no sex - Stories

Dean had spent most of his life pretending not to feel. It was easier that way, easier to fight, to fix, to fuck, than to face what was underneath. His father taught him early that softness got you hurt. So he built a life of noise and distraction: engines louder than his thoughts, nights that ended before morning could ask questions.

Kris had spent his life quietly holding things together. After his father died, it was just him and his mother, small home, smaller dreams, and the fear that one more break would undo them.

Neither expected love to expose what they’d buried, loneliness, guilt, and the need to be seen.

Wars have been fought over obsessions, and millions have died; but not all obsessions produce effects that severe or lethal. Most only affect a small group of people. But what personal obsessions often have in common is that trivial, careless remark, or an unknowing or uncaring act, that triggers them in someone of an impressionable age. A small thing, perhaps, but it can last a lifetime, as our narrator discovers.

Jason first meets Konstantin, a first generation immigrant from Ukraine, in 2006. Konstantin is deeply in the closet and holds some deep-seeded internal homophobia. Despite their differences, Konstantin is drawn to the very out and proud Jason.

Their story is told through journal entries, a first person account filtered through Jason’s many addictions. It’s raw, uncensored, and painfully honest as Jason chronicles their story in an attempt to understand himself and his addictions.

Sometimes to move forward one has to relive the past. These entries have not been altered or edited in any way.

Set against a backdrop of dial-up modems and Y2K paranoia, this story is a deep dive into pure 90s nostalgia. On the final Spring Break of the millennium, music snob Leo believes a CD-ROM playlist from his best friend Caleb is a nerdy ark designed to save their decade's music from the apocalypse. He champions its eclectic mix as genius, until a single 80s song shatters his theory. Leo is forced to realize the playlist isn't a museum, but a love letter — the culmination of a decade of unheard confessions hidden in the B-sides of every mixtape Caleb has ever made, forcing him to finally stop analyzing and start listening.

In a kingdom aglow with victory and starlight, young Cedric and Lysander discover the fragile bloom of first love—and the strength it takes to nurture it. The Flower Thief and Other Tales of Yalda unfolds a realm where bonds are tested, hearts awaken, and not every battle is won with a sword.

Originally a throwaway parody in The Straightest Lies We Tell Ourselves, this story lassos the cowboy trope of a city boy in search of himself and drags it straight, or not so straight, into a cowboy crisis.

A poem featuring all 23 story titles from the 2025 Creature Feature Anthology.

Sixteen years ago, their friend disappeared from the amusement park - no one knows where to. Since then, the remaining friends return every year on this day. Until he suddenly stands in front of them...

Skee is trying to catch a song sparrow that eludes him. However, he is not the only predator in the woods. Will Skee ever catch his prey?