Skip to content

50-Word Stories

Brand new bite-sized fiction every weekday!

  • About
  • News
  • Stories
    • Top Stories
    • Adventurous Stories
    • Amusing Stories
    • Artistic Stories
    • Odd Stories
    • Poetry
    • Puns and Wordplay
    • Touching Stories
  • Submissions
  • Hall of Fame
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • RSS

JOHN HOLMES: Punctuation Sale

December 23, 2024Amusing, Submissions, Top Storiesfunny, John Holmes, punctuation, writingTim

I was disappointed, discouraged and sad to miss out on last weeks Black Friday Bonanza at the Oxford Comma shop. However, my brothers friends mother said theres a closing down sale at Berts Apostrophe Store. Apparently its going into administration, but Im not that bothered; I never go there anyway.


John has recently had stories published in People’s Friend, 101 words, Paragraph Planet, Westword and FFF. He’s the author of ‘Rough Rides’ and ‘Short and Sweet and Sour’. Previous winner of The Times short story competition.

  • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
View all 17 comments

STORY OF THE WEEK: December 22

December 22, 2024NewsTim

The story of the week for December 16 to 20 is…

My Mother Dreams of Christmas Past by Jennifer L. Freed

  • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
Leave a comment

RACHEL DU MONT-GREENLEE: Time Crunch

December 20, 2024Adventure, Artistic, Submissionscollective memory, human condition, Rachel Du Mont-Greenlee, science fictionTim

History: so much of it. All day in the ship’s library, she archives dates, names, places. Overwhelming at times, yes, storing the collective past in data files on the small, boxy tablet she holds. But someone, she says, will need it some day: the world’s story rests in her hands.


Rachel is a tricenarian Cultural Studies PhD candidate who researches historical preservation.

  • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
Leave a comment

THOMAS MALLOCH: An Epiphany

December 20, 2024Submissions, TouchingChristmas, grief, loss, remembrance, Thomas MallochTim

On the evening of the twelfth day of Christmas, I lit a candle at our bedroom window, curtains open so that, framed by the darkness and the ice-rimed glass, the flame would seem to burn the brighter. A fitting first remembrance, my love.

Sometimes, even grief can be a gift.


Thomas Malloch is retired. Always a reader. Fancied writing. Sometimes gets published.

  • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
View all 6 comments

JENNIFER L FREED: My Mother Dreams of Christmas Past

December 19, 2024Artistic, Submissions, Top Storiesaging, change, Jennifer L. Freed, lossTim

I hold my tongue as I listen to my mother spin
more festive plans. No point reminding her
that she hasn’t decorated the house for years,
that no one expects a woman with a walker
to prepare a party for twenty,
that this is her last winter in her home.


Jennifer L Freed is author of When Light Shifts, a memoir-in-poems about the aftermath of her mother’s cerebral hemorrhage. Please visit jfreed.weebly.com to learn more.

  • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
View all 7 comments

CHARLES C GAINES: Drapes of Dusk

December 19, 2024Artistic, Poetry, Submissionsbeauty, Charles C. Gaines, darkness, light, nature, poemTim

The drapes of dusk
descend across the forest.
Four thin daggers of sunset
pierce the dark fabric,
shining through tightly woven wood.
Bright needles, burning orange
and red, glowing hotly.
The last shouts of daylight
in the slumbering wildwood,
quietly succumbing beneath
the gloaming’s weight.


Charles C Gaines is a recently retired former gunfighter, school teacher and coach, general dentist living in Fort Worth, Texas. At 73 years of age, he has begun to take seriously a life-long love of poetry, writing on a wide variety of subjects that capture his attention.

  • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
View all 6 comments

JENNY MATTERN: Signs of Angels

December 18, 2024Artistic, Submissionsdeaf, holy, Jenny Mattern, supernaturalTim

I freeze, listening to the curious tinkling.

Hugo taps my shoulder and signs, What is it?

A… noise? I reply with my hands.

Eyebrows raised, he gestures to his ears—as useless as mine—and awaits the punchline.

I’m too busy watching the angels descend, one by one, to respond.


Jenny Mattern is a poet, a crafter of stories, and a cake-for-breakfast enthusiast who lives with her family in Montana. She is represented by Nicole Eisenbraun at Ginger Clark Literary Agency.

  • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
View all 3 comments

VICTOR KREUITER: Harold

December 18, 2024Artistic, Submissionshuman condition, legacy, Victor KreuiterTim

He was generous, that’s what everyone said. He just passed away.

He was a Weber, lived three doors down from us. There’s never been a shortage of Webers around here.

Halloween, he’d pass out quarters. Quarters would get you into a movie back then.

Harold. That was his first name.


Victor Kreuiter lives, reads, and writes in the Midwest. His stories have appeared in Bewildering Stories, Halfway Down The Stairs, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Literally Stories, Tough, Del Sol SFF Review, The Windhover, Crimeucopia’s 2024 “Let Me Tell You About” anthology, and other online and print publications. His story, “Miller and Bell,” originally published in the August, 2022, issue of Mystery, was selected to appear in The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of 2023.

  • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
One comment so far

KAREN LOZINSKI: Making an Honest Man Out of Him

December 17, 2024Artistic, Submissionscommitment, human condition, Karen Lozinski, life, togetherTim

A comet graced the violet sky of their fourth year. They swigged bottle cap equivalents of cheap wine in the produce section, then laughed their way around the sundry aisles. In the parking lot, she proposed. He wondered why she didn’t grab a knee and if he’d get a ring.


Karen Lozinski hails from NYC and lives in New Orleans. She’s a multidisciplinary artist who earned her MFA at the California Institute of the Arts. At work on a novel and poetry collection, her writing appears in Talon Review, Scapegoat Review, Red Ogre Review, The Dead Mule, Chapter House Journal, ellipsis… literature and art, The Citron Review, 300 Days of Sun, Mantis, and here and is forthcoming in Defunkt.

  • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
One comment so far

IZZY FERGUSON: Those Baby Shoes

December 17, 2024Artistic, Submissions, TouchingErnest Hemingway, for sale baby shoes never worn, human condition, Izzy Ferguson, loss, timeTim

I bought those Hemingway baby shoes, the ones he said had never been worn. I examined them when they arrived, and it wasn’t true: a baby had clearly spit up on the laces. Why would Hemingway lie? Everything is worn, if only by the air around it, and by time.


Izzy Ferguson has written for several journals (Pank, Books in Canada, Cottage Life, Section A et al), was an associate editor at The Idler, even won a Silver Medal from the International Magazine Association. One of his essays appears in a college ‘How-to-Write’ textbook between Jonathan Swift and John Updike, a couple of guys who might vouch for him. Canada’s national literary competition (the CBC Literary Prize) shortlisted him for the Poetry Prize, longlisted him for the Fiction Prize, tacked on three longlistings for the Creative Non-Fiction Prize. And he directed a Toronto improv troupe for several years (until “The Kids in the Hall” emerged from it), more recently devolved into a Fringe Festival and cabaret storyteller.

  • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
View all 2 comments

Posts navigation

← Older posts
Newer posts →

News

2025 Story of the Year
The winner is… Paul D’Arcy!

Story of the Week/Month/Year
Think you’ve written something worthy of the Top Stories page? Send it in and you could win a monthly cash prize!

Subscribe via Email

Popular Stories (Past Month)

  • NJ CHAN: Good Daughter ( 30 )
  • JINJIA GRACE HU: A Prescription ( 29 )
  • MARC YOUNG: Life of the Party ( 28 )
  • ALYSON FLOYD: Catching Angels ( 16 )
  • PAUL D'ARCY: Collect ( 15 )
  • BOB THURBER: Exodus ( 14 )
  • COLLETTE NIGHT: Daisy ( 14 )
  • ADELE GALLOGLY: You Break It ( 12 )
  • CHRIS DOLAN: Everyday Sun ( 12 )
  • JS O'KEEFE: Murmuration ( 11 )
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Proudly powered by WordPress