# short stories (news sources) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 3 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover short stories. Page: Feed: --- ## [Hyperemesis Gravidarum: Hidden No More?](https://www.inspirethemind.org/post/hyperemesis-gravidarum-hidden-no-more) _2026-08-26 · Hamilton Morrin · Inspire The Mind_ Most of us will know that nausea and vomiting are common in pregnancy, affecting up to 70% of pregnant women. Less well known is hyperemesis gravidarum, or HG, in which nausea and vomiting reach a severity such that women struggle to eat or drink, often losing weight or becoming dehydrated, sometimes to the extent that they require intravenous fluids. As a neuropsychiatric doctor and researcher at… ## [015: The Day My Mother Died](https://www.short-story.net/read/14996/015-the-day-my-mother-died/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-26 · Matt Triewly · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ On the morning, just after eleven o'clock, of Tuesday 22nd November 1988, I drove my bus, a Service 4, slowly into Ryde Bus Station – I was looking forward to a break, something to eat and a hot, sweet and milky cup of tea. As I rolled the last few yards, I noticed the tall, dark and rather imposing form of the duty inspector leaning on the information board of the bus stand. My first thoughts… ## [014: The Day Mrs Shit-shit Really Meant It](https://www.short-story.net/read/14995/014-the-day-mrs-shit-shit-really-meant-it/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-26 · Matt Triewly · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ Many years ago, when I was a bus driver, there was a regular passenger who, for reasons that will soon become obvious, was known amongst the drivers as Mrs Shit-Shit. Now, Mrs Shit-Shit was actually a perfectly respectable lady. She was tall, well dressed, retired, and pleasant enough. Unfortunately, she suffered from Tourette's Syndrome. What made matters worse was that she was desperately… ## [013: The Truth Disguised as a Joke: Cheating on My Fiancé](https://www.short-story.net/read/14994/013-the-truth-disguised-as-a-joke-cheating-on-my-fiance/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-26 · Matt Triewly · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ I don’t honestly think I’m a bad person. I’ve worked hard all my life. I obey the law. I pay my way. I’ve helped little old ladies across roads and done countless small acts of kindness that nobody ever notices. Yet there are three things that have repeatedly challenged my rather flattering image of myself: lust, ego and alcohol. Especially when I was younger. Perhaps this is a confession. Perhaps… ## [The Rage of Jonathan Baker](https://www.metastellar.com/fiction/the-rage-of-jonathan-baker/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-rage-of-jonathan-baker) _2026-08-26 · C.B. Butler · MetaStellar_ Reading Time: 14 minutes The Rage of Jonathan Baker was inspired by Stephen King's Carrie. ## [Time to Express Ourselves](https://www.inspirethemind.org/post/time-to-express-ourselves) _2026-08-25 · Gabriele Perrone · Inspire The Mind_ After my early studies in engineering, where I learnt how to build systems, make them work, or fix them, I returned to my books in my forties to study psychiatry, psychology, and neuroscience. I came to appreciate that, while some of these disciplines are also “technical” (an issue or illness is identified, categorised, and addressed through problem-solving), others are much closer to the human… ## [012: The Great Sugar Panic/prank of 1983](https://www.short-story.net/read/14993/012-the-great-sugar-panicprank-of-1983/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-25 · Matt Triewly · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ Many years ago, before I became a bus driver, I worked for a while in the Wines and Spirits department at Tesco. It was hard physical work, shifting heavy boxes of bottles around all day, but it was more than compensated for by the laughs. My supervisor, Albert, possessed a wonderfully wicked sense of humour. He looked remarkably like John Thomson from Cold Feet, although shorter and perhaps a… ## [011: 'Dempsey' - the Gentleman Behind the Bar](https://www.short-story.net/read/14992/011-dempsey-the-gentleman-behind-the-bar/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-25 · Matt Triewly · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ Back in the late seventies, my friends and I were regulars at a bar called the Ocean Breeze on Sandown seafront. Aptly named, it stood just across the road from the beach and the English Channel, where the salt air drifted in through the open doorway on warm summer evenings. In those days I worked a steady nine-to-five job with weekends free. Weekends meant drinking, socialising and, on very rare… ## [Human Nature.](https://www.short-story.net/read/14991/human-nature/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-24 · Kaxl · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ When realities are told, why should you refuse if it's the only reason you're alive? The hills rose like the arched backs of sleeping beasts under a sky the colour of bruised iron, where the late sun bled through rents in the cloud as though the heavens themselves had been stabbed and could not staunch the wound. Below, the valley held its breath in a green and golden hush: the river coiled slow… ## [So You Call Yourself a Writer. Now What?](https://www.metastellar.com/nonfiction/writing-advice-of-the-week/so-you-call-yourself-a-writer-now-what/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=so-you-call-yourself-a-writer-now-what) _2026-08-24 · E. S. Foster · MetaStellar_ Reading Time: 4 minutes Now that you've started writing, here are a few things you must do. ## [Transcript-Driven Stock Discovery (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/37uTv8WKMZ9W) _2026-08-24 · **Sponsored**_ Ranked, evidence-backed watchlists from indexed executive transcripts for 1–2 quarter horizons ## [Reborn in the Sunlight](https://www.short-story.net/read/14990/reborn-in-the-sunlight/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-24 · Priestess Rahe · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ Reborn in the sunlight. A song of praise and bible verses of praise. Because all Glory and honor belong to our creator YAH. Spring up o well yes sing about it which princes dig which great leaders hollowed out with their scepters and staffs. Num.21:17-18 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the lord. Giving thanks always for all… ## [The Wisdom of the Green Things. Herbalism and Healing](https://www.short-story.net/read/14989/the-wisdom-of-the-green-things-herbalism-and-healing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-24 · Priestess Rahe · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ Throughout generations people seek healing of the physcial body. But neglect the need of spirit healing. Herbs and knowledge of the use of herbs has been passed down for generations. Often taught by elders, in some cases it comes naturally with seeking wisdom and the studying of herbalism written by elders. The Wisdom of the Green Things Long before there were pharmacies, hospitals, or books… ## [The Gold in the Cracks](https://www.inspirethemind.org/post/the-gold-in-the-cracks) _2026-08-24 · Manuel Gomez · Inspire The Mind_ I learned to live two lives before I learned much else. My mother had schizophrenia. I was a child and did not know what the word meant. What I knew was that some months she did not get out of bed, and I fed myself. My dad drank his sorrows away. I remember him coming home drunk, and my brothers and I learning to disappear. In that house, invisibility was how you stayed safe. That was the first… ## [010: A Disastrous Dating Tale](https://www.short-story.net/read/14988/010-a-disastrous-dating-tale/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-24 · Matt Triewly · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ Decades ago, I met a girl at the Eastcliff Nightclub—long since demolished—and we seemed to hit it off rather well. Before we parted that evening, I suggested we meet up during the week. “I’ll be here on Thursday,” she said with a smile. “Catch you then.” “Okay,” I replied, trying not to sound too enthusiastic. “That’ll be great.” Naturally, I spent the rest of the week looking forward to Thursday… ## [009: The Night I Got Beaten Up Badly](https://www.short-story.net/read/14987/009-the-night-i-got-beaten-up-badly/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-24 · Matt Triewly · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ It was a couple of weeks before my twenty-first birthday. I was still seeing Claudia—the same Claudia I’d once hit with a table-tennis bat—but not for much longer. A week earlier I’d learned that I’d failed my first year of an HNC in Applied Physics. I could have passed easily enough had I bothered to work, but by then I’d lost motivation and was beginning to question everything, including the… ## [Fragments](https://www.metastellar.com/fiction/fragments/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fragments) _2026-08-24 · Paul Cesarini · MetaStellar_ Reading Time: 4 minutes The Pen is the Sword ## [When I Grow Up.](https://www.short-story.net/read/14981/when-i-grow-up/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-23 · billybobjoe stray kid · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ growing up sounds so fun and cool as a child, at least until you're not a child anymore. :P When I grow up, I want to help you whenever I can. When I grow up, I want to have an amazing future ahead of me. When I grow up, I want to be successful. When I grow up, I want to have opinions that are respected. When I grow up, I want to read all day. When I grow up, I want to be with all my friends… ## [Taking Up Grandmothers Mantle, Forging a New Path by Remembering the Past.](https://www.short-story.net/read/14980/taking-up-grandmothers-mantle-forging-a-new-path-by-remembering-the-past/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-23 · Priestess Rahe · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ Grandmothers near and far were warriors in the home and outside the home. How did they survive the wars, the famines, the distance. To be born to the true warriors and heroes. As I sat with grandmother and listened to her life and the things she lived through. I asked grandma how did you do it? How did you take the beatings? How did you take having kids alone, and take the abuse at the same time?… ## [The Seeker](https://www.short-story.net/read/14979/the-seeker/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-23 · Priestess Rahe · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ The seeker, seeks wisdom and knowledge. From within and without. Seeking wisdom and knowledge: As I sit here in the midnight air I smell the silence of the day The air purifies as the cool wind blows The stars shine bright above As I look at the moon I cant help but to be thankful for another long day I gave it to God to take away the pain and sorrow Now I sit and enjoy the breeze Drinking my… ## [We might soon have the technology to reach other star systems](https://www.metastellar.com/nonfiction/news/we-might-soon-have-the-technology-to-reach-other-star-systems/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=we-might-soon-have-the-technology-to-reach-other-star-systems) _2026-08-22 · Colin McInnes · MetaStellar_ Reading Time: 4 minutes Miniaturisation of sensors and light sails for propulsion mean we could reach the stars within a person’s lifetime. ## [Daily plans, scheduled by AI (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/vE9NSIFin2RQ) _2026-08-22 · **Sponsored**_ AI-made daily plans that schedule tasks and protect focus time. ## [Revisiting the Classics: The Stars My Destination](https://www.metastellar.com/nonfiction/reviews/the-stars-my-destination-alfred-bester/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-stars-my-destination-alfred-bester) _2026-08-22 · E. S. Foster · MetaStellar_ Reading Time: 3 minutes In the spirit of reading more classic science fiction and learning more about well-known authors during that time, I chose this novel to learn more about Bester’s writing style. ## [Remember the Name](https://www.short-story.net/read/14977/remember-the-name/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-22 · brazos · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ took out (the original) act 1 think it flows better now Remember the Name Act 1 In his cavernous bedroom, the only light coming from the small cracks in his door, casting the room in a tilted sort of gloom. He could hear his Father raging, bellowing, into, even at, the night. "Damn it, Woman!" he roared, letting his Southern accent loose. "His name," taking a long time on that last word, letting… ## [Envy.](https://www.short-story.net/read/14975/envy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-21 · Kaxl · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ Envy. For the blood I seek through destiny, I have wished for what was never meant to be mine. I have stared through the golden windows of another life, watching beauty breathe where I was given decay, watching fortune rest upon shoulders that never begged for it. How easily the world crowns some men, while others are taught to kneel. Envy drips slowly through my breaking thoughts. How beautiful… ## [What Four Years of Research Taught Me About Treating Depression In Pregnancy](https://www.inspirethemind.org/post/what-four-years-of-research-taught-me-about-treating-depression-in-pregnancy) _2026-08-21 · Riddhi Laijawala · Inspire The Mind_ In November 2022, I took my first step into science as a full-time researcher. I had no idea then that the very first project I worked on would take nearly four years to reach publication. In this article, I will talk about what truly works to treat depression in pregnancy, and why I do this research. Depression in pregnancy, which is known as antenatal depression (AD), affects nearly 30% of… ## [Pitiless as the Sun](https://www.metastellar.com/fiction/pitiless-as-the-sun/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pitiless-as-the-sun) _2026-08-21 · Jon Adcock · MetaStellar_ Reading Time: 24 minutes A special forces team is dropped into a war-torn city to secure a sample of a parasite that's wreaking havoc among the surviving population. ## [Author Perspectives: Thomas Approbato on Scientific Advancement and Dreaming of the Stars](https://www.metastellar.com/nonfiction/on-writing/author-perspectives-thomas-approbato-on-scientific-advancement-and-dreaming-of-the-stars/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=author-perspectives-thomas-approbato-on-scientific-advancement-and-dreaming-of-the-stars) _2026-08-20 · Grace Kielstra · MetaStellar_ Reading Time: 2 minutes Metastellar's Grace Kielstra interviews author Thomas Approbato on the philosophical nature of speculative fiction and the innate human condition of storytelling. ## [The Caged Bird](https://www.short-story.net/read/14973/the-caged-bird/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-20 · Marvellous · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ The Caged Bird Freedom can sometimes be an illusion. We are taught to work hard, build a better life, become successful, and reach a place where we no longer have to struggle. But the bitter truth is that success itself can become a cage. A person can work so hard to escape one prison, only to build another with the very things they once believed would set them free. Being strong is not a bad… ## [Spell Check Episode 56: Love Letters](https://www.metastellar.com/fiction/comic/spell-check-episode-56-love-letters/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=spell-check-episode-56-love-letters) _2026-08-20 · Nat Couture · MetaStellar_ Reading Time: \< 1 minute Greg is writing down the bones. ## [005: Minor Revenge at Work](https://www.short-story.net/read/14972/005-minor-revenge-at-work/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-20 · Matt Triewly · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ Part One: The IQ Test I’ll be honest: I struggled at school, despite passing the Eleven Plus. At grammar school I performed poorly from the outset. During my first two years the highest I ever managed in term work was second from bottom, while in examinations I peaked at twentieth out of twenty-seven pupils. It was hardly a record to inspire confidence. In 1970 the school became comprehensive and,… ## [004: The Eyebrow Lady](https://www.short-story.net/read/14970/004-the-eyebrow-lady/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-20 · Matt Triewly · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ Back in the seventies I worked on the mainland and commuted home each evening to the Isle of Wight. This was long before the catamarans arrived, when the crossing was still made by ferry. One evening, at about eight o'clock, I boarded the boat at Portsmouth and decided that what I really needed was a cup of tea. I headed down to the buffet at the bow of the ship, only to be met by a particularly… ## [Watch Chovy Code Live (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/2t0SimErlJcO) _2026-08-20 · **Sponsored**_ Join live coding streams with real-time collaborative screen sharing, open source and free. ## [003: The Punch](https://www.short-story.net/read/14968/003-the-punch/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-20 · Matt Triewly · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ I spotted him through the haze of cigarette smoke and flashing lights on the crowded dance floor of the Prince Consort. He was about six feet tall, a couple of inches taller than me, blond, athletic, and would probably have been considered handsome had it not been for the permanent sneer etched across his face. He was eighteen. I was nineteen. Everyone called him Barney. He came from the rough end… ## [The Vigilance of Birds](https://www.metastellar.com/fiction/flash-fiction/the-vigilance-of-birds/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-vigilance-of-birds) _2026-08-20 · Joshua Jones Lofflin · MetaStellar_ Reading Time: 4 minutes First, make coffee. The power may be out, the electric grinder useless, but you can crush the beans with your wife’s mortar and pestle. She would have liked that, your ability to stay focused, to problem-solve, to not fall to pieces. She’d be impressed you even know what a mortar and pestle are or where \[…\] ## [Home Sweet Gnome](https://www.short-story.net/read/14967/home-sweet-gnome/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-20 · Simon Zett · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ "Home Sweet Gnome" is a prequel short story to the novel "Witchcraft and Hustle Culture", the beginning of the Hazel LeFay Gig-Economy Witch series. It is the story of how Hazel first met Lech, the brownie. It's a story of the importance of home and human connection. She didn’t look like she had ever been to a construction site before. She barely looked capable of pushing a wheelbarrow on her own.… ## [Care-Experienced Young People Shaping Mental Health Research](https://www.inspirethemind.org/post/coproducing-research-on-care-experience-mental-health) _2026-08-20 · Havovi Khareghat · Inspire The Mind_ This piece was written by researchers at University College London (Havovi Khareghat and Eva Sprecher) and lived-experience advisors (Clo H, Valerie, Ace Garmodon & Alfie-James Waring) from the ReThink programme. ReThink is a UKRI-funded research project that explored what makes a difference to the mental health of care-experienced young people (who have grown up in ‘state care’ e.g., foster care… ## [Men’s Grooming and Mental Health: Why the Routine Matters](https://www.inspirethemind.org/post/men-s-grooming-and-mental-health-why-the-routine-matters) _2026-08-19 · Adam Hyland · Inspire The Mind_ I'm Adam, a 28-year-old lad from Nottingham, and I'm the founder of Kick The Stigma — a male grooming brand on a mission to support men's mental health. That sentence probably sounds a bit unusual: a hair product brand and mental health support in the same breath. But stick with me, because the two are more connected than you might think. My journey didn’t start with products. Growing up, I was… ## [Fifteen Years Later: Arthur Returns](https://www.metastellar.com/fiction/fifteen-years-later-arthur-returns/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fifteen-years-later-arthur-returns) _2026-08-19 · Youtao Cao · MetaStellar_ Reading Time: 4 minutes Fifteen years after Camelot’s fall, Bedivere waits alone by the lake. When an old darkness returns, Avalon sends not a sword, but a horn to wake the king. ## [The Second Fall](https://www.short-story.net/read/14965/the-second-fall/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-19 · Finn · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ Now in those days nations rose and nations fell. Then, behold, a tree sprang up in the strongest of the nations and the people saw that the fruit was good to eat. So they took and ate. And, indeed, there was no law against it. Then they gave it to their brothers and sisters, their husbands and wives, until every nation had tasted of the fruit. But some ate more than their share and so were wiped… ## [Ole Smokin Joe](https://www.short-story.net/read/14964/ole-smokin-joe/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-18 · Brooke Folk · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ A spiritual conotation is a thread in this short story. A fictional setting but a very non fictional spiritual theme, angelic if you like. A Divine Love Short Story arousing ones soul to seek truth on a continued life's journey after the physical experience here on this beautiful planet. Divine Love Short Story ‘Ole Smokin Joe’ Author Brooke Folk . August 2026 Ole Joe was old when he showed up one… ## [Doubting Thomas](https://www.short-story.net/read/14963/doubting-thomas/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-18 · Brooke Folk · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ A non fiction short story with a fiction character that inspires ones own journey in seeking spiritual truths. Doubting Thomas A Charlie Chaplin inspired short story by : Brooke Folk, author, SoulOlogist / SoulScientist “Just call me Tom. Don’t need to know a last name. Haven’t used one in years,” he sneered. But in those tired off shaded blue eyes, I sensed specks of hopeless humor when he tagged… ## [Wish.](https://www.short-story.net/read/14962/wish/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-18 · Kaxl · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ Wish. There was a man who had never considered himself particularly unfortunate, which was perhaps why, when he was given the opportunity to ask for one wish, he did not immediately know what to say. He had grown up in a small house where the walls were thin enough to hear his neighbors arguing and the roof leaked whenever the rain became serious, but he had also known the peculiar warmth of being… ## [Weathering the Storm of Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria](https://www.inspirethemind.org/post/weathering-the-storm-of-rejection-sensitive-dysphoria) _2026-08-18 · Emma Green · Inspire The Mind_ “Drama Queen” “Forever a victim”“She’s doing the ‘woe is me’ act again” “She’s having another hissy fit." These were just some of the things I grew up hearing about myself – and continue to. In hindsight, remarks like these were thinly veiled commentary that people saw me as too sensitive, too emotional, too moody - and too easily hurt by the things they did or said. ## [002: Love 'Em and Leave 'Em](https://www.short-story.net/read/14954/002-love-em-and-leave-em/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-17 · Matt Triewly · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ "If you promise to stay the night, Matt, then I'll let you sleep with me." "Yeah, okay then," I'd responded flatly. I wasn't that fussed either way. But since I was there, well... Her little plain face had lit up, like a punter pulling three cherries on a fruit machine, and she said, all excitedly: "I'll go and set up the camp bed then." "Why do you need to do that?" "There's only one bedroom and… ## [001: The Night I Streaked](https://www.short-story.net/read/14953/001-the-night-i-streaked/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-17 · Matt Triewly · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ For many, many years I had been repressed both sexually and socially. As a person I wouldn’t say boo to a goose except when I was angry or afraid, or both, and then I could border on violence; I remember in my last job a couple of individuals who thought they could take the piss or attempt to intimidate me backing off in fear when they’d wound me up to such a pitch that metaphorically I’d turned… ## [The Invisible Challenge of Cystic Fibrosis](https://www.inspirethemind.org/post/the-invisible-challenge-of-cystic-fibrosis) _2026-08-17 · Giovanna Zerial · Inspire The Mind_ Cystic fibrosis is a rare, autosomal recessive genetic disorder caused by mutations in the CFTR (Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator) gene, located on one of the 22 pairs of non-sex chromosomes. An affected child inherits two mutated copies of the gene, one from each parent, who possess only a single defective copy and are asymptomatic “healthy carriers”. ## [A Song for Nessa](https://www.metastellar.com/fiction/a-song-for-nessa/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-song-for-nessa) _2026-08-17 · Rina Song · MetaStellar_ Reading Time: 14 minutes A music making machine discovers what it's missing from its songs through the experiences of a reluctant piano student. ## [Time Anxiety and the Writer](https://www.metastellar.com/nonfiction/writing-advice-of-the-week/time-and-anxiety-and-the-writer/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=time-and-anxiety-and-the-writer) _2026-08-16 · E. S. Foster · MetaStellar_ Reading Time: 4 minutes If you’re worried about starting late or starting over, there are steps you can take to combat your anxiety. ## [Intelligent Man.](https://www.short-story.net/read/14961/intelligent-man/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-15 · Kaxl · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ There was, in a certain city, a man whom almost everyone considered extraordinarily intelligent, and it was difficult to argue with them because he had spent his youth winning prizes, his early manhood correcting professors, and the rest of his life explaining to ordinary people what they had failed to understand about their own lives. He possessed the irritating habit, common among clever men who… ## [Phoenix Ash, p.i.: The Case of the Lost Village of Twilight Hollow an Erotic Adventure - Episode 1](https://www.short-story.net/read/14960/phoenix-ash-pi-the-case-of-the-lost-village-of-twilight-hollow-an-erotic-adventure-episode-1/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-15 · Randy Gonzalez · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ 2 Phoenix Ash, P.I.: The Case of the Lost Village of Twilight Hollow An Erotic Adventure - Episode 1 - A Short Story by Randy Gonzalez A raging nightly storm poured a deluge on the nearly vacant old red brick office building. Built over a hundred years ago, a few offices remained as urbanization threatened historic landmarks. In the softly lit confines of Phoenix Ash's detective agency, the… ## [The Serpent Called Mercy Review: Urban Design, Class Disparity, and Colosseum Fighting](https://www.metastellar.com/nonfiction/reviews/the-serpent-called-mercy-roanne-lou-review/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-serpent-called-mercy-roanne-lou-review) _2026-08-15 · Adriana Acevedo · MetaStellar_ Reading Time: 3 minutes The novel sets its foundations on this idea of class disparity and narrowly avoids perpetuating an aspirational mindset. ## [The Ballad of Jebediah Orpheus](https://www.short-story.net/read/14959/the-ballad-of-jebediah-orpheus/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=latest) _2026-08-15 · c\_h\_benz · Short-Story.Net - Latest Submissions_ Jebediah Orpheus is a young panhandler in the lakes of Oregon escaping his past life. A dark cowboy gives him the chance to bring back his dead wife, but he will pay for it if he can even succeed. As the sun slipped behind the Cascadian mountains, Jebediah pulled out his harmonica. He had spent the better half of the day panning for gold in the Snake River only to find shiny pebbles and a handful…