A New Kind of Literary Pulse

Summer in New York City felt like a heartbeat — fast, loud, and alive.
The sidewalks shimmered in late July heat, and the air smelled like sugar, salt, and the faint buzz of dreams that neve ...  [+]

ALL IN The page was empty again. The cursor blinked as if it was breathing, steady and patient. The assignment was simple: write a short story on the theme All In. He had written about love ...  [+]

The heavily engraved wooden panels that covered the walls of the overcrowded room had long blurred from his vision. His gaze had shifted from the hanged portrait to the audience's faces, each ...  [+]

The world forgot about handwritten letters, but Arthur remained. His shop, "The Last Word," smelled of dust and drying ink. His business was simple, and morbid: people came to pre-write their final ...  [+]

Momma always told me akangi funi emakhoneni Sonke kodwa siyazi ukuthi angeke uyi thole use 'khoneni  But really I wasn't looking to get paid ekhoneni Thought of it like recess more of an escape ...  [+]

 
The woman does her shopping on Tuesday evenings. It is the only day she does not go to the park to play chess, or study at the local college. Soon it will not matter, her mother had told her when ...  [+]

So many 'was I really' questions flooded my brain. It felt like I was drowning in a sea of fear and doubt as I just stood there, soaking it all in.
Was I really walking up to Iron Trident ...  [+]

The man who accidentally amputated the newly-wed's other leg had not stolen her husband's bees – they had simply taken up residence in one of his sculptures. Charles, the chainsaw artist, didn't want ...  [+]

"I offer myself as this year's sacrifice!" I yell out frantically, my voice cracking on the last syllable. I pant as I try to catch my breath, the boiling air burning my throat with each breath. The ...  [+]

"Boreas!" My consciousness gradually gathered, as the can of iced cola touched my skin, sending a chill. The smiling face before me gradually became clear in the soft light. "See that girl outside ...  [+]

The rain sprinkled on the car, creating streams down the window. Andrej started the engine to warm up the car, not intending to drive out of the parking lot just yet. The passenger door opened, and ...  [+]

The lightning drake, Salt, sprinted as fast as possible next to the speeding train. Her rider, Pepper, clinging to her reins and driving them faster and faster. The border was in sight, they didn't ...  [+]

It was the 98th time – or perhaps the 99th. Sienna had long lost count. What was once indelible quickly turned faint and blurry after she relived her life so many times. Her life had turned upside ...  [+]

The city is silent around you, the place that you grew up in reduced to a graveyard of silence. You never thought you would come back here, willingly. Up until a year ago, you hardly thought you ...  [+]

On the occasion in question, Halcyon arrived for work at the exact right time and performed ver duties in the exact right way. Everything to specification. No small detail overlooked. Today, of all ...  [+]

Every year, we host the annual human hunt, and every year like clockwork, we win. I originally was not going to make attendance, as I had an assignment to closely monitor a younger model. I am Model ...  [+]

There are approximately seventy-two seconds left until everything that we've ever known will come to an end.   I am sitting on the floor in front of my living room sofa, listening to the quiet hum of ...  [+]

When I was seventeen years old, Sam and I spent all summer eating nothing but boiled peanuts. Sam was my best friend, but he also had an incredible ability to flip a good day on its side. He got me ...  [+]