Top Stories
New stories you’ll love, handpicked for you by our team and updated daily.
Day 4 of Quitting
If this is how sobriety feels, maybe it’s better to go through life a little buzzed… this, along with other hits like, I want to kill myself, I wish I was dead, and I’m going to throw myself off a bridge have been the only thoughts on rotation these past few days. I promise myself that if, in a month, I still feel like this (‘this’ meaning despondent, full of rage, and simultaneously numb) I can go back to smoking. Until mid-February though? Nicotine is off the table.
By sleepy drafts2 months ago in Longevity
📢 Raise Your Voice Thread: 01/08/2026
Our “Raise Your Voice Threads” are hosted most alternating Thursdays at 12PM ET to offer creators more avenues to uncover exceptional stories on Vocal. As we are continuously searching for fresh creators and inspiring stories, this thread provides an opportunity to exchange and discuss the stories that have moved and motivated us on Vocal.
By Raise Your Voice by Vocal2 months ago in Resources
Violence Begets
"Any last words, cowboy?" "None you'd understand, sodbuster." "Funny. That's Marshall Sodbuster to you. But I meant some last nugget that would help us in the adjudication of the myriad offenses counted against you and your gang. I wasn't asking for penitence."
By Adam Diehl2 months ago in Fiction
Bruce Lee and The God of War: Kuan Ti
It starts with love.. The Power to the God Of War and Wealth Walk into a Chinese restaurant (even in Oklahoma, USA), a Chinese police station, a kung fu martial arts studio or even a Chinese temple and you often see a red faced warrior holding a heavy quan-do (spear like weapon).
By SAMURAI SAM AND WILD DRAGONS2 months ago in Chapters
FPS: The Last Flame Challenge Winners
Welcome to our first Winners Announcement of the year and to the final challenge in the Fall Poetry Series. The Last Flame invited writers to sit with endings, using fire as a central image to consider what remains when something burns out: ash, warmth, memory, silence, or the faint promise of what comes next. The strongest pieces treated endings as gradual rather than sudden, allowing them to flicker, dim, and linger.
By Vocal Curation Team2 months ago in Resources
Diaries to Nietzsche
Quotation from Friedrich Nietzsche "He who wrestles long with monsters should beware lest he himself become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you. Man is not destroyed by suffering, but by the meaning he makes of it."
By LUCCIAN LAYTH20 days ago in Critique
A Failed Artist, A Disillusioned Poet, An Underpaid Game Show Host
I took my son and niece to Gori, a small town in Georgia where Joseph Stalin was born. They talked me into visiting the Stalin's Museum, the largest in the post-Soviet space. I had resisted going there because I just can't stand the monster and know enough about him, or so I thought.
By Lana V Lynx2 months ago in FYI
Cleo's First Puppy Show
"How would you feel about doing the Corsicana show in November?" Kathleen asked me last September. Dog exhibitors speak in shorthand that way. It's easier to say "the Corsicana show" than it is to say the "North East Texas American Eskimo Dog Association Show." And yes, "North East." I guess "Northeast" shortened the name too much for some people's taste . . . But I digress. In response, I asked two of the three important questions that every exhibitor thinks, first thing.
By Kimberly J Egan2 months ago in Petlife
The Wannabe Supermodel Rulebook. Honorable Mention in Instructions Included Challenge. Content Warning.
Before we begin, I must be clear: your chances of succeeding in this cutthroat industry are slim to nihilistic nil. Nevertheless, as the head of Models Maximal, I am obligated to outline the 49 rules for overnight success.
By Edward Swafford2 months ago in Fiction
