fresh flash
fiction &
modern fables
“Familes - normal families - were having birthday parties, cooking stew, playing bridge and mending mittens.””
Flash Fiction
MY BETTER NATURE
“It is a quickly won intimacy. Lovers of beauty from around the world come here, and I have the very best view.”
Flash Fiction
MODO VIVO“On my route, I see the things that you don't love anymore and the things that you're trying to hide.”
Flash Fiction
WINTER COLLECTIONFor your reading pleasure, three cold crimes.
This winter, curl up with suspenseful short stories set in snowy locations. In My Better Nature, a lycanthrope struggles to reconcile his two selves. In Modo Vivo, a charming con man tries his luck in the winter resort of Cortina. And, in Winter Collection, a garbage collector shares intimate insights about homes on his route, including one with a bad marriage.
Explore more good reads in our libraries of stories fantastic and domestic or listen along at The Story Coterie podcast.Stories Fantastic
Discover modern fables of beauties, beasties and unearthly wonders.
Read more...It was February and the melt was months away. There was a certain quiet, a lonely beauty of which my telling cannot do justice. Imagine the word tree or swing the only thing on the page. Surrounded by white, the few things left showing become objects of art. Snow ribbed the overturned vessels...Read more...I don't cotton much to superstition. The world is so complex as it is, so full of marvels, I can't see adding any other conditions to what nature's already given. Most others here, though, seem to make things as complicated as possible. So many imaginary rules about what one must always and never...Read more...Perhaps it would open to the clean-combed green of the Queen’s croquet ground, rife with jolly flamingos and hedgehogs. Perhaps it would open to the Sugar Pyramids near the Kingdom of Dreams outside Oz. Or, perhaps instead the door would open from the never-tree, which grows and is then cut down...More PostsStories Domestic
Discover fresh short fiction about everyday heartbreak and other crimes.
Read more...I live economically. It’s why I often choose to holiday in Cortina d’Ampezzo. There, it’s enough for me to be seen entering Hotel Cristallo from the heli-pad. I don’t need a helicopter of my own — just the reputation that I do. The one extravagance I allow myself is my man Golding: bodyguard,...Read more...I know you better than the milkman does. Sure, he can tell by your bottle count whether you’ve had a baby or lost one, whether you’re trying to lose weight or pamper a pet. He may see you in your skivvies as you reach through the door. He may know if you’re broke. But on my route, I see the...Read more...Once, she was compassionate, loving and kind. Once we found a speckled mouse in the bulk foods section of the Co-op. Tuesday scooped it in the palm of her hand and deposited it safely in the green median of the parking lot. By the time we’d finished shopping, it had only made it about two feet...
- The Story Coterie Podcast
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About Us
a columbary of lovely and amazing tales
What is StoryCote?
At StoryCote, half of our tales are fantastic. These fables span the adventures of selkies, saints, lycanthropes and even superheroes. The other fables are domestic, spanning the adventures of mere humans, but still from a fabulist’s perspective. All are told in the lyric, lovely and aching way only we know how to tell them.
Discover restless characters, from fairies to farm wives to socialites, all searching for better lives. Unlock the secret to each escape: in the back room of a near-future perfumery, by an imposter at a posh country club, on a cruise ship boarded by hungry pirates, and in many more heart-breaking tales. From the domestic to the fantastic, each tender fable is complete in 2,500 words or less.
StoryCote was founded by writer Candace Leigh Coulombe to share the incredible value of flash fiction and fables in an ever-hectic daily life. Join us for fresh fiction each week through the StoryCote website, podcast and social media. Enjoy the satisfaction of a complete story experience during a quick coffee break. Sneak a secret story during your workday.
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All contents copyright © 2006 - 2025 Candace L. Coulombe. All rights reserved. For reprints and permissions, contact StoryCote.