March 2012
0 posts
4 tags
Frost
rain-owl:
She had stood there for hours on that porch, blanketed with snow and frost, the occasional minute tracks of a titmouse or junco dotting the once pristine perfection of white. She would not give him much to worry about if she was wearing a coat. Or shoes, for that matter. He could see the blue-tinged gradient creeping through her fingers, like a super-lichen overtaking a tree’s bark....
3 tags
Damn son— I had no idea how many people were using the actual #tumblr fiction tag, wasn’t even following it. Very cool.
— RC
4 tags
the surgeon and his birthday
Submission:
jambu2525:
“I’ve buried everyone I’ve ever known except for these three fellas right here.”
The skinny old man lays down the jack of diamonds disgusted with the hand he’s been forced to play. A tandem snicker pours forth from the just as old duo situated to the skinny old man’s left and right. The bald old man on the left is particularly giddy, holding all trumps. On the right,...
February 2012
174 posts
4 tags
Now I Am Become Death
Submission:
clintirwin:
His grandmother used to tell him old-lady things, like if you wrote on your skin, you would get blood poisoning. He did it anyway. When he was seven, he found a Sharpie and wrote on his forearm, “Now I am become death.” He had heard it from a documentary his father was watching, which he would later understand as being about J. Robert Oppenheimer, “the father of the...
4 tags
Number 333 (A Tale of Two Archaeologists)
cerebraltempest:
Dr. Zef and Dr. Jones cleared rubble from the ruin’s collapsed entrance, placing the chunks of debris in what was once a hallway. With a path cleared, the pair stepped into the main chamber, a room of moderate size with windows set in one wall.
“Seems it would have been a nice enough place to live,” Dr. Zef remarked. He wiped his hands on his khaki shorts...
4 tags
Chainsaw Party →
obligatorywhitespace:
“Now this model, as you can see, has an automatic choke regulator that makes bifurcation a breeze,” the hostess said with a cheery smile as she pulled the rip cord of the Kill-o-Matic Chinsaw XS and thrust it into the chest of the nearest person. She was met with polite applause from the people in attendance, even from the unfortunate victim of her demonstration as she...
4 tags
The Bars
Submission:
yen-yaw:
The story of your life is set in topless bars, usually on Wednesdays in the drag of the week, with the atmosphere of alcoholic smells (vomit, sweat, baby powder, anti-itch lotion, shower-less individuals with a full bank account at the door, dandruff shampoo, perfume from some knock-off brand), and topless girls (women, bitches, whores, whatever) dancing without restriction,...
4 tags
Draconis: Rage of the Dragonoid Prince!
ask-draconis:
After a few days of traveling Draconis has finally managed to reach him homeland. The lush, fertile lands of kingdom Dragonica sadly however the kingdom has seen much better days. As Draconis climbed over the last ridge from where Dragonica could be seen his eyes widened in both shock and sorrow. The land had grown wild and unkempt from years of negligence. The tall grasses...
5 tags
(Other).
Submission:
brainbloom:
* A story experiment made from infomercial program descriptions *
Look Great Naked. Lose 30 lbs while continuing to eat the foods you love! Can’t Sleep. Look Sexy Now. It’s transformed the lives of nearly 100,000 people. Stop Memory Loss. Get Ripped in 90 Days. Clean With Steam. Live Healthy. The power and convenience to live an on-the-go lifestyle. Wealth...
4 tags
Point of View
theunsluttyalleycat:
Pat, pat, pat, my paper feet sing; it’s hot, and the cold, laughing, red drink makes pretty, splashy stains. Brother has found me and he smiles—he smells like soft, bitter, dark chocolate but his eyes are still the same, shining, shining. I tell him sorry for the drink—it’s just that it’s hot and I hate fish—all that sleeping by the wharf. A blue man on a funny...
4 tags
Preachers vs Pornographers
the-rough-hands:
There’s a preacher in the papers That’s got a case before the court About a man who attacked his name So he had to retort There’s a man in a rollin’ chair Who runs a dirty, little magazine And printed a mean parody Of a man in his teens Well, the preacher took offence And claimed emotional distress Now there’s a circus on our hands And the whole scene is a mess Well,...
4 tags
Untitled
thecommonmag:
The televisions in the store window warned people to stay home tonight because of the cold. Leo watched them for a moment, then turned away. He could not stay inside tonight.
Down the street, he paused to peer into shops, searching. When he reached the end, he turned down an alley and sat to rest. He’d been looking for hours and his feet hurt.
“You should find some place warm...
5 tags
Lullabys and Night Lights
phantompoet1412:
Sleeping with one eye closed and the other eye open was not good enough where I stayed. If everyone went to bed at the same time all of us would have been killed or robbed. We used to have night shifts inwhich all of the adults in the house would take turns sleeping while one or two kept watch for trouble. Even with this added protection, sleep was still hard to come by....
3 tags
“To think that realistic fiction is by definition superior to imaginative fiction...”
– Ursula K. Le Guin, The Wave in the Mind (via abundanceofquotes)
4 tags
The Railroad Truss
omnia-vincit-amare:
It was a melancholy city, hit hard by the recession in the mid-2000’s. It was at one point called, “the fastest dying city in the nation,” and granted $50,000 for a public bus system alone; the president favored the quaint little town and gave it money to get it rolling again. Without the city and without three men celebrated at a local festival every summer, automobiles as...
5 tags
Untitled
Submission:
notesforthehunter:
Sleep surrounds us. It wraps us in its tantalizing arms much like I am wrapped in yours. It is like a comfortable dance that we know every step of even though we haven’t done it in a while. I shift closer, you put your arms around me, the heavy silence is disturbed with quiet I love you’s and sleepy smiles. A kiss then and there. Sleep again. It happens until the...
4 tags
2/2
outrageousinsecurities:
Ellis met him in the hospital two hours later.
Stefan was the only one in the waiting room, curled up as tight as he could be in an attempt to ward off the cold—rather pointlessly, as the cold had settled into his bones. He was still shivering, and he jumped at the heavy weight that settled over him, opening his eyes to find that it was one of the hospital blankets. His...
4 tags
jambu2525 asked: hey! thanks for the submission, it's very much appreciated. and keep the good stuff coming!
4 tags
Emotionless Fish
storiesandsuchthings:
by Michael Curtis Houck They were running along the path through the marsh, the one a mile south of the grounds and not the ones to the west where his brother died two years ago from a snake bite, when he fell down and rolled through the dirt and gravel. His trousers ripped a little at the “Wait up!” he shouted through a laugh to Sara, who was making good time....
4 tags
Young Hands, Old Souls
standbeside-the-rivericried:
Eyes met and the deal was made Children is what they would see And the lives they saved, would change forever What they appeared to be to the human race would hinder their mission but there was no other way to get the world they were to save to trust them. So their task would be troublesome and there would be many obstacles to overcome but this they already knew...
4 tags
Electrical Dysfunction
ffdaily:
Michelle bit her lower lip and caressed the polished chrome of Sexbot 9000’s chassis. “This is bad, Saul. Very bad.”
“Indeed, Mistress,” said Saul The gears in his nether regions whirred and crunched. “This. This has never happened before.”
Michelle’s face flushed. “Is it because you don’t find me attractive anymore?” She traced the ridges of her rolls of sweaty fat.
“Negative. I am...
4 tags
The Lost Love of Lefty Lucy
Submission:
jambu2525:
First Sergeant Lucy Aquafresca. Aqua fresca. Fresh water. All life depends on it. Certainly, survival in the desert is inconceivable without it, but it alone will not keep a grunt from abandoning all sanity. No, it was another of her attributes that kept the wheels from falling off and jackknifing the collective psyche of the platoon day after day. A natural athlete...
5 tags
Not enough, however to keep Max disinterested.
adventurousjournal:
Max opened the paper and sighed. The news seemed always dreary and depressing. He flipped from one page to another. A cyclone in India killed 50,000 or more natives near Calcutta. Almost a million dead in Russia between the Caucasus War and the Prussian Conflict, and many more displaced to the dreadful heat of the Ottoman Empire. And in America a horrible man named Sherman...
4 tags
Virile
megancrants:
The sick boy’s father greeted me at the front door. You must be the doctor; please come in.
He led me into the living room where a large woman was waiting and wringing her hands.
Thank goodness you’re here, she said. He won’t eat or drink anything.
I eyed the boy, who was whimpering and cowering behind his mother. I could just barely see his pale face peeking out from behind...
Anonymous asked: How often do you do Savage Imaginations interviews? Will you be doing more soon? I always enjoy them and they've introduced me to so many great writers I never would have seen before.
4 tags
Chapter Three: The Fort (cont. again)
highschooltoughguys:
I get on in the night with a few drinks before I have anything close to some nerve. Planning a revolution is easy, but girls, man. Girls are the fucking devil. Think if I’m going to be acting a fool in front of girl just because of my proximity to her tits, I might as well be stupid drunk so I might accidently say a cool line or do something daring. My speech about fear and...
4 tags
Rebecca. (Or, You Crazy Girls) →
Submission:
sexandwistfulness:
1. As names go, ‘Rebecca’ finds itself remarkably unremarkable, no singing joy of syllables to it — if anything it evokes modesty, decency and a touch of the old-fashioned. Which is fine if you like that sort of girl. Every so often exceptions exist, and when they do I often find myself in love, dangerously, with these remarkable Rebeccas.
It happened once...
6 tags
4 tags
Moonlust.
thickfilipinochick:
Beneath the black silk sky lay the ocean, far and deep. Kara stared down watching the flicker of distant stars in the earthly mirror wanting nothing more than to dive straight into the universe. Her hair so long touched the surface of the ocean and it quietly willed her to come in. She continued to stare, to watch and see the stars dance around the planets and moon. The...
4 tags
The Box →
Submission:
untellable:
There used to be a box. It was sealed up tight. Inside were a hundred thousand pieces of colored paper. Each one was uniquely folded as small as it could go. They were packed into the box like sardines. They had not seen the light of day for a very long time.
The box sat on a shelf. It belonged to the older sister. She had been given the box on their golden birthday....
5 tags
Like the Hamsters Before Us
baredbones:
“Seven babies,” the midwife’s apprentice says, wiping the sweat from her brow. “The mother’s doing fine, but I wonder where they’re going to put them all.”
The midwife drops her cup of tea, the porcelain shattering on the floor. “You left the parents alone with the infants?”
“Well, yes, of course. They both must be exhau-”
“You fool!” The midwife charges up the stairs. The small...
4 tags
The problem with this one is that I'm sober, and...
kissthebeehive:
I woke up late today, and to the incessant ringing of my alarm and phone. Christ, don’t you just love those days? The apartment I live in has thin walls and I could hear the person on the other side of my wall fucking. Good for him, it was only 11:15 a.m. I made my way out of bed and drank the stale beer left on my desk from last night. I didn’t mind too much, in fact I think it...
6 tags
4 tags
Flesh Monsters
thewordfairy:
Her body language was the opposite of ambiguous. So he asked,
“Are you in the mood to study?”
“Nah,” she spoke meticulously, “I want something else.”
“What do you want?”
Sarcastically, followed by a giggle,
“Your mind.”
He didn’t understand.
“You’re weird.”
Closer to seriousness, she tried again,
“I want a love affair with you.”
He shook his head.
“I’m leaving soon.”
“I know.”
“So...
4 tags
5 tags
forty-nine
keepmeontheshelf:
When she stepped out of the shower that day, there was a message written on the mirror in the steam: carry that weight. Instantly her shoulders lifted and her rib cage expanded for a light breath. She glanced around to see if anyone was still there to witness her transformation, but the bathroom stalls and showers were empty.
The next day, she read: I’ll follow the sun. “I’ll...
4 tags
A Bit About Henry...
inkonthepillow:
Henry wasn’t picked up from school like the other kids. Sometimes he’d sit and watch through his thick glasses as their parents came and swooped down, pressed little kisses on their cheeks and whisked them off. Once everyone was gone, he’d begin his trek home. It wasn’t a long walk, but it was mostly uphill.
About halfway through the journey he’d pop into the bakery, where Mrs....
4 tags
Complete: Nold Station Teaser
Submission:
oneaspiringauthor:
Jacob Levin
Prologue: Nold Station Awakens
Chucky raised a pudgy hand.
“Yes, mister Birthright,” said the shrewd, bespectacled professor, already wary of the boy’s question. The lad was said to have a bit of a rebellious streak. An off-handed remark made in the teacher’s lounge the year before — the words of Chucky’s prior instructor — had seemed more warnings...
4 tags
Artist, Muse.
silentdetonations:
“I once dreamt of a woman with words tangled in her hair, who could never seem to shake them free. She’d constantly wring her hair out each day, struggling to liberate her locks of the treacherous words, combing, brushing, and teasing each strand until her hands were raw and dry.”
Hannah watched Blue hopping from one stone to another over a babbling...
4 tags
The Meaning of Death
fullstops:
We walked together among the flower beds, a skeletal hand enveloped in a fleshy one. He sighed softly, admiring the delicate way that a bee bobs precariously from one flower to the next, and sighed again. I know it’s not easy. He is forced into a life of servitude on this world he doesn’t understand, fighting people who don’t understand him. He captures small moments of beauty, small...
4 tags
Untitled →
derriqueen:
One day she woke up and found herself in a dead end job with a dead end boyfriend. These kind of boyfriends are very difficult—just as the job. They promise no future but appear so likable. These kind of young men love you but are not in love with you, which are two different things to them. They are not the romantic type but are quite reliable, unless they fall into depressions—then...
5 tags
Concept Album
marcbryant:
I found a photo album in my parents’ basement
full of snapshots of my past lives.
In every picture
from every era warriors and beggars and princes and clowns… …I look pretty bored.
4 tags
Pocket Cake
portersnotebook:
“Hey, man. I’m glad you’re here. Take this.”
I’d just sat down at my desk and here was this guy trying to hand me a piece of cake. Not cake on a plate. But a piece of cake in his hand, icing side toward his palm he was holding the fucking thing like one of those pinchers you see in the grab-a-prize arcade machines.
Put in a dollar. Get fucked trying to grab a small plushy...
5 tags
Laryngospasms
profane-tmesis:
They say drowning is a pleasant death. What the hell do they know. Tammy’s just taken a liquid breath. Her lungs are spasming, trying to cough the water up and her body is thrashing about, trying to surface. But Dan has a firm grip.
It’ll be cathartic for him. For years she’s meticulously pushed him nearly to the brink. Her greatest talent was knowing just when to hold back....
4 tags
A Reasonable Man: Part II of III
Submission:
slenderlorises:
by Oscar Hughes in association with Slender Loris Group
“First,” he began willingly, “you should understand that I was a product of my environment. In America, all we want is success; all we want is more money. And we measure our success by money, particularly the middle to lower middle class. There are exceptions, but I wasn’t one of them. I was like most of my...
4 tags
Random Thoughts: Gravity..... →
asomewhatrandomhuman:
She burned in his awareness. Like the Sun. He always knew where she was, when she was looking at him. Their eyes, drawn to each other, inexorable, like the pull of Gravity. Even when she was in another room, around a corner, elsewhere. He could feel her. There. Hot. Burning. A supernova to his senses.
He wasn’t quite sure, when this started. Or why. He didn’t know where...
4 tags
untitled prose 1
girl-goes-derp:
My heart sank. We sat in the parking lot of what used to be a Pancake Palace. The parking lot was still littered with cars, but there were no people milling about inside or out. It looked like a ghost town and I was starting to get that well known feeling of dread that I had grown accustomed to. There was no exchange in words between us, just a quick nod and we took off in...
4 tags
Ever The World: The Largest Space →
evertheworld:
When a child grows up, she’ll grind, strain about at the chains her parents make for her. First, she leaves the indignity of the womb. Later, she’ll leave her home, find one of her own.
“We’re all children of the earth,” they used to say — used to be right, too.
Until the cities began the Great Launch, until the Big Sleep ended, and until my beloved Ziemi, place of my birth...
5 tags
Number 322 (Shoebox Dragons) →
cerebraltempest:
Dragons, even small ones, are rather difficult to keep in shoeboxes. Though their tails and talons and wings may be your immediate consideration, it is their snouts that prove to be particularly problematic. After all, flimsy cardboard does little to restrain fangs and flames. I’ve tried rubber bands and ropes and muzzles made for chihuahuas to no avail, though I have...