Tag: relationships

All Stories, Latest News, Short Fiction

Week 567- Superfluous Quotation Marks

ireneallison12

The Introduction

This is my first wrap of 2026. A few weeks away have made me flabby because I am unnaturally lazy. Therefore, like an athlete gone to seed, I will pull on the sweats and attempt to get in shape by writing about small pointless items and work my way into good enough form to intelligently write about this week’s group of stories. All within a few paragraphs. I aim to put a point on pointless, to sharpen its, well, pointy, or at least pointier end, then use it to etch profound wisdom on the corbomite* walls of public inanity. (*Extremely hard and potentially explosive fictional mass invented by Captain James T. Kirk, known associate of Hardcourt Fenton Mudd, a suspected interstellar Jeffrey Epstein of the 23rd Century.)

Continue reading “Week 567- Superfluous Quotation Marks” →
All Stories, General Fiction

The Sun Rose in the West by Stephen J Kimber

literallystories2014

The sun rose in the west and coloured the hills. Velvet dark, not quite black… Then burnt umber. Orange-red, limpid platinum. Light gathering.

The hills became distinct; hard, dry mounds the sun reached from, taking hold of the day, making it hard and brittle too.

A party of men came back into the landscape, carrying something wrapped in canvas. They stopped at a freshly dug hole. They laid the canvas bundle down, not too gently, and unwrapped it.

It was a corpse, bones really, hard white chalky bones, dead a fair while. These the men put into the hole, one or two at a time. Then, using shovels and a mattock, they refilled the hole. It looked hard work. The last blows were struck with the mattock by the smallest, oldest man – an Aborigine – and the other men stood about, talking. They were white men.

Continue reading “The Sun Rose in the West by Stephen J Kimber” →
Editor Picks, Short Fiction, Tom Sheehan Week

A Tribute to Tom Sheehan

ireneallison12
An image of Tom Sheehan, author, on his tribute page. A gentleman in a green T shirt sitting in a cosy-looking home in front of a laptop computer.

Today we present a small tribute to our late friend Tom Sheehan (1928-2025). Tom was a friend of our site since the early days and published an astonishing total of 228 stories with us, by far the highest sum in our eleven year existence. Below you will find links to five of his stories, which will shine a light on the man, who is someone who earned the right to be remembered long and well.

Continue reading “A Tribute to Tom Sheehan” →
All Stories, General Fiction, Short Fiction

Hear, Hear by Karl Luntta

literallystories2014

As his hearing receded into the ethers, Frank’s days filled with numbing despair. He was going deaf, there was no denying it. He’d tried with what inner strength he possessed to stave it off, first by denying it completely like any sane person would do, then by telling himself he was only forty-two, things like this aren’t permanent at this age, of course it will pass.

Continue reading “Hear, Hear by Karl Luntta” →
All Stories, General Fiction

The Summer He Let Me Be General by Jacob Alexander Cohen

literallystories2014

The last time Dave showed up clean, he brought bagels and a joke.

“I had to use the car key to spread the cream cheese,” he said, holding it up like evidence. “Don’t worry. I wiped it on my pants first.”

It was early—gray morning light, barely six—and we sat on the hood of his rusting Civic in the driveway, steam rising from coffee in mismatched mugs. He wore a collared shirt that still had fold creases in it. His hair was damp. He looked awake in a way I hadn’t seen in years.

Continue reading “The Summer He Let Me Be General by Jacob Alexander Cohen” →
General Fiction

Maddie is a prison by Tatiana Samokhina

literallystories2014

1994

Butcher

Standing by the entrance to the butcher’s, Maddie can’t take her eyes off Victor. Her braids tight, her nose – a pointed nettle. On her freckled bronze cheeks, a glowing blush.

I watch the soft corners of her lips stretch, as if pulled, her mouth opening slightly, and from within, a laugh breaks free—an escapee (Maddie is a prison). It’s as plump as a balloon. As thin as silk thread. It inflates and bursts like bubble gum.

Continue reading “Maddie is a prison by Tatiana Samokhina” →
General Fiction

Men without Women by Adam Kluger

literallystories2014

He heaved and cried uncontrollably.

Snot bubbles.

His mom told him not to be unhappy as he buried his face in the desk while lightly holding her wrist.

“Think of the good times you just had and will have in the future —and you can always write something about it”

He always got emotional when someone he loved left him.

Continue reading “Men without Women by Adam Kluger” →
General Fiction, Short Fiction

Death on a Full Stomach by Christoper Ananias

literallystories2014

The two men sat in the dim kitchen. Drinking. Dark clouds hung low in the gray sky like they wanted to open their bellies. Cigarette smoke curled from a glass ashtray. Larry Miller got up from the yellow Formica table and pointed at a steak bone on a plate in the sink. The white plate was smeared dark with A-1 Steak Sauce. Larry said, “That was Jenny’s last supper. A T-bone steak, a baked potato, bread n’ butter, and a Coke.” He seemed proud to Thurman like he wanted Thurman to appreciate it.

Continue reading “Death on a Full Stomach by Christoper Ananias” →
All Stories, General Fiction

Seeing Jerry by Susan R. Weinstein

literallystories2014

When Drea’s mother called to ask if she could take her to see Jerry, Drea clenched her fists without realizing it and dropped the phone.

“What happened?” Drea’s mother asked.

“Nothing,” Drea said loudly as she squatted to pick up the phone. She sat down hard on the floor and tried to breathe slowly, in for four and out for six, as her therapist had suggested she do when triggered.

Continue reading “Seeing Jerry by Susan R. Weinstein” →