The Grateful Neighbor
Douglas Tanner checked his fire escape every night before bed.
Dark and intense humor & satire stories
Stories in Humor & Satire tagged dark and intense, ranked by how many readers finish them. Reads run 13 to 20 minutes. Writers to know: The Birch Coda, Moss Myth and Spark of Stone. Readers usually start with “The Grateful Neighbor” and “Playlist for the Dead Air”. Some are free to read in full; the rest open with a free preview.
Dark and intense humor & satire stories, ranked by readers
01 02 Playlist for the Dead Air
Ray Mata got out of his Corolla outside the warehouse on Wythe Avenue and checked his teeth in the rearview mirror.
03 Dry Dock
*This one came from the idea of putting a lifeguard on dry land and watching the water metaphors dry up.
04 A Layover to Remember
The ferry dumped me off at Sausalito on a Tuesday afternoon in November, and I want you to understand right off that this was not my idea…
05 Pigeon in the Bamboo
Magnus Swenson watches his wife's taillights disappear down the county road for the fourth evening this week, and the familiar knot…
06 The Noise Ordinance
The first blast hit at 5:47 in the morning.
07 The Last Ferry Out
I'm twenty-eight years old, I have a doctorate in anthropology, and last Saturday I spent seven hours hiding behind a lifeboat on a ferry…
08 The Spice Must Flow
I want to start by saying I'm forty-two years old and I have spent most of those years being sensible, which is a polite way of saying…
09 Cadaver Comfort
Paige sat at the counter with a toe tag in one hand and a Sharpie in the other.
10 Pennywise & The Welder
I'd been talking to Neil Thorson online for six weeks before I agreed to meet him, which for me is basically a record.
11 The Last Set
Ollie Metcalf is sixty-two years old and he will tell anybody who stands still long enough that he built The Low Note with his own two…
12 Scan, Swipe, Repeat
Angela was thirty-four years old, and she had learned in four months that grocery shopping with Reginald was a two-hour affair no matter…
13 Sprocket Fetish
The rain in Clifden doesn't fall so much as it travels sideways with intent.