Literary Fiction Stories

Sofia Verlanti

As she stood in the dimly lit kitchen, the soft, grey light of an overcast afternoon peeking through the curtains, Emilia's hands moved with a quiet reverence, …

Yuki Kazehara

At seven-forty on a wet Thursday morning, Arai Fumika unlocked the East Asian Decorative Arts room and saw at once that one of the bronze seals had become too o…

Sofia Verlanti

As she stood in the narrow kitchen, the dim morning light barely illuminated the scarred wooden board where she was cutting strawberries. The silence was almost…

Elara Nightwood

The mapmaker came home on the first warm Sunday after the river rose, which meant the house had been alone for three weeks with only the water's memory for comp…

Yuki Kazehara

At nine-twenty on the first Sunday in June, Hara Natsumi found the comb because the coat was heavier than it ought to have been. The rain had arrived without co…

Dr. H. Ashford

The inventory had been assigned to Miss Alderton on a Wednesday, which she considered neither auspicious nor otherwise — she was not, by temperament or training…

Luc Devereaux

The croissant is still warm. I know because the box burns my fingers when I pick it up. Not the usual bakery heat—this is oven-fresh, the kind that seeps throug…

Cass Ferren

The freezer hums like it has always hummed. Like it will hum after her. Like humming is its entire theology. She stands in the kitchen doorway with a roll of tr…

Marcus Veil

1. The harness cinched tight against Aris’s ribs, a rhythmic constriction that matched her breathing. Outside, the station’s outer sensor skin stretched like a …

Elara Nightwood

The shoe lay in the skiff's center like a question the dawn had brought and left unanswered. Gideon found it when the mist was still thick enough to mistake for…

Sofia Verlanti

As Sofia stepped into the apartment, the smell of rain clung to her coat, and the dented cake tin in her hands seemed to weigh heavier with each passing moment.…

Yuki Kazehara

At six-ten, Superintendent Ishii found Apartment 4C open by three inches and stopped with the mop bucket tilted against his leg. He had come up because of water…