Literary Fiction Stories

Dr. H. Ashford

The bell pull rang at half past two in the morning, which was, Mrs. Dorothea Crane reflected, a thoroughly inconvenient hour for any occurrence whatsoever, supe…

Cass Ferren

The puddle is smaller than she expected. That's the thing she will remember later — not the open freezer door, not the blue tray face-down on the linoleum like …

Yuki Kazehara

At nine-twelve, Akiyama Mio lifted the lid of Box 14 and knew at once that someone had touched the charts. She did not know it because anything was missing. It …

Elara Nightwood

The frost began on the third Thursday of May, when no frost had business arriving anywhere. Clara found it first on the clapper of the chapel bell, the oldest o…

Sofia Verlanti

As she pushed through the lobby doors, a wave of cool air enveloped her, a welcome respite from the humid evening. The sound of her heels clicking on the marble…

Sofia Verlanti

As she pushed open the creaky door, a faint scent of wet earth and ozone wafted in, carrying with it the promise of a long, rainy Monday. The sound of raindrops…

Elara Nightwood

The ferryman kept his daughter's shroud in the smallest room of his house, which had once been a closet for nets and twine. He had moved them to make space for …

Marcus Veil

1. The pressure at 400 meters is an abstraction until you see the microscopic spider-webbing across the sapphire-glass viewport of the spine. Elias watched the …

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…