#shortstories — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #shortstories, aggregated by home.social.
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‘Stunned and shocked’: Ingrid Horrocks wins top prize at New Zealand’s Ockham awards for her fiction debut https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/14/ingrid-horrocks-ockham-awards-short-story-collection-new-zealand #NewZealand #AsiaPacific #WorldNews #AwardsAndPrizes #Books #Fiction #Culture #ShortStories
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‘Stunned and shocked’: Ingrid Horrocks wins top prize at New Zealand’s Ockham awards for her fiction debut https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/14/ingrid-horrocks-ockham-awards-short-story-collection-new-zealand #NewZealand #AsiaPacific #WorldNews #AwardsAndPrizes #Books #Fiction #Culture #ShortStories
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‘Stunned and shocked’: Ingrid Horrocks wins top prize at New Zealand’s Ockham awards for her fiction debut https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/14/ingrid-horrocks-ockham-awards-short-story-collection-new-zealand #NewZealand #AsiaPacific #WorldNews #AwardsAndPrizes #Books #Fiction #Culture #ShortStories
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‘Stunned and shocked’: Ingrid Horrocks wins top prize at New Zealand’s Ockham awards for her fiction debut https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/14/ingrid-horrocks-ockham-awards-short-story-collection-new-zealand #NewZealand #AsiaPacific #WorldNews #AwardsAndPrizes #Books #Fiction #Culture #ShortStories
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It's Book Quote Wednesday and the word is WANDER. Unworldly genius Philip Devere has his own idea of what it means to be PC compatible, arf. From my sf&f story collection, JEAPES JAPES. #bookqw #shortstories https://www.benjeapes.com/index.php/writing/jeapes-japes/
Hear me read a longer version at benjeapes.substack.com.
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For we are on the cusp of annihilation, some jackass thought it prudent to launch into earth's sub orbit 500,000 metric tons of anti-tungsten, at last report the power supply maintaining containment is failing, and there is no way to fix it, latest estimates put total containment failure in less than 36 hours, there is neither time to evacuate the planet nor burrow miles into the earth to relocate humanity, currently all data centers are uploading as much of human history to satellites assumed to be clear of the blast zone, in the hopes that if any visitors ever approach they will learn of humanity, as we will no longer be in existence, remember folks, antimatter is all fun and games until it goes wrong;
You can encourage my continued useless #poetry, creativity and expression of self, #commentary, random thoughts, #philosophy and ideas, and by doing so your helping to feed, house and clothe a #disabled man living in #poverty, $5-10-15 It All Helps, via #cashapp at $woctxphotog or via #paypal at paypal.com/donate?campaign_id=…
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For we are on the cusp of annihilation, some jackass thought it prudent to launch into earth's sub orbit 500,000 metric tons of anti-tungsten, at last report the power supply maintaining containment is failing, and there is no way to fix it, latest estimates put total containment failure in less than 36 hours, there is neither time to evacuate the planet nor burrow miles into the earth to relocate humanity, currently all data centers are uploading as much of human history to satellites assumed to be clear of the blast zone, in the hopes that if any visitors ever approach they will learn of humanity, as we will no longer be in existence, remember folks, antimatter is all fun and games until it goes wrong;
You can encourage my continued useless #poetry, creativity and expression of self, #commentary, random thoughts, #philosophy and ideas, and by doing so your helping to feed, house and clothe a #disabled man living in #poverty, $5-10-15 It All Helps, via #cashapp at $woctxphotog or via #paypal at paypal.com/donate?campaign_id=…
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For we are on the cusp of annihilation, some jackass thought it prudent to launch into earth's sub orbit 500,000 metric tons of anti-tungsten, at last report the power supply maintaining containment is failing, and there is no way to fix it, latest estimates put total containment failure in less than 36 hours, there is neither time to evacuate the planet nor burrow miles into the earth to relocate humanity, currently all data centers are uploading as much of human history to satellites assumed to be clear of the blast zone, in the hopes that if any visitors ever approach they will learn of humanity, as we will no longer be in existence, remember folks, antimatter is all fun and games until it goes wrong;
You can encourage my continued useless #poetry, creativity and expression of self, #commentary, random thoughts, #philosophy and ideas, and by doing so your helping to feed, house and clothe a #disabled man living in #poverty, $5-10-15 It All Helps, via #cashapp at $woctxphotog or via #paypal at paypal.com/donate?campaign_id=…
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Story Hour tiptoes back to the spooky side with two returning favorites! Mike Allen and Jordan Kurella slink back in to read us horrors. Join us Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. PDT! #Bookstodon #StoryHour2020 #ShortStories #ShortFiction #AuthorReading #Horror #HorrorFiction #MikeAllen #JordanKurella @mythicdelirium https://www.storyhour2020.com/
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Story Hour tiptoes back to the spooky side with two returning favorites! Mike Allen and Jordan Kurella slink back in to read us horrors. Join us Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. PDT! #Bookstodon #StoryHour2020 #ShortStories #ShortFiction #AuthorReading #Horror #HorrorFiction #MikeAllen #JordanKurella @mythicdelirium https://www.storyhour2020.com/
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Story Hour tiptoes back to the spooky side with two returning favorites! Mike Allen and Jordan Kurella slink back in to read us horrors. Join us Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. PDT! #Bookstodon #StoryHour2020 #ShortStories #ShortFiction #AuthorReading #Horror #HorrorFiction #MikeAllen #JordanKurella @mythicdelirium https://www.storyhour2020.com/
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Story Hour tiptoes back to the spooky side with two returning favorites! Mike Allen and Jordan Kurella slink back in to read us horrors. Join us Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. PDT! #Bookstodon #StoryHour2020 #ShortStories #ShortFiction #AuthorReading #Horror #HorrorFiction #MikeAllen #JordanKurella @mythicdelirium https://www.storyhour2020.com/
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Story Hour tiptoes back to the spooky side with two returning favorites! Mike Allen and Jordan Kurella slink back in to read us horrors. Join us Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. PDT! #Bookstodon #StoryHour2020 #ShortStories #ShortFiction #AuthorReading #Horror #HorrorFiction #MikeAllen #JordanKurella @mythicdelirium https://www.storyhour2020.com/
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my one and only (a fairytale of sorts)
When Maggie was a child, she had a little dog, a dog she loved more than anything else in the world. He was her greatest comfort, her confidant, her friend—and the warmest buffer between her and her warring parents. When no older than four, she’d often sit on the front steps of the family home with the black and white pup at her side, doing her best to ignore the carrying on of her parents inside. For as long as the commotion lasted, she and her pup would remain planted there, staring out at the quiet row of houses on the opposite side of the street. From time to time, as a way to console him and herself, she’d pat his head gently or stroke his silky coat. When she was a few years older, she began reading to him from storybooks she got from the library, promising that one day they too would go off on a happy adventure. And always when Maggie looked into the dog’s glowing brown eyes, and he looked steadily into hers, she knew with all her heart that he understood. So when only a few years later, before her eighth birthday, he passed away suddenly, it was as if an essential part of her own being had gone with him. But where had he gone to? she wondered. Would she ever see him again? Perhaps in heaven? Her parents tried but couldn’t answer these difficult questions to her satisfaction. Her father said instead that they could go right away to get her another dog, but that made Maggie throw herself onto the bed and cry. Her mother suggested a cat, but that made Maggie cry even more. But then time passed, as it always does, slowly at first, and then in a rush, and so it was that eventually, Maggie understood her dog was gone forever, and the only solution to her sadness, the only defense against time, was to never forget him.
Now that Margaret (formerly Maggie) was an old woman—well, perhaps not that old, but old enough to have had a long career as a librarian, and old enough so that many memories had grown tattered with time—she had the barest of memories sitting outside along with her dog while her parents argued. She didn’t remember vowing to never forget her little companion, to cherish him always as the one and only in her life who listened to both her wishes and her woes. And yet…in the back of Margaret’s mind, she sensed there had to be more to this story, something she had forgotten.
Then one day she found herself in an unfamiliar neighborhood. It was an area near a homeless shelter where she had just started as a volunteer reading stories to children. She had finished for the day, and as she made her way down the narrow sidewalk toward her parked car, she saw a little dog crossing the street to get to the other side. Thankfully, there was only light traffic, so the dog made it safely across. “He’s just going home,” she thought. But, no, he passed one house and then another before finally stopping before a gardener trimming a bush brimming with white blossoms. The man stopped for a moment, reached into his pocket, and gave the dog some sort of treat. Then immediately both returned to what they’d been doing before: the man trimming the bush, the dog moving on. The woman, merely curious, yelled over, “Is that your dog?” The man yelled back, “No, ma’am. I just feed him once in a while. Do you want a dog?”
Margaret didn’t know what to say. She just watched as the dog moved further along in a rather comical bow-legged waddling walk. It was a black and white Chihuahua mix with short legs and large patches of missing fur on one side of his body revealing pink skin. Finally, Margaret said, “Doesn’t he live around here?”
“No,” the man said, “he just goes from place to place. No home.”
“Does he bite?” Margaret then asked.
“No, he just might lick you to death,” he replied, smiling.
Without much decision making on her part, other than thinking she’d drive the dog over to a shelter, she asked the gardener to pick up the dog and put him in the backseat of her car, which he did.
It was only after she took the dog home, gave him a bath, fed him a meal of chicken and rice, which he devoured within seconds, that Maggie realized this little dog, who now curled up next to her on the couch, was similar, maybe even identical (except for the missing fur), to her long-lost childhood companion. The memory came back to her slowly at first, and then in a mad rush. Was her mind playing tricks? Was she going crazy? Or maybe, she thought, this is the one miracle, the one wished-for adventure, granted to me in life. The kind I don’t have to dissect or explain to anyone, least of all to myself.
And while Maggie thought these thoughts, the dog continued to sleep soundly beside her. After a time, however, when Maggie moved on to considering other incomprehensible things, like the swift passage of time and her now elderly parents, who despite their disastrous marriage had somehow remained close, the little dog awoke and looked directly at her. “Hi, Charlie,” Maggie said. “Welcome home.” And the pup’s wide brown eyes, glowing warmly, told her all she needed to know.
#childhood #creativeWriting #dogs #fairytale #fiction #flashFiction #love #memory #shortStories #shortStory #time -
Five Great Quotations about Craft of Writing #Medium #novel #novelist #amwriting #writingcommunity #shortstories inventingrealityediting.com/2...
Five Great Quotations about Cr... -
Five Great Quotations about Craft of Writing #Medium #novel #novelist #amwriting #writingcommunity #shortstories inventingrealityediting.com/2...
Five Great Quotations about Cr... -
Five Great Quotations about Craft of Writing #Medium #novel #novelist #amwriting #writingcommunity #shortstories inventingrealityediting.com/2...
Five Great Quotations about Cr... -
Five Great Quotations about Craft of Writing #Medium #novel #novelist #amwriting #writingcommunity #shortstories inventingrealityediting.com/2...
Five Great Quotations about Cr... -
Eternally, Tea
“Try again.”
Jourdain hit the floor hard, his elbow hitting before the rest of his body. He cried out in pain, but the instructor urged him to get up. She stood before him, ready for his next move.
“When you’re in the field, you have to disregard pain. The more hits you take, the stronger you become. Your species operates in this manner.”
Jourdain sighs, “I know. I know.”
“Then act like it.”
The instructor comes at him with another round of blows. He blocks as best as he can but reacts slowly when she jabs him on his right side, and again to the left side of his face.
Jourdain hit the ground head first, immobilized and knocked out.
“God, this one is a pain to train,” she sighs. Another day wasted.
From above, someone was watching the entire training session. They made their assessment mentally, stepping away from the window.
* * *
At the end of the training week, students could spend their weekly allowance on food. All of them gathered in the corridor where their food could be ordered. Jourdain walks up to one of the many touchscreen ordering stations, scrolling through the menu. He wanted a slice of strawberry shortcake; the most expensive item. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t eat enough, and he had to eat this week and the next week, and the week after.
He sighs heavily, opting for another bucket of leafy greens and spicy chicken. No cake this week.
He sits alone at a table, playing with his food. If he’s hungry enough, he’ll eat it all eventually.
A redhead girl takes a seat next to him. His friend, Ruvi. “How are you feeling?”
He shakes his head, “I’m tired and I hurt.”
Ruvi leaves her seat and gets behind him, gently wrapping her hands around him and brushing her face against his, hoping to ease his sorrows from training.
“I foresee you will feel better tomorrow.”
It’s cute, Jourdain will admit that. It brings a smile to his face. He closes his eyes, absorbing all of the good energy he can feel.
“Thank you, Ruvi.”
“No problem, now eat!”
She hops back to her seat while he douses his spinach in salad dressing.
“How was training for you?” He asked, finally taking a bite of the lettuce and fish.
“I did goooood,” Ruvi flexes her arm and pats her muscle, “I got this. Imma be top dog in no time.”
“Yeah,” his smile is warm, but his thoughts hinge on sadness. ‘We’ll be separated.’
Being a good student meant going into the field early. Ruvi was proving her worth. Soon she’ll be out in the top class’s barracks with her own team. Away from him.
He plays with his food again, taking the longest to eat.
Ten minutes pass,
Twenty.
Ruvi had finished her food. She sat there playing on her phone, tap tap tapping away.
Twenty five minutes.
“Ay, are you okay?”
“Huh?” He looks up, noticing the concern on her face.
“Oh- uhh…”
It takes him a moment to muster the courage to tell a half truth.
“I don’t want us to be separated.”
Ruvi pauses, her cheeks turning a delicate shade of red.
‘Me leaving has caused him this much pain?’
Her eyes twinkle with welled tears, she gently places her hands atop his, “Jourdain.”
His eyes met hers, noticing the tears that fell.
“…”
“I’m sorry you’ve been suffering this whole time over me.”
“I… uh…”
“If you want us to stay together, you have to be the best as hard as you can.”
He nods, staying silent.
“Now, eat so we can sleep and be prepared for tomorrow.”
He feels a little better, finally being able to eat just a little faster.
* * *
Another training session, more pain. This week it was more of the same with minimal improvement to his reaction time. The instructor would beat the shit out of him and he would be knocked out for hours.
The next week? The same thing? The week after, hmm… there’s some improvement.
He orders fish and lettuce for both weeks.
The week after? Typical. Leafy greens with a side of meat. Oh—and pain from training.
The next month? More leafy greens with fish or meat.
And his worst fear.
Ruvi and several other students were given a graduation ceremony in the atrium.
Jourdain watched as she was onstage, shaking hands with the Director of Research and the overseer of this entire program.
When she looked to the audience, her gaze settled on him and only him. She took the microphone, intent on leaving a message meant for him.
“I know it’s hard, but we are dragons. We persevere. Our species has struggled and struggled on this planet, but these struggles always make us strong. So please, let it make you stronger,” she holds out her hand to the audience, to him, “and join me in the top class.”
Jourdain’s whole face flushed red. He knew she was speaking to him. He knew that time had run out. No more would he have her good energy, her happy vibes, her presence and her jokes to pull him through.
Seeing her again is his goal. He lets it become the fuel that keeps him pushing through the intense training.
His reaction time improves slightly, but he uses his intelligence to avoid his trainer and strike her at her weak points, like grabbing her tail and BITING IT.
“WHAT THE HELL?”
She tries to yoink him off but the pain brought her to her knees.
“I won this time,” he huffs, his teeth and chin covered in her blood.
She grits her teeth, he did indeed win.
The person watching them made another mental note. Perhaps it was time to personally talk to this boy.
Jourdain was preparing to leave when The Director stopped him.
“You there, CT79, you’ve finally found an inventive way to complete a training session.”
“Uh, yeah. I guess. I really need to wash my mouth out.”
“I’ve been keeping an eye on you. Don’t let me down.”
“I won’t, sir.”
“Good. You are dismissed.”
Jourdain kept training, using his wits to climb to the top spot. The desire to meet Ruvi again is what pulls him forward. Over time, he desires that cake less and less. It becomes a footnote in the grand scale of his plans.
He remembers those old days as he stares down the strawberry cake in front of him. Here, dressed in these elegant clothes and mingling with Blavatsky’s club members, he wonders should he follow through with his mission and betray her. Should he become like the other girls and eat the cake, giving in to the dark powers and become a magical girl?
The club is in chaos. Those who chose to stay with Blavatsky are fighting for their lives against sugar-powered magical heathens. He hears the screaming, he hears the whispers of the cake, but he would rather remain as a vegetable magical girl than to betray the person who gave him a new family.
He turns away from the cake and arms himself with a broccoli staff and a purple cabbage, both manifesting from his power.
He takes one last glance back at the cake.
“Another time. We shall meet again.”
This story is for a bigger story that I think was called Miss Blavatsky’s High Society Tea Club. It’s about an aristocratic black woman who saves girls who are vulnerable to the influence of sweets and bring them to her club to learn the ways of fruits and vegetables. Lately her club has gotten the attention of someone who wants to bring it down and turn all of the veggie girls into ‘Magical Sweets Girls.’
The story came to me when I was listening to La Fee Verte by ALI PROJECT and I imagined faceless girls who loved vegetables slowly fall prey to sweets, even fighting over it, while their leader tries to keep the remaining ones away from them. The idea was further developed when I listened to the newer version of Strawberry Pie O Otabe, also by ALI PROJECT.
Lady Jourdain is a later addition. She is an actually a boy— a femboy posing as a vegetable girl. He planned to betray Blavatsky but as you can see, he just couldn’t.
Note: CT means cat tail. Refers to Jourdain’s species. Cat Tail dragon. 79 means there were 79 cat tail dragons before him.
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#books #Dragons #Fantasy #Femboy #Fiction #ScienceFiction #ShortStories #shortStory #Writing -
Everything is on hold when you're looking for a job and waiting for a flat. Diana Evans looks into the deep freeze in her short story Ice Cream:
https://www.fictionable.world/stories/ice-cream-diana-evans
Image: Agustin Fernandez
#books #reading #writing #fiction #comics #ShortStories #translation #blog #podcast #bookstodon
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With the backlash against trans people in full swing, fiction can play an important part in helping us understand each other, says Holly Edwards:
https://www.fictionable.world/podcasts/holly-edwards-little-lamb-who-made-thee-trans-queer-politics
#books #reading #writing #fiction #comics #ShortStories #translation #blog #podcast #bookstodon
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This Story Hour used science to bring us all the feelings. In stories about remote research stations, SB Divya and Premee Mohamed addressed family, identity, and...well, evil. Unmissable! You can still watch! #Bookstodon #StoryHour2020 #ShortStories #ShortFiction #AuthorReading #ScienceFiction #SFF #SBDivya #PremeeMohamed @sbdivya @premeesaurus https://youtu.be/Z5Kj89lUI7Y
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This Story Hour used science to bring us all the feelings. In stories about remote research stations, SB Divya and Premee Mohamed addressed family, identity, and...well, evil. Unmissable! You can still watch! #Bookstodon #StoryHour2020 #ShortStories #ShortFiction #AuthorReading #ScienceFiction #SFF #SBDivya #PremeeMohamed @sbdivya @premeesaurus https://youtu.be/Z5Kj89lUI7Y
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This Story Hour used science to bring us all the feelings. In stories about remote research stations, SB Divya and Premee Mohamed addressed family, identity, and...well, evil. Unmissable! You can still watch! #Bookstodon #StoryHour2020 #ShortStories #ShortFiction #AuthorReading #ScienceFiction #SFF #SBDivya #PremeeMohamed @sbdivya @premeesaurus https://youtu.be/Z5Kj89lUI7Y
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This Story Hour used science to bring us all the feelings. In stories about remote research stations, SB Divya and Premee Mohamed addressed family, identity, and...well, evil. Unmissable! You can still watch! #Bookstodon #StoryHour2020 #ShortStories #ShortFiction #AuthorReading #ScienceFiction #SFF #SBDivya #PremeeMohamed @sbdivya @premeesaurus https://youtu.be/Z5Kj89lUI7Y
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This Story Hour used science to bring us all the feelings. In stories about remote research stations, SB Divya and Premee Mohamed addressed family, identity, and...well, evil. Unmissable! You can still watch! #Bookstodon #StoryHour2020 #ShortStories #ShortFiction #AuthorReading #ScienceFiction #SFF #SBDivya #PremeeMohamed @sbdivya @premeesaurus https://youtu.be/Z5Kj89lUI7Y
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Recently on Underground Bookshelf:
Book Release: Fates Alight by A.M. Pennyfeather
Resources: Nonfiction about ICE, Deportation... (Parts 2 & 3)
Short Stories: "How Did Yo...Never Mind" (Parts 1 & 2)
Essay: Ten Braille Facts by Alex Chan -
#1272 Laurence Green - No Admittance After Dark. Moorhen Publishing, Brixham, 2012, 1st edition.
#LaurenceGreen #MoorhenPublishing #Fiction #ShortStories #Ghosts #BookOfTheDay
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#1272 Laurence Green - No Admittance After Dark. Moorhen Publishing, Brixham, 2012, 1st edition.
#LaurenceGreen #MoorhenPublishing #Fiction #ShortStories #Ghosts #BookOfTheDay
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#1272 Laurence Green - No Admittance After Dark. Moorhen Publishing, Brixham, 2012, 1st edition.
#LaurenceGreen #MoorhenPublishing #Fiction #ShortStories #Ghosts #BookOfTheDay