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A New Kind of Literary Pulse

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Logo Long Story Short Award - 2026
Short Fiction
 5 min

When Passion is Betrayed

Julia Perez

I yawn as I submit my report for work.  It is after 10 pm, and I have been at it since 7 am. The grind is never ending, and I am feeling the consequences. My feet ache, my neck is tight, and a dull ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 4 min

Warplanes Overhead

Nanak Gaban

"Salag!"
People crowded the door and windows so densely, they blocked out the light. Shouts and screams flooded from the streets. My head pulsed against the din, still disoriented afte ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 4 min

Diospyros virginiana

Danica Torres

Those damned animals burnt me out of the estate. In the hours preceding, the wood became a cage, the glass warping into black, half-merged with the ebbing dream that sought to drag me into hellish ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 5 min

The Mysterious Invasion of Ghar

Najib Abi

The exhaustion of a long day in school threw me into bed with my boots and backpack on. I sank into the soft surface of my mattress. I woke up fully conscious, lying on a bare ground, with only a ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 4 min

Against the inadequacies of the ground

L A

8:00 a.m. in bed. In a room.  "WAKE UP!" Loud Skanky voice screams through the room. "Grab a brush and put a little makeup! Hide the scars to fade away the shakeup!" Annoyed, I get up ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 5 min

Keep Running

Rita Okwor

The light turned green just as I reached the intersection. I pressed my foot against the accelerator, one hand on the steering wheel and the other reaching to turn the car radio volume up. The time ...  [+]
Short Fiction
Short Fiction
 1 min

Dear Husband

Isabelle Blythe

dear husband, 
what if - what if?  what if I could not be  your maid-in shine,  slaying deranged household grime? 
my squire, my fine.  I wonder if I could not your baker be,  if I could not ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 2 min

Kould u tell me about my histori

Jamia Laude

525 years ago, where was I? I may not have been alive But my blood had not died I don't know who I am But I could hear the sighs And the cries From below And my eyes scan the sea The waves high ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 4 min

Twenty-Five Litres

Chidalu Nnorukah

I had just come back from school when Mummy sent me to fetch water from the next town. I grabbed the empty 25-litre keg and jogged all the way, happy to be out of the house.
At the tank, a long ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 5 min

The Life on the other side

esther izangu

The first thing I noticed was that somebody had stolen my hands.
The hands on the bedsheet were pale, with a faint scar across the right thumb. Mine were brown, with a tiny crescent scar near the ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 5 min

The Path Not Taken

Ryan Fan

"I really don't understand why you won't just go down to Commonwealth. Takes like, half an hour." I stared at my bowl of noodles, unwilling to meet Cass' gaze. She was right ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 5 min

Curtains

mireayn alias

In the library, I thumb through a biography of the Empress Dowager Cixi. I'd stumbled upon this book while browsing, the photo of her stern face eyeing me from the cover, through the generations ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 3 min

One Short Day

Yi An Alicia Chen

Madeline woke up to the smell of flowers. Sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she took in the wooden cabin bedroom she'd woken up in. On her bedside table, red and yellow peonies ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 5 min

The Daughter

Yet

I
Her heels struck the linoleum in firm, even intervals, her coat flaring behind her. In that overheated office, the school counselor's voice still hung in the air with counterfeit concern ...  [+]
Short Fiction
Short Fiction
 2 min

Me, Others And AI

Oluwasegun Ojikutu

Ones and zeros, on to hero. Lines upon lines, a cluster of characters intricately patterned. A structure, an architecture of some sort. A language that gauges- limitless in its reach. Intelligence ...  [+]
Short Fiction
 3 min

Almost Home

Harmanpreet Kaur Brar

When I first sat down to write this story, my head was full of possibilities. I wondered about the lives I could invent, the characters I could slip into, and what it would feel like to borrow ...  [+]