Short Story
Fostering Doubts
Author's Preamble: As noted above, this is my 22nd rejection, in my ongoing attempt to win something or have something published outside of Vocal. The following story was written for the 2025 Ligonier Valley Writers' Flash Fiction Contest. The prompt was simply, AI/robots, the light or dark side. 1000 words or less.
By Paul Stewart12 months ago in Fiction
Dowager
The massive oak door of the manor creaked open, revealing a hallway lined with portraits of a glamorous past. Emily stepped in, taking a deep breath of dust and memories. She glanced around, half-expecting to see her mother flitting about, still trying to impress the shadows.
By Julie O'Hara - Author, Poet and Spiritual Warrior12 months ago in Fiction
She’s Ready for You
The old man sat in his chair, staring out the window. The olive trees were blooming, the delicate flowers having burst forth from their buds. He could smell the little white petals in the breeze off the Mediterranean. His small cabin was close to the water, but his neighbor had a sprawling grove that stretched between his home and the cerulean waves.
By Benjamin Whitaker12 months ago in Fiction
The Immortality Subscription
The ad was everywhere. “Aeterna Corp: Why Have an Expiration Date?” For a manageable monthly fee, the “Rejuvenation Stream” would flood your cells with nano-machines, repairing telomeres, purging toxins, and holding aging at bay. It wasn’t a one-time cure; it was a service. A subscription to immortality.
By Habibullah12 months ago in Fiction
Three Villains
I peered through the keyhole and saw three villains standing on my front porch. Each one looked meaner than the next. The third villain was perhaps the meanest villain I had ever seen. So mean, his mother probably didn’t even like him. Although she claimed she did.
By Steve Lance12 months ago in Fiction
Megara: The Mechanism of Madness
On the Mechanism Cebes and Atlas are enjoying themselves at their favorite coffee shop after a prodigious session of alcohol consumption. They are coming down from their drunken state but Altas is in a cheerful mood for more, while Cebes is in a melancholy mood questioning his thoughts and emotional state.
By G.A. Sebastián12 months ago in Fiction
The Girl by the Sea – Part 3. AI-Generated.
The days in Havenbrook began to blend into one another, stitched together by the rhythm of waves and the quiet companionship that neither Ethan nor Amelia fully understood. He would find her by the shore each morning, sketching in silence while the gulls cried above. She never asked him why he returned, and he never explained. Sometimes, he brought her seashells without meaning to, setting them beside her like apologies left unspoken. Other times, he simply stood behind her, watching the sea breathe and break. To anyone else, it was nothing—but to them, it was everything. A wordless understanding, fragile but real. Ethan had promised himself he wouldn’t stay, yet with every sunrise, his absence became harder to imagine. Amelia, too, began to feel the quiet tether between them tighten, though she pretended not to notice. Love, she realized, often begins in silence—growing roots beneath the things we never say.
By Yaseen khan12 months ago in Fiction
Revenge Is Best Served with Spite
Michael sat down at his laptop. This time, he was determined to go through with it. Unlike all the other times before, he now had someone to share his life with. Someone with whom he could find the happiness that he had been seeking for many years.
By Calvin London12 months ago in Fiction
