Top Stories
New stories you'll love, handpicked for you by our team and updated daily.
My Mother's Book. Top Story - October 2026.
It's only a transcendental irony that this story should be published during the harvest season. Some kind of cruel twist of fate that will make it seem like this is just another legend of ghosts, goblins, and vampires. But this is no yarn woven around the campfire on all hallows eve. It is as real as you sitting here reading my words this very moment. Not the kind of reality men see, but the kind that dwells within the bosom with an inward warmth. Humans come to expect things, things they take for granted yet they barely understand.
By Henry Shaw8 days ago in Horror
Comp and Pen. Top Story - October 2026.
This may come with some backlash, but I have to make this article known. As a veteran, currently going through the claim process, I have been exposed to two types of examiners that will either support or hinder a veteran’s claim process.
By Jay LeTron Dobbins11 days ago in Psyche
Walking Into October. Top Story - October 2026.
October challenge: Prompt - Write a poem that makes October feel like a place you can enter. Imagine October isn't a month. It's somewhere you can go. What does it look like when you get there? Maybe the streets are covered in wet leaves and porch lights glow before dinner. Maybe there's a bonfire somewhere in the distance, a house you shouldn't knock on, or a path through the woods that wasn't there in September. Your October might be cozy, eerie, nostalgic, lonely, strange, or something else entirely. Write a poem that turns October into a place and invites the reader inside. Give it weather. Give it sounds. Give it somewhere to wander. Then see where October takes you.
By Denise E Lindquist10 days ago in Poets
Same Again?. Top Story - October 2026. Content Warning.
Ah held mah heid up wae mah weary hands, the weakness flowing through mah body. It had been a day. In fact, it had been a lifetime. A lifetime of mistakes an ah dinnae ken how the fuck ah wis gonna change anything.
By Paul Stewart10 days ago in Humans
The Whole World is Watching. Top Story - October 2026.
There you are. Yes, you with your Converse that never go out of style. Your hair that falls like a wedding veil you never got to wear around your face, shielding innocence that never existed. The blue light penetrates your glasses, as if your eyes are revealing a relationship with modern technology that should remain private. You sit, listening to the wheezing sounds your dad makes. A medically induced coma is what the doctor called it when he explained the situation to you, along with the expensive details of the procedures he would need to save his life.
By L.M. Marlin12 days ago in Fiction
A Dyad of Dunces. Top Story - October 2026.
It had been six days since two kingdoms fell around them. The Lady and the Brute could only listen from their cell within the castle walls as opposing armies ripped each other to pieces. The invasion came swiftly, whereas the moans of the dying lasted far too long after the battle was finished.
By John Dodge10 days ago in Fiction
Mirror, Mirror: You Liar!. Top Story - October 2026.
At fifty-eight, I have more years behind me than ahead. That fear grips me sometimes, maybe more times than I care to admit. Midlife crisis aside, I find myself trying to hold on to something I can’t quite put my fingers on. I don’t look my age at all—a genetic blessing from the Italian heritage I am fortunate to have—but I look in the mirror and see the years of my life written on my face in wrinkle font. I don’t see them on my face, not that I have none. I see the wrinkles in my soul. Everyone has them.
By Alexandra Grant10 days ago in Confessions
📢 Raise Your Voice Thread: 10/01/2026
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 Vocal9 days ago in Resources
European Ghosts Slovenia. Top Story - October 2026.
Ghost of Former Castle Servant Bogenšperk Castle , located in central Slovenia near Litija, is a 16th-century castle recognized for its cultural significance and architectural evolution from medieval fortifications to Renaissance residences. It reached its peak during the late 17th century when Janez Vajkard Valvasor resided there, contributing to its legacy.
By Rasma Raisters12 days ago in Horror
A Different World: The evolution of the theme song. Top Story - October 2026.
A Different World: The theme song back story A Different World ran from September 24, 1987 to July 9, 1993, on NBC and aired on Thursday nights at 8:30 PM behind The Cosby Show. The groundbreaking television series followed the lives of African American students at the fictional HBCU Hillman College. One of the interesting aspects of the weekly programs was the theme song which changed several times over the series run. The music was updated but the lyrics remained the same.
By Cheryl E Preston11 days ago in Geeks
