Top Stories
New stories you'll love, handpicked for you by our team and updated daily.
The Cat in the Hat Thinks You're Being a Brat. Top Story - August 2026.
They cry and they wail and they throw quite a fit "The system is broken! You're all full of shit! The contests are rigged and the judges are blind... and true, honest genius has been left behind!" "The cliques!" They all scream as they stomp on the floor "It's a popularity contest for sure! No talent is honored, just favor and greed!" (as they scroll to the bottom of things they don't read) Then off to the comments they scamper and dash, to harvest some karma and fish for some cash! "Great story!" they drop down on a piece about grief "So deep!" on a guide about making roast beef "So poignant and lucid!" on a broken up line "Wow, keep up the good work!" under budget design They copy, they paste, and then rush out the door Not skimming a phrase, not digesting a score They all want the claps and they all want the crown while they throw out generic trash all around So bitch all you want that the world isn't fair weird to whine no one reads when you don't even care
By Sara Wilson2 months ago in Poets
What About The Night We Met?. Top Story - August 2026.
The day we met in the park was more special to me than you think, despite the trauma that life had brought to me. I was fifteen years old, and sleeping alone on the street; something a child should never have to go through. I was terrified because I did not know how to survive, and the boyfriend I was with back then did not have a clue how to help me at all.
By Carol Ann Townend2 months ago in Humans
📢 Raise Your Voice Thread: 08/20/2026
Our “Raise Your Voice Threads” are hosted most alternating Thursdays at 12PM ET to offer creators more avenues to uncover exceptional stories on Vocal. As we are continuously searching for fresh creators and inspiring stories, this thread provides an opportunity to exchange and discuss the stories that have moved and motivated us on Vocal.
By Raise Your Voice by Vocal2 months ago in Resources
Who's ready?. Top Story - August 2026.
Who's ready for going back to school? Are the teachers and students really ready? Are they, or aren't they? They wait and wait for holidays and summer breaks to get away somehow. Do they really like to teach? I think they do but with everything that this profession includes, I believe, that they endure and they continue to plan what to do each year that they are a part of the noblest profession.
By Mark Graham2 months ago in Writers
The Fly (1986). Top Story - August 2026.
Confession. I kept bouncing from movies to TV shows to bands to actors, spoiled for choice and unable to commit to a topic. After a while, I started to wonder if the tired man staring back at me from the mirror was right. Maybe I am a contrarian hater.
By Aaron Morrison2 months ago in Critique
Beyond the White Water. Top Story - August 2026.
When I was a teenager, the ocean pummeled me. I was surfing when the fin of my board sliced through my chest. I came out of the water a bloody mess, and somewhere inside of me, the ocean stopped being a place of freedom.
By Brooke Gallagher2 months ago in Psyche
A Few Forevers. Top Story - August 2026.
There is eternity, sitting quiet in the corner of every moment. maybe that's why we ache for distraction - maybe that's why we make altars of our phones - maybe that's why we develop allergies to stillness - maybe that's why we cannot remember feeling present - because there is the weight and depth and width of the evermore in those seconds I spent on the couch, thumbing a poem in my notes app or watching my millionth sandwich-making YouTube short or dissociating in the bathroom at a social event. take heart, take comfort, take peace, take time in this - for there are always a few forevers before the next moment's need and you can sit in a quiet, quick stream in the corner, with eternity and hear, again, that you will be here, again a few countless times before whatever's next.
By Gabriel Huizenga2 months ago in Poets
The Best Books of 2026. Top Story - August 2026.
I'm a reader. I love nothing more than sinking into my couch on a dark and rainy day and devouring the words of a talented author. A few years ago, I wrote a post like this one explaining that I was hoping to increase my yearly reading, aided by Goodreads Reading Challenge . Welp, it's worked. I think I went from 15, 20 a year to 50 a year. Still not the most prolific nor studious reader in the world, but what can you do?
By Jon Dobbin2 months ago in Geeks
Say It Again Challenge Winners
Looking across the shortlist, one of the things that really stands out was how rarely the repeated lines stayed put. They started as excuses, clichés, reassurances, jokes, or things we say without thinking, then came back a little different. Say It Again was a lot of fun to read because best entries didn’t just repeat themselves, they took the same words and kept finding something new.
By Vocal Curation Team2 months ago in Resources
Now Boarding . Top Story - August 2026.
Despite Kelsey’s best efforts in the art of self restraint, all she thought about while standing in the boarding line was how divinely handsome he was. There was something about his chin as he looked out over the tarmac that said “I can cook a meal, pay the bills, and still nerd out over a video game, but in a way that’s cute and not smelly.”
By Matthew J. Fromm2 months ago in Fiction
Last Call. Top Story - August 2026.
Last call in Heaven morphs into First call on Earth. The departure platform bustled with passengers. Nobody was the same age. Some were old, some were younger. They wore all sorts of outfits. Heavenly robes were popular; some wore skins, like they hadn’t taken a trip in a very long time. Some even wore three-piece suits.  Some hadn’t had haircuts in a long time. Sparkly tickets shimmered as people clutched them tightly.
By Pauline Evanosky2 months ago in Fiction
A Shortcut at Night through a Desolate Landscape. Top Story - August 2026.
Phillip crushed a sizzling red butt into the roadside gravel with the tip of his sneaker. He’d stopped to call home, but it had been hours since he was in civilization and cell reception was useless.
By Amos Glade2 months ago in Fiction
Don't Tell Anyone I Didn't Like Alien. Top Story - August 2026.
Any good divisive opinion should start with a preface, and here’s mine: I watched Alien a couple years ago, long after its initial release, and I’m sure it was unprecedented for its time. I am not in that time. I am in now. There is something to be said about the fact that this plot was never spoiled for me before a watch, so it did have that going for it. I liked the cat. Spoilers abound, you’ve been warned.
By Raine Neal2 months ago in Critique
Book Review: "The Dark" by James Herbert . Top Story - August 2026.
You can read my review of The Fog, also by James Herbert, here: Written in the 1980s, The Dark was called one of the novels that made James Herbert one of the greats of horror according to many of the reviews I read after the fact. I'm not going to lie to you though, I didn't enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed The Fog. Namely, that's because The Fog was more visceral and entertaining, it had more of an intensity about it, more atmosphere and it was overall, a bit more frightening. Be that as it may, that doesn't mean that The Dark was no good at all. It just means, there's something a bit better I've already read and therefore, it's a bit of a downer.
By Annie Kapur2 months ago in Geeks
