Free Short Stories to Read Online

Short, complete stories you can finish in one sitting, from gentle bedtime stories to westerns, horror and mysteries. Free to read, no sign-up, new stories every day.

Latest Short Stories

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Horror
Why Is Her Husband’s Tooth Growing in Lettuce?
- 6 min read
- Audio
A widowed spaceship farmer follows tooth-bearing roots toward the truth behind her husband’s death.
New
Bedtime
Toby Has a Mitten to Find
- 3 min read
- Read aloud
- Ages 5–8
Before stargazing can begin, Toby must track down Grandpa’s missing mitten in the dark garden.
New
Western
He Must Choose Between Her and the Railroad
- 7 min read
- Audio
A recovered telegraph record forces former lovers to confront the testimony that destroyed her father’s name.
New
Adventure
Captain Zheng Runs Toward the River With a Typewriter
- 7 min read
A teenager chasing a supposed thief discovers a drifting pontoon and a ferry that won’t start.
New
Love
Thirty-Six Jackets and One Nearly Detached Red Square
- 4 min read
- Audio
Two rival tailors compete for a cottage while repairing a quilt neither can leave unfinished.
New
Detective Fiction
A Cracked Teapot Makes a Postman an Impostor
- 6 min read
A circus seamstress faces murder charges, and her postman risks everything on a borrowed authority.
New
Fantasy
A Thimble of Water Unmoors a Captive Wind
- 7 min read
A cleaner rescues a tiny sailor and discovers what keeps a Dubai skyscraper cold.
New
Mystery
A Torn Waiter’s Sleeve in the Wedding Money Box
- 6 min read
A teenage waiter faces arrest, but a wedding photographer’s undeveloped film could change everything.

More new stories

Bedtime Stories Read Aloud

Press play and listen together: gentle stories for children, read aloud. Also as a podcast: Spotify Apple Podcasts Amazon Music

All bedtime stories

Western Short Stories

Outlaws, lawmen, cattle drives and dusty frontier towns.

All western stories

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