A New Kind of Literary Pulse

Ernest cracked two eggs into the black frying pan with a sizzle. The fumes of which wafted up to him in wisps of vapor that warmed his stubbled chin. Lovingly, he picked up the bottle of pepper next ...  [+]

You have a few seconds when you step outside in the winter before the cold soaks into your skin. As a kid I was challenged by my older cousins to abandon the steaming hot tub sanctuary at my aunt’s ...  [+]

I was the ruler of my own heart, a lover of everything life threw at me, and a carrier of grief, a messenger of death. I was once all these things in my past lives; I would like to think I still ...  [+]

Hours have passed. I still haven’t reached the ground. The creaking of these ancient, rusted scaffolds echoes in the endless expanse, pressing in on me as I climb ever downward. The haunted light ...  [+]

Shimmering sheets of ice streaked the land for as far as any eye could hope to see. That’s all there would ever be. The sun scarcely penetrated the thick clouds of fog that rolled endlessly on what ...  [+]

The detective leaned up against the cold brick of the alleyway, a cigarette hanging loosely from his lips. In the distance, he could hear the firetrucks wail as they sped through streets still slick ...  [+]

“It’s a shame he left, Darling. It really is.”

Seraphina tore away a layer of paper mache from the elephant sculpture. She sat under a hanging spotlight. The sculpture lay on a white Roman ...  [+]

A warm breeze blew past the two women sitting at the metal table, and Alice tilted her head back, closing her eyes against the sun and smiling. “Have you been here before?” she asked Emma, raising he ...  [+]

The reporter knew the first rule of journalism: never let go of the mic. He learned the sacred rule while watching a peer concede her interview to a drunkard with a good grip. Still, he threw over the ...  [+]

Julia walked into The Paper Hound Bookshop. Julia loved books and every Saturday would spend the day discovering a new bookstore. She instantly fell in love with the store, she admired the floor to ...  [+]

The look in the mother’s eyes turned from desperation to gratitude as I leaned over the back of my pew, offering to take the eighteen-month-old. He almost leapt to me, ready to get away from the ...  [+]

“It has been three days since the search began, and we have yet to find the girl who is going to collapse the sky upon our heads. The president has refused to make any statement. I suppose all I have ...  [+]

Nina sat all dressed up, in clumsy makeup and low cut silver shiny blouse, on a bright magenta saree, her bright red lipstick, staining her teeth and bleeding on the corner of her mouth. Every ...  [+]

Javier: “Francisco.”
Francisco: “yes, Javi?”
Javier: “Can we take a break? My feet are sore.”
Francisco: “No, just a little farther we are almost there.”
Javier: “You said the same thing ...  [+]

“Be mine”, crunch. “XOXO”, crunch. “Say Yes”, crunch. I alternate sips from the glass of Merlot sitting in my left hand with the candy hearts I’m gorging with my right. Looking at the box, the amount ...  [+]

Memory is a tricky thing. It could be altered too easily, Arthur thought. But maybe that was just because he was particularly good at tripping people up, getting them to confuse real events with ones ...  [+]

So heavy...feeling sick...my tummy hurts...

I slowly open my eyes, only to see myself lying on an unknown beach. The sand stings my body—still better than lying on rough pointy stones, I ...  [+]

They come out of the oven shapeless and slightly burnt. She pokes at one, eyebrows knitting together when the hard dough-shell stays unyielding. Well, this wasn’t supposed to happen. Mooncakes are ...  [+]