Microfiction
How to fill a hot water bottle. (Or, How to get through the night.)
1. Go to the cupboard where you keep all the towels and sheets. It's at the top of the stairs. Take a deep breath and roll your shoulders back. For this will take some effort. Reach up and dig into the mountain of materials. Past the scratchy towels, the creased sheets, the mismatched pillowcases, the marooned sock. Keep feeling until you find something somewhat soft. There might be a bit of matting from lack of use. With a slight hardness underneath. Grab onto it. Firmly. Begin to start pulling it out of its hole. Like a game of Jenga, don't let the mountain get on top of you. It helps to use one hand for steadying the mountain and the other hand for gripping on to the hot water bottle. Carefully slide it out. Take your time.
By Sarah O'Grady3 months ago in Fiction
Tall Timmy & the Top Hat
Timmy wasn’t just short—he was the shortest seventh grader in his class. In his school. In his town, even. He had to stand on his tippy toes to reach the faucet in the restroom. He had to suck in his breath and reach for his lunch tray until his back cracked. He had to find small windows of space in the horde of classmates during dismissal, just to spot his mom’s car. She frequently circled the pick-up line, as if she were a fixture on the worst carousel ever.
By SUEDE the poet3 months ago in Fiction
The Devil's Cut . Top Story - January 2026.
“Comrade, finally you’re awake.” The voice was smooth, sensual. A flickering incandescent bar was all that lit the white, sterile room. All Vladimir remembered was everything going black. He tried to move his arms and found them strapped to the gurney.
By Matthew J. Fromm3 months ago in Fiction
A Journey of Pickles
Stuart looked at his hamburger. “Perfect, except for one detail.” He walked to the pantry, looked at the shelves for a few long moments. He sighed. “We’re out of pickles.” He sighed again. Deeper. “I hate the basement.” He looked at the door leading down to the deep, dark basement. “Fine.”
By Jamais Jochim3 months ago in Fiction
Identity and the Exhaustion of Grand Ideas
Over the past few decades, intellectual life has been shaped by a growing distrust of ambitious theories that once claimed to explain history and society as a whole. The fading influence of the radical projects associated with the 1968 generation produced a more careful and restrained scholarly atmosphere. Many historians and social theorists became skeptical of large narratives and universal categories, preferring limited scope and methodological caution. In Germany, this shift took a distinctive form through the rise of microhistory, an approach that emphasizes close attention to sources, local contexts, and everyday life. Microhistorians sought to revive the craft of traditional historiography while distancing themselves from older positivist assumptions. Their work often challenges broad concepts such as capitalism, industrialization, and the state, treating them as abstractions that obscure rather than clarify lived experience.
By Gopal Balakrishnan3 months ago in Fiction
