The Short Story Library

  • An underwater photo of a sunken shipwreck, covered in algae and marine growth, resting on the seafloor with untold treasures waiting in its bowels.

    Jewel Heart of a Woman

    If the greatest treasure is the heart, then the greatest crime is to steal one.

    Honorable Mention Elegant Literature Magazine Short Story Contest Issue #023.

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  • An old, eerie house with illuminated windows under a dark, foggy sky at dusk, inside which sinister happenings are hidden.

    The Shape of Madness

    Dark and endless is the Abyss for those void of the Breath of Life.

    A short-story by EM Levine

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  • A dark figure hidden beneath a broad umbrella in the rain.

    The Man With the Umbrella

    On a stormy night when the rain falls black and cold, an umbrella is a place of sanctuary…and madness.

    A short-story by EM Levine

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  • Of Chivalry and Blood

    Of Chivalry and Blood

    For what is honor but the doom of honorable men?

    A short story by EM Levine

    Read

Coming soon…

The Iron Coin

A short story by EM Levine

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A Note from the Author

Ah, short stories. Short stories are the kind of thing you know will probably be bad. Maybe once in a blue moon as a writer, you’ll hit a home run and it’ll be featured in a book of poetry young folks will read two centuries from today…but probably not today. So, given that the quality is mediocre, the content is corny, and the attention they garner is fleeting, you might very well ask—what’s the point of short stories?

The point is that writers write. That’s what makes us what we are. You don’t need fame, fortune, and a #1 NYT Bestseller to be a writer. Just a single page of paper, a story for that page, and at least one person daft enough to read it. That’s what stories are. That’s what storytellers do.

So, here’s hoping that you enjoy these tiny pieces of garbage cobbled together from the dust and fluff floating around inside my head. They’re not great, barely edited, and hardly publishable…but, they are the stories that came to me, and that’s what this is all about: telling stories. A most heartfelt thank you to you for bothering to stop and spend some time with these snapshots of my creative mind.

— EM Levine