“The transaction happened fast. Too fast. Ellis bought the bike before he really knew he was buying it. Thousands of dollars gone like that. On a credit card no less.”

I’d never heard the phrase before—nostalgia tour—but I knew what he meant. I’d been on a few myself.

At least once a day I press the Thought like a bruise, and if I don’t it eventually starts to play anyway.

Longer short stories, published biweekly. Click to read Short Story, Long, by Aaron Burch, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.

“It’s not like I’m calling this a miracle because the real miracle is not being bit.”

I’d never heard the phrase before—nostalgia tour—but I knew what he meant. I’d been on a few myself.

I’d never heard the phrase before—nostalgia tour—but I knew what he meant. I’d been on a few myself.

Girls in White Dresses by Kristine Langley Mahler The summer that we’ll turn sixteen, my best friend Emily and I seem put-on-pause, drooped over her living room couches, dreaming of our future husb…

CRASH by Stephanie Austin I met Ben in a night class. Humor Writing 101. I needed a final elective, and I thought humor writing was about essays but instead it was about crafting late night jokes. …

I’d never heard the phrase before—nostalgia tour—but I knew what he meant. I’d been on a few myself.

It’s silly but I think it’s important we make up lore for our own lives. Our own mythologies, folk tales, origin stories, what have you. If you don’t romanticize your own life, who the hell will?…

“I haven’t always enjoyed this degree of honesty, but it beats secrecy.”

“Why would you do that, question mark exclamation point.” Kelly did that sometimes—she speech-to-texted so often that sometimes it slipped into her regular speech. Comma, period, lol, question mark...

Tyler Dempsey is the author of four books and the host of Another Fucking Writing Podcast. He lives in Utah with his wife and dogs.

"It's a story that's been told a thousand times. Daddy leaves early morning, goes out to the pier. Spends the day fishing with his buddies..."