Tag: short story

At a party with an end-of-the-world theme, a guest find something disturbing in the bedroom where the coats are piled. This had a little bit of the same feel as “The Invitation,”…

Four long-time residents of an apartment building receive bundles of hell joss paper labeled “Money of the Dead”; two cash them in for dead people who were important in their lives, one…

After a gruesome murder, a small town isolates itself from the outside world, only to find that it has not in fact protected itself. Another from “When Things Get Dark,” this has…

Two young men are haunted by a deformed bull calf, and by their families’ trauma from World War II. There’s a sadness to this story, and also a strangeness; it’s not entirely…

The narrator recounts tales about Pete and cars, and Pete and dogs, each more preposterous or sad or illuminating than the last, before finally reflecting on the importance of recounting preposterous, sad,…

Three girls are attempting divination with a deck of playing cards; their mother appears with a different method of seeing the future. Another story from “When Things Get Dark,” this is a…

A woman, orphaned and divorced, goes to her father’s lake home, which has been empty for a long time; she spends a terrifying night hiding in a wardrobe. Another story from “When…

On the eve of a “Humanity First” candidate’s election, a botched ICE raid on a mixed family of humans and aliens leads to a strange inter-species exchange. Though a bit heavy-handed, this…

When his car breaks down, a guy splurges on the AAA Plus membership and takes full advantage of the unlimited towing privileges. This is a cute, funny little anecdote – not much…

Osama Bin Laden’s barber reflects on Bin Laden’s bald spot (shaped like Iceland, complete with the Vestfjarda Peninsula), crew cuts, Gregory Peck, Cary Grant, Van Johnson, and justice. This is a funny,…