Literary Fiction Stories

Sofia Verlanti

As she pushed open the creaky door, a faint scent of decay and stale air wafted out, mingling with the chill of the autumn evening. The woman's eyes adjusted sl…

Elara Nightwood

The child was asleep in the sluice chamber when Garrick came down at dusk to check the gates, which meant she had been there since at least the afternoon, when …

Sofia Verlanti

As she worked, the scent of blooming flowers and damp earth filled the narrow kitchen, mingling with the smell of freshly brewed coffee that wafted from the cou…

Cass Ferren

The key sticks. It has always stuck. She knows to lift the door slightly with her knee while turning, the way you learn a body's particular language — this lock…

Marcus Veil

1. 02:44 LOCAL TIME. The basement of St. Jude’s-by-the-Sea did not house the dead; it housed the logistical artifacts of the city’s slow drowning. Elias gripped…

Yuki Kazehara

The machine gave a hard metallic knock, then settled back into its wet, circular breathing. Mizuno Rei looked up from the folding table. Through the laundromat …

Dr. H. Ashford

The commission arrived on a Saturday, which Mr. Aldous Fenn considered unusual, and from the Reverend Josias Carne of St. Dunstan's, Morbridge, which he conside…

Elara Nightwood

The ash came down like snow that refused to settle, and the river ran black beneath it, which meant something upstream had burned completely. Margot stood at th…

Sofia Verlanti

As she rummaged through the darkness of her kitchen, the smell of scorched milk and wet wool enveloped her, a stark reminder of the evening's misfortunes. The b…

Yuki Kazehara

At four-ten, with the rain making the harbor windows black before their time, Arai Natsumi found the envelope in the drawer for tomorrow. The date tabs in Munic…

Elara Nightwood

The bronze had been singing since first light, which meant Elsa had risen with the sound already threaded through her dreams, half-awake before her eyes opened.…

Sofia Verlanti

As she stepped into the kitchen, the scent of wet wool and bergamot enveloped her, a stark contrast to the chill of the rainy evening. She had heard the door op…