Category: General Fiction

All Stories, General Fiction

© 2016 by David Louden

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“Hey Doug, could you come to the boardroom?” 

“Sure, what’s this about?” I said.

The line went stunted. He was conferring and I knew I had come  back to see my old friend Trouble once more.  To any nose-presser looking in it had the appearance of me fucking up and letting my mouth get ahead of my brain but it wasn’t like that.  Not this time.  I had allowed my mouth to run rings in the past.  I had gotten caught up in disciplinary matters which were supposed to take six weeks but they had dragged on for years.  They were supposed to take six weeks so as to not cause too much undue distress but they wanted the distress.  They wanted the distress because the distress might help them achieve what they couldn’t with ability alone.  They wanted me gone.  Gone by resignation or at the end of a short rope and a strong light fixture like some friends.  After a little more dead air and conferring, he spoke again:

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All Stories, General Fiction

Keeper of the Snowy Owls? by Michael Bloor

literallystories2014

Alan stepped out of the shower, singing that he wasn’t going to work on Maggie’s farm no more. He threw on some clothes and headed off to the baker’s for a couple of Aberdeen Rolls (‘rowies’), well-fired. En route, he picked up a copy of the Saturday edition of the Press & Journal (‘Start the Day with the P&J’).

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All Stories, General Fiction

Our Lunatic Uniform by Christopher Ananias

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There was always a touched soul on the mental ward who thought they were God. Jonathan Clark was one such soul. He lingered in white pajamas offering consul and comfort, even the nurses came to speak with him. I met him on the 4th floor of the Behaviour of Medicine at a hospital in Elkhart Indiana. His departure, as spectacular as it was, affected Greg the most.

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All Stories, General Fiction

The Natural Man by T.A. Young

literallystories2014

 It was no one’s fault: a catch and a lurch as he sat in the back of the truck, legs dangling, half asleep. The planet stopped him or he would still be falling. No cars came by, but evening did – softly -as he lay there. A maple tree grew at the side of the road. The moon grew from a branch of the tree, detached itself and floated up to clouds where it became embedded in the misty horizontal filaments. But this was all a dream to him as he lay in the middle of the road.

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All Stories, General Fiction

At the Barn in Winter by Michael Barrington

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She was asleep now, her head leaning on his outstretched arm, her delicate, dainty fingers finally relaxing their grip on his huge, calloused hand. The musky scent of her beautiful, long hair, she was so proud of it, stirred up old memories of happier times. He knew every inch of her face, her lovely, big brown eyes that always seemed so full of wonderment, her delicate lips…. He was afraid to move for fear of awakening her, but he needed to relieve his numbing arm. And to do so quickly before being forced to make some abrupt movement that might disturb her. It was pitch black…. He mustn’t turn on the light.

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All Stories, Fantasy, General Fiction

The Dog Who Could Draw by Stephen J Kimber

literallystories2014

The dog never speaks without a pencil in his paw. On good days he may draw for you a line, a rectangle, a box, a room that becomes; what do you want? Might it be a bodega in some Latin American country, a taverna, a shack where drinks and mescal are served, a room where women also give away their forgetfulness potions. He is never quite precise as to which, and the voice that accompanies the blossoming picture is merely shading pencil.

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All Stories, General Fiction

 Cycle by Frederick K Foote

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I was a son of segregation born in a small Virginia village. My heritage was discrimination without the possibility of assimilation.

At age six, on my first day at our all-Black school, I played the fool and set myself down beside a strange, weird creature named Bernice Lighthorse.

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All Stories, General Fiction

The Return to the Lakehouse by Adam Kluger

literallystories2014

The meme had been replaying again and again in Booger’s mind. 

“They are eating the cats, eating the dogs, eating the pets in Springfield.” 

It was about 50 days away from a quite consequential presidential election. 

Bugowski was pushing 60 and he was just as big a mess as he always was.

“Have you read the secret life of plants?” Rooster asked Booger as they unloaded the cooler full of Pabst Blue Ribbon, Poland Spring with  lime (the most carbonated of all seltzers) and all the other boxes, bags and items for another guy’s weekend. “The plants communicate through chemical emissions, I read an excerpt…not surprising given their predominant place on the planet and the way they all live together harmoniously…beautifully, really.” 

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Editor Picks, General Fiction, Short Fiction

Week 541: They Are Dripping Me Insane

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Insanity

I have lived in the same apartment since October 1998. That was not by design, but it has worked out that way. Until I settled here, I had not lived in one space longer than four consecutive years, including childhood. Something always happened; nothing has yet to happen here. The building was sold last year, but it was just a case of meeting a new boss, the same as the old boss.

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