A New Kind of Literary Pulse

Six year-old Douggie ran down the hall to his room to complete his costume, then dashed downstairs. He ran out the door by the building's telephone carrying the sword and papier-mâché helmet his ... [+]

I. I once had this dream that a meteor was going to crash into earth and that we only had one day left. Upon hearing the news, my friends and family apathetically retreated into waiting rooms ... [+]

A girl feeling so alone and out of this world, there’s no sense of hope. With her parents being dead and she being in the foster care system, the girl doesn’t have family. Emily is her name ... [+]

Like an island in a vast sea of freshly mowed grass, it rose like up like a temple.  I wonder if it would be accurate to say that I worshiped that place. For the countless hours that I spent there ... [+]

It was 1946 and Jimmy was 12, and ready for adventure. He lived on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay and dreamed of someday sailing on one of the merchant ships moored in the Baltimore harbor, loaded ... [+]

Andy Green promised herself she would do three things when she got out of hospital. Throw away her crutches, take a hiking holiday and learn to ride a bicycle.
When Andy opened the door to he ... [+]

Once upon a not so great time, lived two small kids in one big neighborhood. Yes, I’m talking about a seven year old and a ten year old. Of course they had no idea that today would be considered ... [+]

Occasionally, it would be too dark. It wasn’t the intense shade of the sky that worried Julian though; it was the glaring hole in it.c The moon felt powerful when it was dark, like it could take in ... [+]

Hiro couldn’t even remember the first time that Murai-san, took him out into the garden and walked him around the house, because they had done it so many times. It was one of the favorite times of ... [+]

The Lemon Drop Kid was out of Cincinnati. Tall, rangy guy with near white curly hair and pale skin, almost yellow which is how, I guess, he got his name. He had been in Joliet for armed robbery and ... [+]

Shhh. I won’t hurt you. No hiss, no pain, no second bite. See, only shhh. It’s a terrible ache, I know. The wrapping will comfort and warm you. Ensconced in my finest silk. I’ll remove it when ... [+]

Rudolph Jäger boarded the 9 o’clock to London. It was a dark night—with his coat flapping in the wind and his black cat at his side, Jäger seemed more Dracula than dancer.
Jäger was a ... [+]

She opened the inside door cautiously. The old man stood on the stoop, in the unseasonable warmth and clamor of the November afternoon. Lean and unbent, he looked like an ancient villager in a ... [+]

A single boat, tossed like jetsam in the huge waves, fought against the sea. Within it was a man possessed. A desire to find the irretrievable lured him to the lighthouse. It had taken months to ... [+]

On a dark and stormy night a boy laid in his bed hiding under his space cover shivering and wincing after ever strike of thunder. As he lays still he hears a creek coming from somewhere in his room ... [+]

The three little boys loved the big bed that their daddy had found discarded in the alley. They knew what it was and where it had come from and didn't care. They loved how big it was and how they ... [+]

The phone is ringing again. I’m sure it’s Alice calling for the third time. I won’t answer. I’m not listening to her or any other sister tell me what to do. They think it’s their right ... [+]

Always, father was superhero for me. In my eyes, he had never lost his toughness, and his voice was always full of self-confidence. When I was young, he used to grill some sausages in backyard. ... [+]