Candyman hovers in the air in a white tiled room

Fall 2024

Bodies meld together in the shunting scene in Society

Sex Tent
by Kris Hall

Just because we’ve seen Sex Tent 11 times doesn’t mean we’re prepared for Sex Tent 12. We know this, and yet we’re surprised by how spicy it gets up there. And still we push through the crowd.

Published October 21, 2024

Fall 2023 - Spring/Summer 2024

A fluffy white cat with glowing green lights in its eyes

Muffin
by Karthik Kotresh

Here, kitty kitty. At CDSOB, we’re cat people. We’re also monster people. Today, we feature Karthik Kotresh’s short story, “Muffin.”

Published June 3, 2024

A carnival funhouse from House of 1000 Corpses

Since He’s Been Gone
by Cassandra Walters

“The sign outside read ‘Cursed, Not Jilted,’ but the lights in the word ‘Not’ flickered intermittently. You could get your fortune read for $50. Or, guess the owner’s name correctly for a free reading.” And so we arrive at the fortune teller’s table, ready (or not) for some truth to be told.

Published May 20, 2024

A black and white image showing a planetary transit

Beware the Owls’ Herald
by Matt Shadbolt

“But in New York, when you tear down a building, you always leave its ghosts.” Here’s where the story takes a turn, and the owl eyes begin to pulse green. Today we present Matt Shadbolt’s hyperreal neo-gothic mystery, “Beware the Owls’ Herald.” Be sure to clock the video version linked at the end of the story.

Published May 13, 2024

The invisible man sits with bandaged face and sunglasses, wearing a robe

Beauty Is Pain
by A.D. Bell

Meet Malcolm, the most scarred man Kelly has ever seen. Today we feature “Beauty Is Pain,” a story by A.D. Bell.

Published November 15, 2023

Shadowy figures with glowing eyes emerge from a thick fog.

A Pirate Story
by L.M. Spann

What makes a pirate, or a captain, or a song? L.M. Spann gives us a tale of rebellion and legacy in “A Pirate Story.”

Published October 18, 2023

Fall 2022 - Summer 2023

Sheep
by Haley Nguyen

Sheep is singular & plural & sometimes something else. This week, we feature a short story by Haley Nguyen. We are absolutely not making a joke here about how it will cause you sheepless nights. That would be baad.

Published June 21, 2023

An image from the 8-bit video game Pitfall, showing a person swinging on a vine over a hole. There is a cobra coiled next to the hole and a scorpion beneath the hole

Plot Hole
by Haley Nguyen

Philly residents are all too familiar with the spectacle of people throwing tributes into widening sinkholes in the street. This week, Haley Nguyen imagines a bottomless border dispute between rival townships in the arch parable, “Plot Hole.”

Published April 26, 2023

An image from the movie Blade Runner which shows an overview of a city

Float Under
by Ania Alberski

“The realm is near.” Ever wonder what it’s like to bounce through a portal (to borrow a phrase from Del tha Funkee Homosapien)? Ania Alberski shows us the way through and meets us on the other side .

Published April 10, 2023

An image from the movie The Devils, which shows a nun in habit walking through an aisle lined by nuns who are on their knees praying

Moving On
by Safiya Lahlaf

“The house past the old convent at the end of the road was sinking.” Thus we enter a tale of questionable foundations, hauntings at the edge of town, and rollerblading nuns, by Safiya Lahlaf.

Published April 4, 2023

A cat with matted fur stands in the middle of a road lined by trees

A Cat in the Brain (or, Nine Lives, One Body)
by Daniel Beauregard

The cat came back / It wouldn’t stay away / Daniel Beauregard goes nuclear on an old family favorite tale.

Published March 15, 2023

An illustration of Medusa in profile with wasps coming out of her mouth, "Black Medusa" by TomiAx

Medusa and Herophile
by L. M. Spann

“Herophile was now unsure if bringing her niece on this journey had been a good idea. Their passage to Pytho had just begun, and the girl was already a distraction…”

Published November 28, 2022

Overhead shot of a woman in a black bathing suit floating on her back in a circular above ground pool

A Green Thumb
by Jonathan Riggs

“The wax lips had no taste. Tessa chewed on them pensively, the blazing sun causing the molecules or whatever in the wax to stretch and sweat and leave her fingers sticky and red…”

Published November 14, 2022

A headshot of Nicolas Cage with his eyes closed, wearing plastic vampire teeth

A Trip to the Oscars
by Daniel Beauregard

“The dreams begin like this: I’m on the set of a Nicholas Cage film…”

Published October 17, 2022


Three Microfictions
by Meghan Phillips

“In the town where the final girl lives, none of the kids go to sleepaway camp anymore…”

Published October 3, 2022

As of Fire
by Scott Daughtridge DeMer

“Aelia snuck into the damp crawlspace to be alone, and as a game, spoke whatever words came to her mind…”

Published September 28, 2022