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Open Arts Forum archive

Fiction

Short stories and imaginative prose selected for publication in Open Arts Forum. Discover fiction by emerging and established contributors, then follow the linked author pages to read more of their work. Explore our quarterly and annual collections, or read the fiction submission guidelines.

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My Lies SmallFiction

My Lies Small

Sherry CassellsMarch 25, 2023

I’ve been so long writing what has turned into a novella, hate that fucking word, and like, fuck me dead, I just want to…

Freedom is a game of lossFiction

Freedom is a game of loss

Nathalie SpaansJanuary 12, 2023

Hey, Because I dropped my phone in the water and learned that sleeping masks are not tripods, I'm writing this in my notebook, sitting…

Today when the day endsFiction

Today when the day ends

Robert (Stastny)October 24, 2022

Oh, the silliness continues, the messages keep coming, and the receiver keeps reading them, and reading stories written long ago A shop in a…

10 North FultonFiction, Poetry

10 North Fulton

Rick PernodOctober 10, 2022

Praise Sammy Tepper with the fiery red hair—scapegoat for bullies who taunt and tease to hear him squeal. Praise Etsio Goloni, Gas-station Joe, for…

Traveling WestFiction, Poetry

Traveling West

John GurneyFebruary 19, 2022

I woke up this morning in Texas, and all I can think of is driving further, on to the coast of California, to golden…

Go FishFiction

Go Fish

Sherry CassellsFebruary 15, 2022

My father told me if I wanted to catch fish I had to think like a fish except he said it with an r like frish…

A Difficult CharacterFiction

A Difficult Character

Sherry CassellsJanuary 13, 2022

We used to cut through, hop fences, slide sideways through hedges, making the distance between our houses a two minute steeplechase. Ours was a…

ParcheesiFiction

Parcheesi

james stephenJanuary 10, 2022

When the Doc gave me the results from the biopsy and the "options" available I told him I needed a couple of days to…

Road TripFiction

Road Trip

Dorthy LaVern McCarthyJanuary 1, 2022

The woman who walked out of the woods had been in hiding for four hours. Her name was Lexie. She was hitchhiking home to…

I Was in Love HereFiction

I Was in Love Here

Sherry CassellsDecember 7, 2021

I woke up this morning with a knot of words and got up right away hoping to unfurl them into a sort of typed-out…

MarvinsFiction

Marvins

Sherry CassellsNovember 28, 2021

I took an online writing course which I tried to cancel but it was too late. Our first assignment was to tell one truth…

The reviews are in for my poetry …Fiction, Quotations

The reviews are in for my poetry …

Eliot JacobsonOctober 24, 2021

I am humbled by the reviews— Just when you think Jacobson is going to make a point or reach a conclusion, he finds yet…