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A New Kind of Literary Pulse

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Logo Long Story Short Award - 2022
Short Fiction
 3 min

Homeless

Cheuk Lam Chan

I remember when I was a nesting,I would stay in my bird nest and wait for my mom to feed me,my sisters and brothers some sticky earthworms or crunchy crickets.I would say that it was the best time in ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 1 min

Crack

Nicole Arch

They tell you she was wearing your shoes. The pinchy black stilettos, the ones with the painted silver heels. The paint is cracking now, and they're a size too small for you, but you never got rid of ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 1 min

A Marriage Short Story

Jared Brockbank

It's over.

What? No.

Yeah I'm done.

No baby don't do this.

No stop. I've been patient with you long enough. I can't keep going on like this.

Please. Let's talk this ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 5 min

Drylake

sarz savage

A cylinder rests in the center of a Lake. Not big, nor small, the top just barely visible over the cool of the water. The walls are thin, and it doesn't look solid.

Sotle's out on his raft in the ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 3 min

Traitor

Alexander Broznitsky

The General's black polished boots clicked across the cold concrete slabs of the prison. It had been decades since he had served as a frontline soldier but his strides still held the memory of those ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 5 min

Courage and Gray

Kira Thiphavong

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!
"It's the police, I'm here because of a noise complaint!"
Officer Paltro puts his ear to the door, and waits. SLAM. What seemed to sound like a massive piece of furniture ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 5 min

Boat Jail

Joe Rule

Fucking boat jail. What a farce. There's some sort of nautical name for it - at the moment it escapes me; although I'm not sure where it would escape to, considering I'm locked in this farcical ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 5 min

The Drawing Board

Orion Arthur Kolev

It was another late night for Lacey in Wright Hall.
Being an architecture major entailed countless hours of drawing, erasing, and fervently redrawing aside others in her cohort, all to realize a ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 5 min

First Kiss

Avery Lloyd

I'd bolted out the door faster than I could say goodbye. The soup pot in my grocery sack clanked as I skipped across the street, just like I had a few nights ago. Apparently one of her friends had ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 1 min

The Vase

Timothy Jafek

I see the vase shatter. It slides innocently off the box my husband is carrying in from the truck. I reach impulsively to catch it, but it's too late. Almost in slow motion, small pieces break off ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 5 min

Math Lab Fantasy

Lauren Allen

"Did you clock in?" The other secretary's voice cuts into my thoughts. I blink, "yes, I- uh huh," came my distracted response. My focus isn't on the schedule, or even on the monitor directly in front ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 2 min

5 Cupcakes in South Bend, Indiana

Kate Nanovic

There was trouble in the air. My naïveté did not sense it. The distrust. The greed. Nobody could sense its forthcoming. It was September of 2013, and my family and I were heading to a celebration. Of ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 2 min

Vices

Cassie Keene

I watch you light a cigarette through the hazy glass and, avoiding my gaze, turn your wedding ring around absentmindedly. You slip it off into your pocket, the outline of the ring making an imprint in ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 2 min

Trapped In a Jar

Vansh Malhotra

My lungs became sore from screaming, but their ears did not become deaf from hearing as I continuously kept pleading to them to let me go. My head started to spin, and I felt pukish enclosed in that ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 1 min

The Future: Kronian Cuisine

Kathleen Barraza

"Welcome to Titan's. May I take your order?"
"Yes, I'd like a-"
"Chicken nuggets."
"Yes, I'd like a kid's chicken nugget meal-"
"And a McFlurry"
"And a McFlurry-"
"I'm sorry sir. We ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 2 min

Showering Dreams

Matt Mandel

It's dark and stormy, and I'm home alone. About twenty minutes ago I hopped in the shower for a quick rinse. But now that I think about it, I'm not sure actually how long ago it was. It could've been ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 4 min

Élan Vital

Devin Glenn

Floating, weightless, in salty currents, my mind reclines into nothingness. Fluttering cerebellum pulsing its way to equilibrium, I fix my breath on the darkness expanding for miles behind my eyelids ...  [+]
Short Fiction