Excerpt

The Burden of Almost-Ripe
The sky above the valley had that specific, bruised look of a plum, dark and swollen, holding back its juice. It was the hour of the lean light, when shadows stretched out long and thin across the furrows, distorting the shape of the world.
By Diane Foster4 days ago in Fiction
City of plague:A new Yorker’s pandemic chronicle
The dozen surgical masks I had stored at home—leftover from some forgotten time—were gone by mid-January. Even though I had rationed them carefully, reusing each one on alternate days, they vanished faster than I expected. Without a mask, my risk of infection rose sharply. And infection, I knew, was no small matter. The virus was not a rumor or an exaggeration—it was a presence that had already begun to reshape the city. At that moment, my most urgent task was simple and absolute: I needed to buy disposable surgical masks.
By Peter5 days ago in Fiction
City of plague:A new Yorker’s pandemic chronicle
When the Year of Gengzi began, the COVID-19 pandemic erupted in Wuhan, China, like a flood unleashed from nowhere. It surged forward like a ferocious beast, unstoppable, with no miracle cure to restrain it. Soon, it spiraled out of control, shocking not only China but the entire world. The dead appeared one after another—ordinary citizens, doctors, officials, even public figures.
By Peter5 days ago in Fiction
In Chinatown, I Saw the Truth About Survival. AI-Generated.
When I first started working in Chinatown, Manhattan, I thought it was only a temporary stop. Just a job. Just a way to pay rent while I searched for something better in New York City.
By Jenny 6 days ago in Fiction
Because of My Accent, I Finally Saw How Cruel Reality Could Be. AI-Generated.
When I first arrived in New York City, I believed something that now feels embarrassingly naïve. I believed that effort could overcome everything.
By Jenny 6 days ago in Fiction
I Finally Understood What “Work Experience” Really Means. AI-Generated.
When I first came to New York City, I believed in a very simple idea: If you worked hard, life would eventually reward you.
By Jenny 6 days ago in Fiction
I Came to New York with Hope, but Reality Almost Broke Me. AI-Generated.
The first thing I noticed when the plane landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport was the cold. It was early November. The sky outside the airport windows looked gray and endless, like a piece of iron.
By Jenny 6 days ago in Fiction
First Taste of Loneliness in New York. AI-Generated.
The subway screeched to a halt, and Mei sat in her usual corner seat, staring blankly at the empty cars around her. Usually, the morning commute in New York was a riot of bodies, smells, and conversations, a living rhythm that reminded her she was part of something bigger. Today, the train was silent except for the mechanical hum of the tracks.
By Peter6 days ago in Fiction
The Survival Battle of a New York Delivery Rider. AI-Generated.
Rain pelted the streets of Manhattan like sharp hail, bouncing off the asphalt with an almost musical intensity. The sky had turned a steely gray, the kind of color that seeps into your bones, chilling you before the wind even hits. Marco tightened the straps on his insulated delivery backpack and squinted through the sheets of water. He could barely see three feet ahead.
By Peter6 days ago in Fiction
The Invisible Battlefield of a Janitor. AI-Generated.
The elevator chimed and hissed, opening to a hallway thick with the smell of bleach and fear. Luis wiped his gloved hands on his faded uniform and looked down the corridor of the midtown apartment building. The fluorescent lights flickered above, casting shadows that seemed almost alive against the peeling wallpaper. The lobby below, usually buzzing with tenants and visitors, was silent. For the past few months, ever since the city had been gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic, silence had replaced life in the building.
By Peter6 days ago in Fiction
Chosen Ones
*From the writings of Brother Pavel, whilst serving his sentence of Solitude. Clergy eyes only. "When the sky turns wrong, and the ground quakes and splits, and Fate and Fortune feel their strength slip, seven there shall be who step forward. A Noble, with hair of gold. A Priest, with mission sacred. A Bard, with singing strings. An Archer, green eyes so keen. A Soldier, with painful past. A Thief, his family lost. And a Farmhand, born on a moonless night."
By Malcolm Roach7 days ago in Fiction
🚘 Buckle up, folks! 🚗 Do all country roads take you home 🚗💨
In the town of Pasadena anything goes. Yes, everything moves on the roads— very much following its own rules. On the surface everyone obeys the traffic law, but beneath the surface, chaos reigns.
By Madhu Goteti 7 days ago in Fiction