The Wrong Carriage
I'll say this up front: I'm Lyle, forty-four years old, and I drive the number 7 bus out of Brighton depot four days a week.
Dry and wry stories
Dry and wry stories, from quick reads to long series. Most dry and wry stories here sit in exhibitionist & voyeur and erotic couplings. Reads run 15 to 24 minutes. Writers to know: Thread of Thorn, Meridian Harbor and Tangent of Ridge. Readers usually start with “The Confocal Compromise” and “Mulberry and Midnight”. Ranked by how many readers finish them. Some are free to read in full; the rest open with a free preview.
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Dry and wry stories, ranked by readers
21 22 Oil and Indifference
I was twenty-three that summer and I had a job inspecting bridges along the coast road, which sounds more interesting than it was.
23 The Brewer's Price
*Hey there.
24 The Hollow House
*This one grew from a weird doodle I did of a house with too much yard and a neighbor who never smiled.
25 The Theremin Repair
The trouble started with a locked door and a dead phone.
26 The Theremin Show
Sheryl had learned to play the theremin the same year she learned to run a bingo hall, which was to say badly at first and then with a…
27 When the Doorbell Betrays You
I am thirty-six years old and supposedly a professional, and I sat on the bed of a portside inn in Nova Scotia with a pen in my hand…
28 the olivewood leg
Penelope Boone is forty-three years old and she has never loved a job this much in her whole life, and the funny part is the job is mixing…
29 Behind the Tunnel
The brasserie on Rue des Trois Rois had maybe nine tables and a ceiling fan that spun like it resented its job.
30 The Blueprint
Helen Marchetti met DeShawn Cole in the fall of her twenty-sixth year, in a second-year grad studio that smelled like spray adhesive and…
31 Cabin Crush Under the Eclipse
The directions said take the gravel road past the second cattle grid and keep going until you think you've made a mistake, and that's…
32 The Wrong Roadie
I'm Riley, I'm thirty-four, and I've been thinking about this for longer than I want to admit out loud.
33 Last Shift at the Rebuild
Teresa Smithson walked into the bunker at dusk the way she had walked into it for fourteen years, which was to say without thinking much…
34 The Five A.M. Map
I wrote the email the night before the funeral, which I know sounds bad, but hear me out.
35 The Glycerol Ratio
I am on my back on the cold stone floor of the archive kitchen with my arm up to the elbow in the sink drain when I hear boots in the…
36 Tar and Tenderness
The tarworks smells like a bad decision that got left out in the sun, and that night it smelled worse than usual, because they'd fired up…
37 Garage Sale Surprise
My Saturday had been going exactly the way my Saturdays usually went, I had coffee on the back porch at eight, read half a journal article…
38 The Shuttle Exchange
Kimmy, twenty-eight, dispatcher for a construction materials supplier, sat in her car outside the trailhead and thought about cargo.
39 The Doorbell Rings Twice
A chocolate tour in Belgium.
40 The Observation Deck
*This one's for anyone who's ever felt more alive under a curious gaze.
Dry and wry, by genre
Dry and wry exhibitionist & voyeurDry and wry erotic couplingsDry and wry matureDry and wry fetishDry and wry group sexDry and wry loving wivesDry and wry gay maleDry and wry bdsmDry and wry romanceDry and wry letters & transcriptsDry and wry interracial loveDry and wry sci-fi & fantasyDry and wry transgenderDry and wry analDry and wry erotic horrorDry and wry humor & satireDry and wry lesbian sexBy length
10 to 30 minutesBest dry and wry stories of 2026Writers known for it
Thread of Thorn, Meridian Harbor, Tangent of Ridge, Laurel Story
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Questions
What makes a story dry and wry?
Dry and wry stories, from quick reads to long series.
Can I read them for free?
Some stories are free to read in full, with no account. The rest open with a free preview; members read everything.
How long are dry and wry stories?
Most dry and wry stories take 15 to 24 minutes, and the average is 19. Sort by shortest to start small, or follow a series to get each part as it lands.