Classical

Stories Before a Wedding, or The Frog Prince & The Princess's Challenge
A Marriage Challenge was announced: any person from this or any of the surrounding countries – single or widowed – between the ages of twenty and forty years who could sign their name freely and without aid and could read aloud a passage from the children’s school Book of Law would be allowed to take part in the challenges that would take place in three fortnight’s time. The Princess Risa would meet her challengers and test them in three sets of contests of her own creation and would marry the one who met her challenges to her best satisfaction.
By Dionearia Redabout a month ago in Fiction
Legend of the Whippoorwill
In one New England legend, it is said that the whip-poor-will bird, can sense a soul departing, and will capture it as it flees. The beautiful eastern whip-poor-will is the topic of numerous mythical allusions...
By Novel Allenabout a month ago in Fiction
The Distance Between Two Cups of Tea
The teahouse opened at nine every morning, but Song An arrived at eight-thirty, like she always did. She liked the quiet before the city decided who it needed her to be that day.
By Zidaneabout a month ago in Fiction
THE SEA RAIDERS
Until the strange events at Sidmouth, the deep-sea creature known as Haploteuthis ferox was barely understood by science. Only fragments—tentacles found near the Azores and a decaying body discovered off Land’s End—hinted at its existence. Like most deep-sea cephalopods, it lived beyond the reach of nets and observation, known only through rare accidents. Zoologists could not explain how or why such creatures ever reached shallow waters.
By Amelia Millerabout a month ago in Fiction
Romeo, Juliet, and the Rules of Verona. Runner-Up in Craft Over Catharsis Challenge. Top Story - February 2026.
The Capulets and the Montagues loathed one another. That was the way it was. That was the way it was always supposed to be. Every member of the Montagues had to despise every member of the Capulets and vice-versa. In this hatred, Verona prospered.
By Reileyabout a month ago in Fiction
Off Into The Fog
A small pile of discarded soil shifted beneath his feet, one of the many that lay scattered like anthills around the mound of red soil upon which nothing would ever grow.
By Matthew J. Frommabout a month ago in Fiction
Stories Before a Wedding: The Dance of the Sleeping Beauties
Aurora was cursed. The word flowed from her hand like a graceful river in a painting which, naturally, she also knew how to create. Cursed. She was cursed with Beauty, cursed with Grace, cursed with Talent, cursed with Sweetness, and – most importantly according to her parents – cursed to die. Or, rather, not die. Sleep, and then be awakened by True Love’s Kiss, so she was also cursed to loneliness it would seem until her curse took hold. And then, she would be awakened and the real curse would begin.
By Dionearia Redabout a month ago in Fiction
“What’s for dinner?”
5:47pm Tuesday. Three children in the living room, and the question… the eternal question echoes through the home: “What’s for dinner?”
By Sandor Szaboabout a month ago in Fiction
The Fifth Element -2 Potential. Honorable Mention in Craft Over Catharsis Challenge.
MEMO STAMP: For Sony Pictures internal circulation only DATE: February 5, 2026 TO: Maurizio Vitale, EVP, Worldwide Marketing & Brand Strategy
By Lana V Lynxabout a month ago in Fiction
Craftation in the Garden of Literary Delights
In the garden of earthly delights where beauty meets debauchery. That’s where we sit and discuss it all. Craft without catharsis. Our protagonist thought long and hard about the prospect. I imagine them — or us, if you envision yourself as one of them — waiting like those in that play of waiting and existentialism. We’re always waiting, and even when waiting doesn’t explicitly carry emotion, it’s there. How do you remove the release necessary to create something others will connect with?
By Paul Stewartabout a month ago in Fiction
Where the Ocean Keeps Secrets
The brochure showed smiling couples, crystal-blue water, and dolphins jumping beside the boat. Nothing about fear. Nothing about disappearances. Nothing about how silence feels when the ocean decides to keep someone.
By Salman Writesabout a month ago in Fiction
THE LIGHT OF DAY
Early in the morning, looking out my window, waiting for the sunrise, the world still holding it's breath. The sky shifts from deep blue to soft blush, and in that quiet in-between, my thoughts find you.
By Vera Mylesabout a month ago in Fiction