Skip to content

A New Kind of Literary Pulse

Home
Logo Long Story Short Award - 2026
Short Fiction
 4 min

The Last Frame of 1929

Chloe Chan

The grandfather clock in the European Masters gallery chimed midnight, its heavy brass resonance echoing through the hollow marble halls of the Metropolitan Museum.  Leo shifted his flashlight, his ...  [+]
Short Fiction
Short Fiction
 5 min

Trench

Lauren Davis

He couldn't think. Not one speck of an unpanicked thought managed to sneak into Levi's mind as he sat on the damp, dreary earth. The walls of the sunken trench around him seemed to close ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 4 min

The Other Me

Jayla Brown

I have wondered what it would be like to see the way everyone else does. Not because I don't see. I do. I know what my mother looks like. I know the faces of my friends. I know my own face. I ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 2 min

We Dream of Artificial Sheep

Aster Cheng

I am not a god. I am simply the law of this universe.
Without context, that statement sounds arrogant. Egotistical, even. Perhaps even ridiculous. Therefore, to put things into context, I shall ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 5 min

Your Reluctant Seaman

Ava Daniels

My dearest friend, 
I hope this letter finds you in a better condition than when I first reached out. It would be best for one of us to be happy in these tumultuous times, wouldn't it? By now ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 3 min

A Witch's Warmth

Emily MacLean

Flames cradled my ankles. Jeers pummeled my ear canals. My skin shriveled. I felt it burn. 
 
In the distance, the autumnal trees bared their bones, swimming in a misty haze. Beneath them, my ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 1 min

Our photograph

Lucas Kwitko

Our photograph-
Its edges were ruined and torn.
On the back was a faded paragraph;
As I read, I started to mourn the letters worn. The words reminded me of our yearning,
Of a time to which I ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 4 min

Trading Places

Latori Mitchell

If Heaven Allowed Us to Trade Places A Short Story January 3, 2023. Some dates are written on calendars. Others are carved into your heart. That was the day my world began falling apart. My mother was ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 1 min

Together with the Lord

Saniyah Duckworth

Life is but a stopping place, A pause in what is to be, A resting place along the road to sweet eternity. We all have different journeys, Different paths along the way,  We all were meant to learn ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 1 min

On the spot

Alexis Rodriguez

Heard about this ‘Long Story Short' award
Decided I'll try it regardless whether or not I get a reward
I thought I'd give it a shot 
By making something on the spot
Not ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 4 min

Mirror and Me

Elena McCardle

Deep in the mirror that I live in. Time is a construct of never-ending cruelty, I race against it on every step. Every movement, every thought is not my own. The lives I witness though my eyes are not ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 1 min

Butterfly effect

Ethan Ha

two celestial planets, of great burning mass, depend on each other's presence, a perfect coexistence  both awaken from a deep, deep seamlessly sleepless sleep, the lashes flutter, butterfly ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 5 min

In Another Life

Jordyn Megens

"In another life?"
Was it wrong for her to feel life's weight? To lie awake at night and stare? To feel everything and absolutely nothing? To lie heavily in a bed that wasn't hers ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 5 min

Rolling Down My Car Window

Katie Tyson

I have my wallet, car keys, running shoes, and coffee cup simultaneously shoved under my armpit as I fumble in my backpack for my key to lock the door. I drop my stupid left shoe on the ground as ...  [+]
Short Fiction
Short Fiction
 5 min

The Red Thread

JIAWEN ZHU

Wei's flight was delayed. She sighed over the phone, "I've told the guide—he'll take you around today. I'll join you tomorrow." I stood at the guesthouse entrance, trying ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 4 min

A Breakfast Caught in Catechism

Katie Ma

"If we were all suddenly somebody else." —James Joyce, Ulysses 
Whose ill-fated life have you entered? That of Leopold Bloom's. A man of thirty-eight years, residing at the address 7 ...  [+]