Top Stories
New stories you’ll love, handpicked for you by our team and updated daily.
I Don't Need My Phone... Wait, Is That Actually True?
My parents gave me my first cell phone when I was twelve years old. It wasn't a fancy iPhone or anything, not even close. Just a simple black flip phone for when I needed to call or text them after school.
By Madison "Maddy" Newtonabout 12 hours ago in Humans
A Monk, The Om, A Metronome
David Harlann had spent 14 years as a field medic. The horrors of mangled bodies and shot-off limbs were commonplace to him. Just another Tuesday strewn with blood. Those who started with him had moved on. They wanted to use the experience as an impressive line on their CV, or to run a triage unit. David, though, didn’t know what he wanted. He just… stayed.
By Gabriel Shamesa day ago in Fiction
Part 2 Interview With Joe Patterson, Author Of Melanin Memoirs
This is my second interview with Joe Patterson. His 4th anniversary writing on Vocal will be in March 2026. He has one achievement on Vocal, The Other Foot. He has over 17,000 reads on Vocal since he started on Vocal in 2022. Joe Patterson is very creative poet and rapper. Joe is deep thinker and I feel it is reflected in his latest published book, Melanin Memoirs.
By Mariann Carrollabout 13 hours ago in Interview
If You Write A Book, Don’t Tell Anyone
There are days when I’m grateful Amazon doesn’t tell me specifically who has bought my book and who hasn’t. If they did, I would be heartbroken when I read the list and noticed all the important names in my life were not on my list of customers.
By Ellen Frances6 days ago in Writers
Nancy Guthrie: Is a miracle still possible after close to two weeks?
Close to two weeks since Nancy Guthrie's abduction As of February 12, 2026, Nancy Guthrie remains classified as missing for 12 days, but there is no official confirmation that she is deceased. Blood matching Guthrie’s DNA was found on her front porch, indicating she likely suffered an injury during the abduction.
By Cheryl E Prestona day ago in Geeks
Bartender
On the heels of grief, pain bears down hard. On the heels of death, pain awakens the quiet place between the end of our own life and now. Feeling anything is like seeing a film and in black and white, slow motion, all sound turned off. Just watching. Gritting teeth, awkward smiles and bloody red eyes move around, scanning the others who are feeling something I don't want to feel, but I do. Escapism is all I have ever known. ~
By ROCK aka Andrea Polla (Simmons)3 days ago in Poets
No Other Choice (2025)
It is only February, so other films may well surpass “No Other Choice”, but I think this is the best film I’ve seen so far this year. And that surprises me, because, it is a subtitled film and while I am pretentious enough to choose to watch foreign-language films, I was also very tired and that was an extra commitment from me. But more importantly, let me warn you, this film is gruesome and violent. There were times I had to turn away from the screen to avoid the worst of it (including some self-inflicted dentistry).
By Rachel Robbinsa day ago in Geeks
The Salt in her Voice
The myth says mermaids sing to lure sailors to their death. But why? The ocean is huge. Only 5 percent has been discovered by man. Why would a creature of the sea with that much space to roam ever care about the fate of men on ships? The answer, as it turns out, is not a simple one at all. The truth about the myth is older than the tides. Long ago before the first ship ever cut across the surface, the sea made a pact with the sky. The sky would take the souls of the drowned. Anyone who died in storms or any quiet accidents of the deep would have their soul lifted upward to the Heavens while the bodies would remain below, feeding the oceans endless hunger. The greedy sea however wanted more souls than the sky would claim. So it created mermaids. It gave them beautiful voices woven from currents and moonlight. It commanded them to sing. "Bring forth the ones who float where they should sink." it instructed them. So they did. They never killed out of malice but out of obligation. They sung to summon, not to seduce. A mermaid's voice could loosen the tether between the body and soul, making any man step willingly into the water. The sea would take the body and the sky would take the soul. Balance maintained.
By Sara Wilson2 days ago in Fiction
The Missing Ingredient
The first time I saw her, she was wearing a velvety, red ribbon in her hair. She carried a small leather backpack everywhere. She searched the forest by turning stones, checking beneath shrubs, listening to the wind as if it might carry an answer.
By Imola Tóth2 days ago in Fiction
