J. Otis Haas
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Achievements (26)
Stories (126)
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Dirty Dick. Runner-Up in The Shape of the Thing Challenge.
My parents hated Dirty Dick, but they were bred of that sort of liberal pedigree that eschews correction. They believed that things like this must run their course and resolve naturally, that intervention risks harming a child. Decades after her own schooling, my mother blamed many of her anxieties on how teachers had wrested pencils from her left hand, insisting she write with her right. She didn’t want to damage me in the same way by forcing consensus reality into my developing mind. My father, likely due to his lack of imagination, seemed both afraid of and impressed by Dick, whose presence haunted our house for two years or so.
By J. Otis Haas6 months ago in Fiction
The Canyon. Runner-Up in Everything Looks Better From Far Away Challenge.
Jack looked out off the suite’s balcony, admiring the view. Inevitably, his memory compared the sight with a vista from his youth, the same place, just a different vantage point. The Grand Canyon stretched out before him, testament to the indefatigable constance of Mother Nature. As a child, he’d stood on the rim of the canyon with his father during the penultimate stop on their family road trip across America. Jack’s dad had explained to him that the magnificent gash in the earth’s crust, which exposed the strata of millions of years of geologic history, had been created merely by the movement of water. He told his son that it stood as a testament to what was possible, given enough time and energy.
By J. Otis Haas7 months ago in Fiction
The Lamp
“Are you a currier?” asked the man in the doorway as I delivered his curry. “I didn’t make it, I just deliver for DoorDart,” I said, misunderstanding, or pretending to. The large man’s pupils were huge and he was sniffling. He clutched what appeared to be a very old bottle of wine in a meaty paw. The name on his order read “Mario.”
By J. Otis Haas7 months ago in Fiction
The Girl Who Lived in the Woods
My parents didn’t understand my reluctance to call myself a doctor. “You got the degree, you should introduce yourself as Dr. Jones,” my mother said on my graduation day in May with my father nodding emphatically beside her. She’d repeat the sentiment twice more, during the bi-weekly video calls I’d reluctantly agreed to, as I knew how concerned they were about my safety (ha!). She’d dropped the subject once I reminded her that there was no one to even talk to where I was. Those calls came to an end on The Solstice, but so did a lot of things.
By J. Otis Haas8 months ago in Fiction
Talia and the Sea
Talia preferred documentaries to fiction. Once she’d been alerted to the idea that there are only two types of stories, “a person goes on a journey” and “a stranger comes to town,” she couldn’t help but distill every narrative she encountered down to its most fundamental interpretation. The caveat was that while imagined tales tended to have neatly wrapped up conclusions, true stories rarely offered such satisfaction. Arriving back in East Haven after three decades away, having had no contact with anyone from the town she had fled, she wondered what form her story would take. She knew the locals were angry with her, and had been since the day she’d fled down the coast in a stolen skiff with her diaphanous white gown billowing out behind her.
By J. Otis Haas8 months ago in Fiction
Lila and The Talisman of Ultimate Authority . Top Story - July 2025.
When I was little, I thought that the past was in black and white. The world depicted in old movies seemed no less lively than the one I lived in, but was devoid of the vibrancy which I took for granted. Whenever the TV was tuned to some classic film or historical news footage, I’d wonder what it was like for people living in that drab place, and pity the incompleteness of their existence.
By J. Otis Haas9 months ago in Fiction
