A New Kind of Literary Pulse

1. Acquire a date. This would be easier if you knew anyone of the appropriate gender/orientation. Blaming your autism for this deficiency is preferable to taking responsibility for your anti-social ... [+]

The nurse left work at five o'clock. She usually left around 4:30 and if she hadn’t taken that extra half an hour, perhaps the tragedy could have been avoided.
Kristie’s day was fairly normal ... [+]

I arrived unannounced. The Alchemist’s house was dark and crowded with ornaments. “Tools” the man corrected as we entered deeper into the mansion. As I sat in my new room I marveled at this ... [+]

Day 1
My body's been changing recently; now I'm king of the world. It's been a crazy morning.
Let’s start from yesterday. Yesterday I was comfortably wrapped in a dangle-bed eagerly ... [+]

Dec. 12th, 8:48 AM: Incoming message from: Santa
[ Hey Jack! What’s up? ]
Nothing much right now. Cleaning up for holidays. How’s the pre-holiday Vegas trip?
[ It’s great! I’m ... [+]

Odysseus clung to the underside of the sheep in the middle. The ropes that tied the three sheep acted as a harness, keeping his feet attached the soft wool around the sheep’s sides. His mind racing ... [+]

The stranger paused. “How long have you been here?”
It was a good question. He’d lost track. He knew it’d been over a year, but less than three. If it’d been three he’d have seen Mt ... [+]

The water rolls gently against the shore, not even cresting as it lazily runs up and down along the sand. I've never seen the ocean this calm. This island is still. Out in the middle of the ocean and ... [+]

It hangs, brown and fat and drooping, its papery walls like so much windblown sand, the worker wasps on its surface like so many maggots corrupting a body. You stare up at the heavy hornet’s nest ... [+]

The kitchen telephone stops ringing before Annie can answer it. In the other room, Roland hits two toy cars together and imitates the sound of a crash, then pushes them along the carpet. Annie sets ... [+]

They say there’s a time past the peak of the moon and the zenith of the wind when the angels close their eyes. It’s not a long moment—barely a second—not even. Just a pause, the start of a ... [+]

I was dumbfounded. Sitting before me was a young boy who looked like he would not last a week, much less years, of specialized training.
Yet, the Don and Underboss of the Family presented him ... [+]

I used to wish on dandelions as a child; I truly believed that everything I wanted would come to me if I blew away those seeds into the sky. It was like planting my dreams all over the earth. I wished ... [+]

Jo wakes before the sun. This is when the sky is red and the Illinois sidewalks are still clean and empty. It’s so early, she doesn’t even realize she has started pedaling into the morning until ... [+]

The old girl living in Room Number 12, Farmanieh Nursing Home in Tehran has a funny way of watching her television. She sets up a chair in front of the lone window in her room, as if to look out at ... [+]

Ting
She smiled as the sun warmed her face. Her sleeves. Her Arms.
As the crystalline tinkle of the nearby stream reached her ears.
As a child, just out of sight, laughed in ... [+]

“It’s snowing outside,” Lionel lunged for the windowsill, gripping the cold plastic with the eagerness of a child. There he stayed, equally enthralled and at ease, only glancing away to look ... [+]

The waves ripple back as I stare into the glimmer of the moon light reflecting onto the ocean. I realize that soon the sun will rise and I’d have to start getting things ready for the day. I take a ... [+]