Tag Archives: Bob Thurber

BOB THURBER: Pickled Eggs, Bad Whisky, and Grave Humor

Amusing, Submissions, , ,

A bartender walks into a joke.

“What’ll you have,” says the angel of death.

The bartender recognizes the line from a lifetime of jokes.

He slides a silver punchline into the chamber.

The blast reverberates, echoing hoots and dismissive laughter, but he’s on the wrong side of things this time.

Bob Thurber is the author of “Paperboy: A Dysfunctional Novel” and four collections of short fiction. Regarded as a master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in Esquire and other magazines, been anthologized 60 times, received a long list of of awards, and been utilized in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.

BOB THURBER: POWWW (Prisoner of World Water War)

Adventure, Submissions, ,

You’re free to go. Although we have video of you siphoning from government tanks, a benefactor pleaded for your release. A rain-master. He spoke highly of your value, said he’d known you before the conflict, before the oceans seeped salt into every freshwater source, contaminating every lake, stream, and reservoir.

Bob Thurber is the author of “Paperboy: A Dysfunctional Novel” and four collections of short fiction. Regarded as a master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in Esquire and other magazines, been anthologized 60 times, received a long list of of awards, and been utilized in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.

BOB THURBER: Rooming House Custodian

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

I rolled him onto his back.

His eyes were wide open.

Blood trickled from his mouth.

I touched his throat, feeling for a pulse.

It was a dumb thing to do.

Cold as he was, there remained a warmth in his eyes,
as though some reflection had gotten trapped there.

Bob Thurber is the author of “Paperboy: A Dysfunctional Novel” and four collections of short fiction. Regarded as a master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in Esquire and other magazines, been anthologized 60 times, received a long list of of awards, and been utilized in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.

BOB THURBER: Why I can’t go home again

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, ,

I was born in a place called Hopelessville, which is a particular state of mind, not an actual geographical location. It’s sort of a spiritual town, or, to be emotionally precise, a dispirited wasteland where deeply disheartened and severely disturbed residents exhaust their loveless lives.

I abandoned it long ago.

Bob Thurber is the author of “Paperboy: A Dysfunctional Novel” and four collections of short fiction. Regarded as a master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in Esquire and other magazines, been anthologized 60 times, received a long list of of awards, and been utilized in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.

BOB THURBER: Final Lesson

Artistic, Submissions, ,

I asked how I would know and he said by listening, which is not the same as standing still and shielding oneself in silence while practicing acts of self-discipline, but actively living and listening for a voice that sounds like no one else saying something you’ve never heard said before.

Bob Thurber is the author of “Paperboy: A Dysfunctional Novel” and four collections of short fiction. Regarded as a master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in Esquire and other magazines, been anthologized 60 times, received a long list of of awards, and been utilized in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.

BOB THURBER: Company Picnic

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

Their spouses’ corporations had merged.

Wow, she said, blinking.

How embarrassing is this, he said.

I’m having flashbacks, she whispered.

He smiled shyly.

Remember falling, she said, into one another’s embrace? Remember holding on for dear life?

Youthful mistakes, he sighed.

Perhaps it’s time we made them again, she said.

Bob Thurber is the author of “Paperboy: A Dysfunctional Novel” and two collections of stories. A celebrated master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in 60 anthologies, received dozens of awards, and been used in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts where, though legally blind, he continues to write every day. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.

BOB THURBER: The Alienators

Submissions, Touching, , , , ,

The eyewitnesses were children. Two. An eight-year-old boy and his ten-year-old sister.

They heard and saw more than they could comprehend.

Why was daddy so angry? Why did they have to call this new woman “mommy?”

They missed their grandmother. Why did “mommy” get to decide who they could love?

Bob Thurber is the author of “Paperboy: A Dysfunctional Novel” and two collections of stories. A celebrated master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in 60 anthologies, received dozens of awards, and been used in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts where, though legally blind, he continues to write every day. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.

BOB THURBER: Shelter from the Storm

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

In my teens, when it wasn’t safe to go home after school, I’d hide out in the library.

To fool the librarians into thinking I belonged there, I flipped through books and magazines.

In this way I slipped into an intimacy with words from which I have yet to recover.

Bob Thurber is the author of “Paperboy: A Dysfunctional Novel” and two collections of stories. A celebrated master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in 60 anthologies, received dozens of awards, and been used in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts where, though legally blind, he continues to write every day. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.

BOB THURBER: Early Morning Hike (Another Misadventure of the Broken Boys)

Artistic, Submissions, , , , , ,

On the slope to the river a deer leapt across their path. Barely ten feet in front. Everyone froze. A big buck. Graceful, nimble, terrifyingly quick.

Some of the boys lost their breath. They had all seen. Yet nearly half didn’t believe.

Very often the forest dreamed its own dreams.

Bob Thurber is the author of “Paperboy: A Dysfunctional Novel” and two collections of stories. A celebrated master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in 60 anthologies, received dozens of awards, and been used in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts where, though legally blind, he continues to write every day. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.

BOB THURBER: Hospital Visit

Submissions, Touching, , , ,

One time we sneaked in a dozen birthday cupcakes.

The nurses smiled. Grandpa ate the paper part. I watched him reach for another.

I said, You can’t eat the skins.

He gagged and choked. He was just being a goof. That was grandpa.

He’d eat paper to get a laugh.

Bob Thurber is the author of “Paperboy: A Dysfunctional Novel” and two collections of stories. A celebrated master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in 60 anthologies, received dozens of awards, and been used in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts where, though legally blind, he continues to write every day. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.