comment11 fav

My grandfather rode with the Czar’s army. He was abducted from a village in Austria, trained to pillage and drink, plunder and rape, and ride the best horses that could be had. They were given the best vodka and the sharpest swords. They were all just b

An Orb for a Better World

13791379 views11 comment11 fav

Max sighed. Solving for x was boring, so mind numbingly boring that he didn't notice the flickering blue light hovering in his room. It crackled and popped, growing until a shimmering rectangle stretched from floor to ceiling.A hand pushed out from the rectangle, and a…

Helen Says (from FATHER MUST)

13791379 views11 comment11 fav

Masking. Helen says not to think of it as covering or disguising or concealing. Helen says to understand it is not to take it as something put up front and over like a mask. Helen says it’s not like that...

Gulf War

13791379 views1515 comments1010 favs

Someone's ass should be kicked.

things to know about the people parked along the road that runs though Humboldt Park: part 19

13791379 views44 comments33 favs

And he was wearing a mask. Gorilla mask over his gorilla face.

Unibrow: A Confessional

13791379 views22 comments00 favs

I couldn't think of anything that rhymed with "unibrow" except Tsing Tao, which is a brand of Chinese beer....

The Dog's Familiar

13791379 views00 comments00 favs

The county sent two crews, one to get Mr. Meyers, the old shut-in, tall and affable, but quiet and bent, like a crooked coat rack with a porkpie atop, the other for his dog, an english setter whom he shadowed like a familiar. I say he was the familiar and

Woman in a Film Running to Save Her Love

13791379 views33 comments44 favs

If she does not get to him in time, / all is lost.

Blind date

13791379 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…

Aluminum Canoe

13791379 views22 comments00 favs

"Don't stab me with that," says John.

reality concedes, for once

13791379 views55 comments66 favs

beckoning with citrus streaks blue cobbled streets/and stuccos lit with gold lamps guide strollers here/to Place du Forum in Arles and this café . . .

Story Story

13781378 views44 comments11 fav

It was one of those sweltering afternoons that San Diego endures only several times a summer. I'm riding on El Cajon Boulevard, with my friend John in his old Chevy pickup. John is a lifelong San Diego resident and fanatical Charger backer. He's talking up some…

In my day...

13781378 views55 comments66 favs

In my day, you could buy a polythene bag of cigarette butts for 5p. And everyone had a proper haircut.In my day, plumbers gave free vasectomies whilst reciting patriotic poems. And all the buses were red.In my day, there was always more than enough sex to go round, with…

Dear Friend

13781378 views44 comments11 fav

Dear Friend: As a visitor to Wonderland in the past, you are truly among our most treasured friends. It is the enthusiasm for whimsy such as yours that spurs us to continue to provide perplexing chaos for which we are so widely esteemed, the better to

The Nude Pianist: A Novel: Chapter 43

13781378 views66 comments33 favs

—Have you ever fired a gun?

Riverside

13781378 views11 comment00 favs

Talking to Shakespeare by the riverside, I am saddened by my lust for women, how my eyes fixate on the spit that passes from top to bottom lip as they talk to me.

The Monday Wednesday Friday War

13781378 views77 comments33 favs

Ginny, the mother, was a lark in every respect of the word. Born and raised in central California farm country, to a family of lower middle class means, educated in public schools in whose bathroom stalls she was deflowered as unceremoniously as a pig ta

Decision Mountain

13781378 views77 comments66 favs

For decades the land the village sat on had switched its allegiance between two countries.

The Noise

13781378 views77 comments55 favs

I'm hearing a noise. I can't see it. It's hiding and seems to be coming from the other side of the creek. With boots on I slowly wade across. The water makes its light lapping sounds. Reaching the bank, I search for the noise. It must have a face, suntanned and warm, that I…

Herd

13781378 views88 comments44 favs

We may think about so many things and thoughts about rain. We may think about where it is going, where it comes from.

Ranger

13781378 views44 comments44 favs

“What. Is. That?” Sid asked, staring at the shaggy ball of fur sitting in the living room. Its tongue hung out of its mouth and its tail beat against the carpet.“This is Ranger,” his mom said. “I don't know what breed he is, but he's a sweetie…

Laidlaw

13781378 views1010 comments77 favs

There were too many laws but not enough of the kinds she wanted. She wished for the right to go shopping. Then taste rather than disposable income or access to finance could distinguish people.

The Girls of Spring

13781378 views33 comments22 favs

The girls of spring, they’ll stop your heart When they forsake cosmetic art They practiced back when skies were grey and clouds obscured the light of day.

15 Restatements

13771377 views55 comments33 favs

I arrange 15 restatements of how lovely you are forward then backward, horizontally then vertically then along the diagonals.

Strange Humidity

13771377 views22 comments11 fav

The kitchen is full of old girlfriends. I avoid them. They are munching on cheddar and sharing stories I'm sure I don't want to hear.

Beside the Pool at Noon

13771377 views33 comments00 favs

he flies away past the green explosion, into the azure sky

Low Dose Yoga

13771377 views1111 comments77 favs

Names are forbidden here. So is apology.

The One-Dollar Minister

13771377 views22 comments11 fav

The man could be a total brute, though the truth was he had the softest of hearts too. A real gentle giant. But get him going on a drunk jag with too much ouzo in his system, and look out.

The Hunger of the Waxing Moon

13771377 views11 comment11 fav

I took advantage of a free period this afternoon to nap. When I awoke, I tasted blood. My tongue was swollen. I checked myself in the mirror and saw twin punctures on my lower lip with pinpricks of blood on each. I winked at my reflection and lifted my li

Reasons to Live (RtL) = right to left

13771377 views99 comments88 favs

6. to register for the draft