Stories

“A story is a way to say something that can’t be said any other way, and it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is.”

Flannery O’Connor

Black Demon | Fiction

by TNSF | Jul 3, 2019 | Stories, Vol. 2, Issue 17

Baja believed in Megalodons like she believed in Jesus Christ; after all, one lurked in her pallid, Sapphic waters. She kept her head in the southern waters, a compulsion brought on by fear. The other cities sat, land-locked and said, “My love, you have nothing to...

Amazon Review of Bioré Deep Cleansing Pore Strips (14 Count) | Fiction

by TNSF | Jun 5, 2019 | Best of Volume 2, Stories, Vol. 2, Issue 15

Someone in Australia is hiding needles in strawberries. Queensland resident Hoani Hearne suffered severe abdominal pain after eating a strawberry from his local Woolsworth supermarket, north of Brisbane. He bit into the strawberry, finding half a sewing needle,...

The Saga of Traveling Pig | Fiction

by TNSF | May 22, 2019 | Stories, Vol. 2, Issue 14

There were four of us girls, three redheads of various hues and me, the oldest. I had decided years ago the business of hair dying took up more time than I cared to devote to vanity and had let the gray take over. We were gathered in the foyer of the local Baptist...

Excerpt from “RIPPLES” by Evan Williams | Fiction

by TNSF | Apr 10, 2019 | Stories, Vol. 2, Issue 11

A million dancing sparkles of moonlit water caught Ben’s peripheral vision. The river refused to be ignored. An unrelenting pull of shared history had long ago lodged between his ears. The speedometer climbed to sixty-five miles per hour as he tried to outrun his...

Dotage | Fiction

by TNSF | Mar 27, 2019 | Stories, Vol. 2, Issue 10

I’ve been sleeping six years when my daughter brings home Lenny. His pants sag off his hips and he doesn’t look me even in my closed eyes. He edges around the walls when he’s standing, sits on the couch with an arm slung over Mari’s shoulders. Lately Mari’s gone from...

Near Life | Fiction

by TNSF | Jan 30, 2019 | Stories, Vol. 2, Issue 6

“There are no unnatural or supernatural phenomena, only very large gaps in our knowledge of what is natural. We should strive to fill those gaps of ignorance.” —Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 Astronaut On his death day, Henry missed his chance to slip the earth and...