fresh flash
fiction &
modern fables
I could tell the journey from city to country, from content to ruin, from loneliness to love only in light.”
Short Story
GHOSTLIGHT“The child only had to fall into a hole or out a window or through a cupboard to a realm of magic. But, it had to be the right doorway.”
Short Story
THE FALSE KEYHOLE
“She was not shy by nature, really, just misanthropic and insecure in a way that necessitated a life in storytelling."
Flash Fiction
A ROOF OF ONE'S OWNFor your reading pleasure, three haunted tales.
This October, curl up with three literary ghost stories. In Ghostlight, a lonely theatre electrician finds fleeting romance with a charming spectre. In The False Keyhole, a young boy climbs inside a grandfather clock seeking a portal to a fantastical world and is unable to escape it. And, in A Roof of One's Own, a writer in an uneasy relationship seeks escape through an artists' residency at a hip hotel, where she only becomes more troubled.
Explore more good reads in our libraries of stories fantastic and domestic or listen along at The Story Coterie podcast.Stories Fantastic
Discover modern fables of beauties, beasties and unearthly wonders.
Read more...I don't cotton much to superstition. The world is so complex as it is, so full of marvels, I can't see adding any other conditions to what nature's already given. Most others here, though, seem to make things as complicated as possible. So many imaginary rules about what one must always and never...Read more...Perhaps it would open to the clean-combed green of the Queen’s croquet ground, rife with jolly flamingos and hedgehogs. Perhaps it would open to the Sugar Pyramids near the Kingdom of Dreams outside Oz. Or, perhaps instead the door would open from the never-tree, which grows and is then cut down...Read more...It was the ladder that did it. The day had been frustrating enough, now all she wanted was for the damned ladder to go back up. It had been complicated to get the baggage into the crawlspace – James took care of things like that before – and she was exhausted. She jerked the ladder again, it...More PostsStories Domestic
Discover fresh short fiction about everyday heartbreak and other crimes.
Read more...Once, she was compassionate, loving and kind. Once we found a speckled mouse in the bulk foods section of the Co-op. Tuesday scooped it in the palm of her hand and deposited it safely in the green median of the parking lot. By the time we’d finished shopping, it had only made it about two feet...Read more...The first week of July, I didn’t have $2.50. I remember approaching the Dumbarton toll plaza with the particular mix of indignation and embarrassment reserved for acute moments of being broke. But there was no toll taker at the window to hand me an envelope and a warning to pay by mail within 30...Read more...There was nothing natural about it. The chrome and enamel and melamine were too bright for the hour and too clean for the neighborhood. All-Nite Kennedy Launderette pink neon tubing looped in enthusiastic cursive. A black kid with jawbreaker-size plastic hair baubles peered in the washer windows...More Posts- The Story Coterie Podcast
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About Us
a columbary of lovely and amazing tales
What is StoryCote?
At StoryCote, half of our tales are fantastic. These fables span the adventures of selkies, saints, lycanthropes and even superheroes. The other fables are domestic, spanning the adventures of mere humans, but still from a fabulist’s perspective. All are told in the lyric, lovely and aching way only we know how to tell them.
Discover restless characters, from fairies to farm wives to socialites, all searching for better lives. Unlock the secret to each escape: in the back room of a near-future perfumery, by an imposter at a posh country club, on a cruise ship boarded by hungry pirates, and in many more heart-breaking tales. From the domestic to the fantastic, each tender fable is complete in 2,500 words or less.
StoryCote was founded by writer Candace Leigh Coulombe to share the incredible value of flash fiction and fables in an ever-hectic daily life. Join us for fresh fiction each week through the StoryCote website, podcast and social media. Enjoy the satisfaction of a complete story experience during a quick coffee break. Sneak a secret story during your workday.
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All contents copyright © 2006 - 2024 Candace L. Coulombe. All rights reserved. For reprints and permissions, contact StoryCote.