Contemporary fiction

Immerse yourself in the best fiction of today.

#Graduation
David Rodeback

Wildfire (a short story)

Getting to Maylee’s going-away party at all was a thing. My cousin Jaxson and I took a state highway into the country and turned onto

Read More »

Storm Of Grief 

The affliction suffered has decayed the body Taking within, killing the inside slowly Once a warrior, now unable to stand Tightly holding on to dignity

Read More »
he
Andrey Lukyanov

He

He grew up thinking that it was all fun.  Thought he’ll have everything that he’ll ever need and was so trustworthy that sometimes he thought

Read More »

Early Signs

Timmy ran through the bunched up bulk of faded fall leaves. He cornered the edge of the playground, the swings still flowing back and forth

Read More »
champagne
Robin Honigsberg

The Cruise Ship:  Tidal wave

  • 5
( 1 Reviews )

Lyla stumbled on the deck, making sure not to drop her bottle of champagne. She and her husband, Cameron, had another fight. Lyla had gone

Read More »
AI
Tim McDaniel

Blinking Noon and Midnight

 Len put down the book. He’d been kidding himself for an hour at least; the sweater wasn’t enough. The place was just too darn cold.

Read More »
afterlife
Shannon Hilson

Satellites and Violets

  • 5
( 1 Reviews )

Gina was old now by nearly anyone’s standards. Her face was wrinkled and her joints creaked when she moved, especially first thing in the morning

Read More »
Bernadette O'Leary-Malcolm

The Many Lives of Mita (Part II)

The adventure continues… downhill. *** Book I in the Scottish Limelight and Love series *** Introduction Journalist Mita Lopez was not your ordinary woman. With

Read More »
death
Pam Reeder

Final Goodbye

Making Peace with a Painful Past Photo by Cameron Venti on Unsplash I hated this old barn when I was a kid. I hate it

Read More »
Fiction
Andy Spears

Fresh Rack

James found himself sitting alone in his car at around 8:30 each night, wet from a mixture of his own sweat and the sprinklers on

Read More »
TzeLin Sam

Behind the Screen

Unlike many of her friends, Anne had always been a morning person. She was up early this morning to practise yoga while catching the sunrise

Read More »

The Fire in Jeremy Finn

I’ve known Jeremy Finn for eight years. We met on the first day of a new school year, when we were both eleven. The weather

Read More »
friends to lovers
Kelsey Bjork

May I Have This Dance?

I give mirror-me finger guns as I come to an unfortunate conclusion at the most inopportune moment: I hate every article of clothing that I

Read More »
equality
Tim McDaniel

Inhuman

“This is kind of a go-nowhere party, Ryan,” Logan said. “I don’t even know why you dragged me here.” Ryan noticed a circle of empty

Read More »
Short Story
Annie Ucci

The Death of a Queen

How could this have happened? You lay unconscious in the damp earth, blood staining the grass a dark red. The slowly rising creek washed over

Read More »
#kids
Brandon Diehl

Neighborhood Watch

The time has come. The time to protect this subdivision and all its fair inhabitants. I kneel down and adjust the playing card in the

Read More »

Bitter Forever and Ever and Ever

There’s this one coffee machine at work that always makes the coffee bitter. The flavor of coffee’s been changed. The brand of coffee’s been changed.

Read More »
coming of age
A.K. Noctua

My First Time Trying Pozole

The pristine light of the summer sun smacked me across the face. The massive jackhammer in my head told me we had danced in the

Read More »
Romantic Comedy
Crystal Walker

Meet Leah

A supporting character in the serialized RomCom “Matchmakers” Image created via Canva and using a stock image from Pixabay Leah is one of four women

Read More »

The Lady in White

She didn’t know she was going to die today. And why would she? It was her wedding day, after all. She woke up to birds

Read More »
dante
Tim McDaniel

Recording Angel

 Beth had been sitting on the marble bench for ages, her eyes fixed on Michael as he worked silently at his desk. When he finally

Read More »
authors
Andrey Lukyanov

Meet Moi

I’ve borrowed some money from people with no intention of paying it back. Fuck ’em, the whole thing would resolve by itself eventually or at

Read More »
flash fiction
Tanya Hall

Petal Pills

A 500-word flash fiction piece. “Hydroxyzine.” “Excuse me?” I cleared my throat and pointed to the row of small circular welts on her exposed arm.

Read More »
Annie Ucci

Lilith

Do you know why I can’t hang your art on my wall? It’s because it’s the Dead Christ to my Dostoyevsky. “A painting like that

Read More »
breakup
David Rodeback

Marie (a very short story)

  • 5
( 3 Reviews )

I met Marie in the hallway after school. “The race is tomorrow,” I said. “We should sign up.” “The three-legged race?” “Yeah.” Running the three-legged

Read More »

Bougainvillea

  • 4.5
( 1 Reviews )

After he had done the thing, he threw the shovel down, spit out his cigarette, and walked away from the mound of dirt. He had

Read More »
#Halloween
Andy Spears

Piggy Bank Princess

“Hey. Sarah Jane said when she was at the store with Makenzie she saw that princess costume.” “Uh-huh.” “You know, the one she’s been telling

Read More »
criminal
Robin Honigsberg

A Criminal Affair

  • 4.5
( 5 Reviews )

Special Agent Jordan O’Neill was vacationing for the first time in more than five years at a five-star resort in the Cook Islands. She wanted

Read More »

The Candidate: Part 1

The last four months of Gabrielle’s presidential campaign have been rough. She knew it would be, but it was still difficult. The attack ads went

Read More »
death
Christina Nordlander

Tattoo Daughter

It astonished me when I realised there were people who designed urns for babies. Cat-eared, pink, baby blue, shaped like a teddy bear or a

Read More »
Bernadette O'Leary-Malcolm

The Many Lives of Mita (Part V)

*** Introduction: After an assault left her trapped in her own body, unable to move, speak, or open her eyes, Mita Lopez’s boyfriend and parents

Read More »
Abuse
Christina Nordlander

Put Her Down

The first time Jörgen and Malena used the threat was when Katja was ten. Qetesh must have been one year old; Katja had been nine

Read More »
horror
Pam Reeder

The Hand in the Snow

When dog walking goes wrong Photo by Alexandr Podvalny from Pexels I watched as Chauncey sniffed at a mound of snow covered leaves and began

Read More »
carousel
Kai Parker

Olympius Hunting

The Girl She ducked down behind the sleigh; the light couldn’t reach her there. The man whistled along to the tune and walked between the

Read More »
Crystal Walker

Meet Maisie Jones

The main character in the serialized RomCom “Matchmakers” Image created via Canva and using a stock image from Pixabay Taking a little bit of a

Read More »
Bernadette O'Leary-Malcolm

The Many Lives of Mita (Part IV)

*** Introduction: After Mita Lopez relocated to Scotland to be with her new boyfriend and their children, she began a new job at a production

Read More »
Club
Gene Glotzer

Rapture

She was starting a few minutes late, but it was close enough for jazz. She scanned the crowd. Not huge, but decent. Almost all white

Read More »
attraction
Tanya Hall

Blue Halcyon Days

Standing under a shimmering lampshade, Greg wasn’t sure this was a good idea. “It’s full of antioxidants and other vitamins. You know, all the good

Read More »
Alternative History
Charles Bastille

The Day the World Got Woke

Fiction for a Broken Country When I went to sleep last night, everything was normal. When I woke up, everything was different. Everything was Black.

Read More »
Halloween Story 2023
Andy Spears

iSpy

Who is inside Chelle’s phone?            Chelle couldn’t figure out what was going on with her phone. She kept insisting to

Read More »
work
Andy Spears

Escalator Down for Repair

He walked up the metal steps past the sign every single day. Escalator Down for Repair. It had been permanently affixed to the shiny metal

Read More »
advice
Donald J. Bingle

Episodic Writing vs. Mythic Arcs

A Vintage Blog Post About Writing and Attention Spans Now, I’m not a writer for television (though I’m available–call me, really), but I’m an avid

Read More »
Crime
Andrey Lukyanov

Laid Back

The light from the lamp shade was turning everything under its grip into a shadow silhouette on the wall of this room with the curtains

Read More »
Alternate History
Donald J. Bingle

Cause Ways

  • 5
( 1 Reviews )

“What if?” is the essence of genre fiction. What if monsters were real? What if mankind had faster-than-light travel? What if there was a world

Read More »
Fiction
Robin Honigsberg

Death Kiss: Love Kills

And each man kills the thing he loves.~Oscar Wilde Mark stared at his wife of five years with disdain, holding the gun loosely in his

Read More »

Ops

Photo by author She rises to refill her coffee mug. A rumble overhead muffled by the roof. Last week of the month, ops. Operations by

Read More »
contemporary fiction
David Rodeback

Her Voice (a short story)

There’s nothing like the sound of a mom reading to her children, when they’re your children too. It’s the exact opposite of their nightmares, the

Read More »
Fiction
Charles Bastille

The Cutting

This short story is a part of the MagicLand Chronicles. It is set during a time long before that of the events in my debut

Read More »
brother
Christina Nordlander

The Silhouette Pine

By the time they got back from the funeral buffet, it had started drizzling. Mum parked behind grandma’s pale yellow VW. Jennifer looked out at

Read More »

The Price of Hilda

Heikki sat at the end of the Christmas dinner table, the place Hilda called “the seat of honour”: a ridiculous idea of what it meant

Read More »
drama
TzeLin Sam

The Unexpected Dinner Guest

This is it. I thought to myself as I walked out of the arrival hall at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It had been many years

Read More »
conversation
TzeLin Sam

The Lost Art of Conversation

A Conversation Between Two Young Women – Talking Over Each Other. Amelia: Hey, how’s it going? Britney: Good. And you? Hey did I tell you

Read More »
birds
Andy Spears

Birds of Pray

10 AM Saturday morning. Supper Club day. Wanda would be hosting the group of eight that evening. She always relished hosting days. The chance to

Read More »
monsters
Bernadette O'Leary-Malcolm

The Many Deaths of Mita (Part I)

Into the Unknown… With a Bang Lessons, Reality, and Comeuppance “There is only one act that rivals and defeats the peril found within the most

Read More »

Guardian Hawk

A sunny day in a lively forest. A proud healthy hawk flies through the air, high as the mountains. It sits on a tree branch

Read More »
time travel
TzeLin Sam

A Second Chance

  • 5
( 1 Reviews )

They say we should not mess with time travel but I bet that they would change their minds if they had seen their disabled twin

Read More »
romance
Crystal Walker

Matchmakers

Table of Contents | Serialized Fiction | Romantic Comedy Image created by the author via Canva; Image sourced by Pixabay Bad date after bad date,

Read More »
energy healing
Pam Reeder

The Amazing Ms. Rayven

Psychic Witch Extraordinaire Photo by Volkan Vardar on Unsplash “Chocolate cake and a rootbeer in a frosted mug.” “Sure thing Ms. Rayven.” “Thanks Sara.” I

Read More »
bad memories
David Rodeback

Beyond Ugly (a short story)

After 25 years it probably wasn’t even the same door, but it could have been. It led to the same school, the same fetid swamp

Read More »
Elections
Andy Spears

Mayor Paul A.

Whatever it takes to win Paul easily won election to the Mayor’s Office. It was his second time running, and this time, he hadn’t made

Read More »
contemporary
Quillful Writer

Holmes Institute: Ch. 1: Choices

[Content Notes: Swearing | Jasper reference] Summary: Being one of the top students at Holmes Institute involves more responsibilities than Jasper Madero really wants. Luckily,

Read More »
construction
Gerald Washington

Facing Lightning

Holding the stop/slow sign with little power on an unknown road, 20-year old Jim felt tired but relieved his construction shift was almost over. It

Read More »
crossdressing
Christina Nordlander

Glitter

When I moved out, I bought nail polish for the first time. Almost an entire row of little glass bottles: frosted, sparkling, pearlescent. Lipstick in

Read More »
Absurd
Matthew Portman

Number One

As told by number two Photo by Rodion Kutsaev on Unsplash A man stands on a corner of a busy crosswalk in a busy neighborhood

Read More »
Bernadette O'Leary-Malcolm

The Many Lives of Mita (Part VI)

*** Introduction: After fighting the odds and winning, Mita awoke from the unimaginable torment of being trapped within her own body, unable to move, speak,

Read More »
#lonely
Gene Glotzer

An After Dinner Drink

Gail had finished her dinner, but, like always, her father still had food on his plate. She always got a head start as he never

Read More »
big bang
Donald J. Bingle

Story Choices

This entire story already exists, but you are only experiencing it one word at a time as you move forward through it. You could, if

Read More »
divorce
TzeLin Sam

The Homeless Woman

  • 5
( 1 Reviews )

I gasped as I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I did not expect my eyes to be so swollen! I should have known

Read More »