Tag: short stories

All Stories, General Fiction

I’ll Tell You Your History by L’Erin Ogle

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They never tell you how hard it is to love someone.  Or how hard it is to be loved.

The first person you ever think you love is the shift manager of the restaurant of your first job.  He’s twenty, four years older than you, and you don’t even know him.  He doesn’t know you.   All you remember about this first love, the one you aren’t ever supposed to forget, is that your first kiss was a shotgun hit of weed that turned into tongues and teeth mashed together, that later he vomited tequila in the sink and then you fucked in the spare room of your friend’s house.  You were so drunk you didn’t realize you started your period and it looked like a crime scene, which seems appropriate now.  Anymore, sex and love seem like crime.

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All Stories, General Fiction

The Cleaner   by R.L.M. Cooper

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October

Frank always hated rainy days. He hated them when he was working and he hated them when he was ill. Like today. Today was gray and wet. The leaves, falling steadily from the big oak out front, randomly blew against the rain-splattered window beside his bed and stuck there momentarily before gradually sliding down onto the sill where they gathered into a brownish, wet pile and ultimately fell to the ground beneath the rhododendron bush.

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All Stories, Latest News, Short Fiction

Week 171 – Candy-Floss, Carbolic And Diane’s Fertile Imagination – This Contains Adult Content.

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Here we are at week 171. The site is healthy and any challenges we have had, have been interesting and caused much debate.

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All Stories, General Fiction

Fancy Any Shots by Mayzie Hopkins

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I must’ve told the story of where I’m from, why I came here, nearly every night for the first few months. Most people do, when there’s a new person that’s the first thing we usually ask them, “So how did you end up here?” As I became more known and recognised faces I would only talk to tourists about it, if I’d already had a few drinks and they’d asked.

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All Stories, General Fiction

Companeros  by Roger Ley

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Giving it food had been a mistake, it was a mangy, cringing, skinny animal, and who would think that a dog would eat pasta anyway. It started to follow her on the trail, disappearing for a few hours and then returning and dogging her footsteps. After a couple of days, she started calling it Pedro. She didn’t need its company, this trek through the Iguazu National Park was supposed to help her come to terms with the divorce. That her husband had found a younger partner was humiliating enough, that he was of the same gender made it worse but losing both a husband and a competent handyman at the same time was unbearable. House repairs, gardening, car maintenance, Maurice could turn his hand to anything, she would never find his like again.

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All Stories, Latest News, Short Fiction

Week 170 – Comfort, Pride And A Rebellious Pish.

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Hi folks, another week has came and went.

There’s a lot going on in the world but to be truthful it’s all so depressing that it’s hardly worth mentioning.

If you are worried, don’t be.

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All Stories, General Fiction

The Knowing of Which Way to Turn by Michael Grant Smith

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It surprised no one when Bruce Feathers once again launched a torpedo into his own life. Ten years ago, the semi-retired auto mechanic earned a ticket to the slammer for diddling the brake lines on Nathan Polk’s pickup truck. Bruce insisted the disconnection was accidental, but everyone knew that Nathan, a semi-retired insurance agent, had been topping off Bruce’s future ex-wife’s fluids, so to speak.

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All Stories, General Fiction, Short Fiction

Lilly-Anne by James McEwan

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When I heard the front door close I dashed to the window. From behind the lace curtain I watched Lilly-Anne skip down the steps onto the street. Palpitations fluttered in my chest, my arrhythmia raced like a motor-cross Kawasaki skidding sideways across sand. She walked along the street in black low-heeled shoes, light blue stockings and her coat flapped with each step exposing her knees, her handbag hung over a shoulder. Those lips glistened with gloss; no colour, such a pale face. She looked ill. I groaned, perhaps her boss will give her the day off; I wished. She made her way along the road out of my view.
I sat down and began my breathing mantra; in for five seconds and out for five until I calmed myself sufficiently to let the pulsating surge in my groin subside. My hands no longer shook and I could pick up my coffee.

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All Stories, General Fiction

Memory Lane is a Highway by Tyler Folds

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They had teased about it often, but Sophia chickened out. Alone, I stand on a dirt road that hasn’t seen traffic for miles. I curse myself for not sticking around long enough to learn how to drive.

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All Stories, Latest News

Week 168 – Prompts, Tangents And Afterlife Black Pudding.

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Here we are at week 168. How time flies!

I’ve been asked millions of times how we decide on stories. It followed a billion questions about me literally exaggerating.

It all comes down to us discussing and being as fair and open minded as we can. We focus and are professional to a fault.

But sometimes our thoughts go off on tangents and my fellow editors end up giving me an idea that becomes something else.

With that in mind, which is me really explaining to Nik and Diane why they have read some of this before, I can tell you that both of them and Easter gave me the idea for this post.

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