Top Stories
New stories you’ll love, handpicked for you by our team and updated daily.
Back When There Were More of Us
The swamp now encompasses our town. Menacing cypress trees wall us in and the dangling Spanish moss sways like hungry tentacles.
Aaron MorrisonPublished 11 months ago in FictionThe Shelling Ceremony
As a scallop, there are fewer more deadly creatures in the sea than the merfolk. Should we escape the clutches of our natural predators and live to the ripe old age of 5, we become susceptible to a new kind of predation.
Donna Fox (HKB)Published 11 months ago in HorrorThe Ghosts of Dorothy Dandridge
“If it is possible for a human being to be a haunted house, may be that would be me.” Dorothy Dandridge opens her biography.
Rachel RobbinsPublished 11 months ago in GeeksLiving in an Ashtray
Lives. Burning away like unattended cigarettes in an ashtray. Teetering on the edge of collapse. Threatening to fall into the abyss
Cathy holmesPublished 11 months ago in Poets17 years
Exhausted after his double shift he boarded the train home keen to see his wife and baby; ashamed at his daily struggle to support them.
Pauline FountainPublished 11 months ago in FictionAdjustment Period, Day 6
Dale was ecstatic. Patricia, devoted wife that she was, had decided to walk with him through the aftermath of the Zombie Apocalypse. If he still had a heart, it would be full. Still, there was a nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something simply wasn't right.
Dana CrandellPublished 11 months ago in FictionMagic Mushrooms
“Oh man, it feels like I’m floating… and these colors look crazy!” “You are floating,” Gretchen sighed, glancing up from where she’d been crocheting on the couch. “And it looks like your eyes have turned into mantis shrimp eyes, so you’ve probably got several new photoreceptors.”
Tiffany MercerPublished 12 months ago in FictionEvery Song A Memory
If I said my life were not defined by music, I'd be disingenuous to the medium that has shaped the artist you see sitting here at her kitchen table in a cut-off t-shirt, tattooed, watching my pet make her slow and arduous recovery. Music has held me together from my earliest memories, has been a guide to my identity, has been a vent for my outrage, and has been my road home. I don't have a collective discography of cohesion. Every melody has come into my life exactly when I needed it. And this last week I needed it more than ever.
Ashley McGeePublished 11 months ago in BeatWhere are the Drag Kings?
There's a lot of talk about drag queens, both celebration on shows like RuPaul's Drag Race and hysteria over drag queen story hours. It made me wonder, why you don't hear about drag kings? Women are out there dressing as men, but they don't seem to have anywhere close to the same cultural standing. (One thing I learned in doing research for this article is that who can be a drag king is a lot broader than just people assigned female at birth, but that is getting a bit beyond my scope here.) So here are some theories.
Buck HardcastlePublished 11 months ago in PrideHidden History
This tautagram details the mindsets of the slave owners as well as those they kept enslaved. It details the actions of each and hopefully, the reader will understand the emotions and dynamics of each. Plantation owners believing they were within their rights to own other humans and treat them however they desired. The slaves longing to be free and have a chance at the life their masters lived. This poem is about the hidden emotions within the Antebellum era.
Cheryl E PrestonPublished 12 months ago in PoetsFarewell
She gazed into the sky, a bruised canvas of midnight blue, salted with stars. Light shimmered through the pines, leaving splashes of silver on the earth below.
Ahna LewisPublished 11 months ago in FictionNew Arrival
Jeff was camping when he heard the sirens from the city. Something was very wrong. He tuned his radio and the announcement warned citizens of Hart’s Bay to seek shelter. An asteroid was headed toward the city.
Jason Ray MortonPublished 12 months ago in FictionOn Venn diagrams, moles, contronyms, and James Joyce
I’m not going to talk about Venn diagrams. For those interested, take a look elsewhere. Or another elsewhere (the latter is not very informative, and it rather serves the purpose of convincingly showing that science is a form of art; I also drop a screenshot below for those who are lazy to open unknown hyperlinks).
Movie Review: 'Fast X'
Fast X (2023) Directed by Louis Letterier Written by Dan Mazeau, Justin Lin Starring Vin Diesel, Jason Mamoa, Tyrese, Charlize Theron, Paget Brewster, John Cena, Michelle Rodriguez, Ludacris, Sung Kang, Jason Statham, Helen Mirren
Sean PatrickPublished 11 months ago in GeeksUnder the Grass
Jamie, a little boy who loves to play with bugs. He runs to the yard towards his favorite spot at the edge of the grass. He patiently waits for his friend the ant.
An Actress Forgets Her Lines
The actress stared into the distance, unable to speak. All traces of the character had fallen away. She stood there frozen, mouth agape, drenched in sweat. The words had vanished from her mind, replaced by fear, doubt, and self flagellation.
Leslie WritesPublished 12 months ago in FictionReasons
Ross gathered the courage and walked through the automatic doorway to the drug mart with every intention of committing theft. It would be his first time as an adult. As a teenager they called it the five-finger discount.
Lamar WigginsPublished 12 months ago in FictionHeather on the Moors
Her name was Heather, like the heather that was scattered endlessly across the beautiful moors. The moors of Dartmoor called to Heather, both in her waking hours and in her dreams. They beckoned as she slept in the comfortable bed that had once belonged to her parents, and each morning as she awoke, the smell of heather along with a fine mist seemed to permeate the room. She knew well enough, however, that these things were merely the remnants of her dreams that lingered so.
Cindy CalderPublished 11 months ago in FictionShifting Gears
My mind shifts gears quickly, Advancing from first to sixth Accelerating involuntarily Spontaneous Life appears on the side of the road
Brenda MahlerPublished 12 months ago in PoetsHe Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
He only loved me on some days. Sometimes for weeks at a time. Sometimes for months. Sometimes only a few moments. ~ It was a Friday afternoon, the kind accompanied by a wild Spring breeze, the smell of blooming flowers and the triumphant feeling of making it through another week of boring monotonous nine to five work.
Karissa E.L. CuffPublished 12 months ago in Fiction