Tag Archives: Bob Thurber

BOB THURBER: Eating Year-Old Frozen Wedding Cake

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , ,

“I’m not sure what I’m hungry for, but this definitely isn’t it.”

She meant me. Us. Our sacred union.

Playing house had become wearisome, mind-numbing work.

Our holy matrimony had leaked whatever holy it held.

We’d become seasick passengers, nibbling at remnants of a sacred ritual gone sour.

“Happy anniversary!”

Bob Thurber is the author of six books. 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 awards, and been utilized in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.

BOB THURBER: Stop looking at your phone, waiting for the dead to call

Artistic, Poetry, Submissions, Top Stories, , ,

This is not a bar. This is not a place
to linger. People come and go
rather quickly. Usually
they’re in a hurry. Occasionally,
one might require
a moment to recalibrate,
to adjust to sudden loss,
the vanishing of someone
very dear, very special.
Before resettling into
stabilized day-to-day sorrow.

Bob Thurber is the author of six books. 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 awards, and been utilized in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.

BOB THURBER: Camping At Horse Neck Beach Beneath A Horseshoe Moon

Artistic, Submissions, ,

That night, while our spouses slept, we bet double-or-nothing on which clouds would hit the crescent moon and which would slide beneath.

I picked right eight times in a row, transforming ten bucks into $1280.

Go again, she said.

I said, I think I need to see some collateral first.

Bob Thurber is the author of six books. 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 awards, and been utilized in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.

BOB THURBER: Beneath This Braided Mess Of Meaning

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , , ,

Unsurprisingly, you’re the main character, fully responsible for the plot, constantly calculating and determining the storyline. Without you there is no direction, no structure, no foundation. You’re the weaver twisting shadowy emotions into ribbon cables, looping lengths methodically around drip lines connected to open wounds. Face it. You’re the hero.

Bob Thurber is the author of six books. 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 awards, and been utilized in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.

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.