Newest Stories

Asking for Water

by Darryl Price, posted 31 hours ago 5151 views11 comment11 fav

You were no woman at the well. The birds all passed looking blackened by the sun. It was in your eyes. Mine saw only you standing. The pressing sun was a singular frying experience between us (and I suppose the searching birds). Identity was…

Ann Patchett Writes Her New Novel on the Treadmill

by Dianne McKnight-Warren, posted Jun 03, 2026 116116 views44 comments44 favs

I write my new poem in the gardenBut not like Mary OliverMore like meDirt under my fingernailsReal dirtI can feel the grit of it Something that shouldn't be thereBut is.

Soldier's home

by David Ackley, posted Jun 03, 2026 122122 views33 comments22 favs

That there are a downstairs, and high voices.

Residuals

by Phillis Ideal, posted Jun 02, 2026 140140 views33 comments44 favs

My heart raced. I couldn't swallow. Heat rose under my skin, sharp and disorienting. I wanted to disappear—to fold inward, to dissolve—but instead of leaving, I walked toward him.

I Was in Hell, Carmella...

by Rabbit Angstrom, posted May 23, 2026 179179 views77 comments33 favs

You have to play the part and be somebody else at all cost, do this from the time you wake up drink your milk first contact, mom I wish I were someone else, tell me, tell me there must be a way through the center of the doughnut hole, direct opposite of a crucifiction.…

So Green

by Erika Byrne-Ludwig, posted May 14, 2026 210210 views33 comments22 favs

So greenThe road winded its way like a terrier tail but without wagging. Cream white snow and warty as country roads are with their noisy gravel which crackled under my schoolgirl shoes. I can still hear that noise when cars pass in front of my house, the tires…

bird

by eamon byrne, posted May 05, 2026 266266 views77 comments44 favs

Ah now, behold this bird. This silly little bird. Holding in his claw his piece of bread. His feathers white, his yellow comb. So proud to show his comb, designed to catch the eye of that other he's so attentive to. Though she indifferent…

buttons

by FM Le, posted May 04, 2026 293293 views55 comments44 favs

stepped away from meafter leaning on melike I was a wallmy face felt stiffyour fingers stoppedyour body was coldthrough my clothesI touched your buttons

The Coming of Doctor Congo (Acts 1 & 2)

by Lorenzo Baehne, posted Feb 28, 2026 511511 views22 comments11 fav

1. The Doctor Sudan, 1936 The trap was sprung! The pair of would-be plunderers hung feet-over-head in a robust net of tightly woven rope, arms and legs entangled, alarm issuing like a Klaxon from…

Unintended Dispatch

by Eustacia Adams, posted Feb 28, 2026 486486 views22 comments11 fav

Other therapists had their own names for it: death by mishap, inadvertent fatal impact, unintended loss of life. These were all very polite ways of describing what happens when one person, mistakenly and without malice, kills another.

Bronwen, Painter of Miccasukee Street

by Tantra Bensko, posted Feb 26, 2026 554554 views22 comments22 favs

Walking in the just-thereness of afternoon, Scrubbed out by the Tallahassee sun, Past the same Shocking banana trees that have been The most dramatic occurrences all year Since her move from the north, She thinks we must stop…

Sanctuary

by Joanne Jagoda, posted Jan 29, 2026 448448 views55 comments55 favs

until the last wisps started their heartless descent admitted by default to this curious flock a sorority I never wanted to join the red poison drips relentless

A Regime With No King

by Amanda Harris, posted Dec 10, 2025 707707 views55 comments44 favs

Blank space / governs the minds of small children

Bowling With Diane Keaton

by Collin Kelley, posted Dec 07, 2025 718718 views44 comments55 favs

Friday night, 80s halcyon,a memory of October bowling.The suburban lanes loudwith kids and kinetic releaseof balls slamming on maple.I have no footwork, no senseof release, fingers sweatyin the grips, resin droppingwith a hollow boomfollowed by derision from more adept…

Black and White

by Paul de Denus, posted Nov 16, 2025 569569 views33 comments33 favs

Chris and I have an understanding. We've been playing cops and robbers all morning, running around and stirring up shit.

Mrs. Penfield

by Carl Santoro, posted Oct 13, 2025 817817 views22 comments22 favs

Now her right breast was annoying her.

Interview with a Jesus Lizard

by Ed Higgins, posted Oct 10, 2025 772772 views11 comment11 fav

Interviewer: So, you walk on water, right? How is that possible? Jesus Lizard: Well, I only run on water, and upright on my hind legs. Haha, if I tried just walking on water I’d sink quicker than St. Peter!



Newest Groups

Bg-logo.thumb

Bending Genres
2 members
O-welcome-to-florida-facebook.thumb

Florida writers
3 members
Memoir-cartoon.thumb

Memoir
5 members
190168053_640.thumb

Twenty Faves
17 members
Line_cook.images.thumb

Line Cook
9 members
Vanessa_01.thumb

Teen Angst
5 members



Site Activity

  1. Today…
  2. *fav this has such a great cadence in the pacing of the imagery and language, I love the feeling I get at the end, being so privy to the writer's ultimate limitation entailed in blind-ness, hell yea
  3. Yesterday…
  4. Some days ago…
  5. Hey eamon: thank you so much for your review!! I am literally all over the place and this gets funneled to the language I can wrangle, so yea, some parts of my writing feels addictive bc it's comin...
  6. This harks back to many years ago when fictionaut was home to experimental fiction. The key to this piece seems to be its seemingly random insertion and in particular excision of punctuation. Punc...
  7. Thanks Darryl and Dianne.
  8. Modest text revisions and additions posted 6 June 2026.

Newest Users

Erika-byrne-ludwig.thumb
Erika Byrne-Ludwig
Mar 04, 2017
U83nwadr_400x400.thumb
Jack Fraser
Mar 03, 2017
Pictures-of-life-of-the-new-york-police-department-in-the-1970s-89.thumb
Dave Hemmings
Mar 03, 2017
11d2abc.thumb
Jessica Maybury
Mar 02, 2017
Face1.thumb
Dan Pullen
Mar 02, 2017
Dscn3474.thumb
Kitty Boots
Jun 28, 2016
11111916_1021276714550119_8521141225760590157_o.thumb
Molly DePue
May 18, 2016
Silhouette.thumb
Ellie Lee
Jan 29, 2016
Nessly.thumb
Ray Nessly
Dec 19, 2015