Cracked Ink and Hoar Frost
Henrietta here, twenty-three, and I should say up front that this whole thing started because of a rock.
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
41 42 The Signal Station
My name is Bernard Higgins, I'm thirty-four, and for the last nine months my evenings have been mostly nothing.
43 Strike and Linger
Zara Dempsey was twenty-nine years old and had sworn off romance back when she was twenty-three, after a hotel guest named Glen had seemed…
44 The Quiet Game of Truth
I sat at the kitchen table with a glass of red wine and no good reason for drinking it.
45 Residual Heat
The fake wedding cake had gotten everywhere.
46 The Punch Bowl Job
I moved to the island in October for a film shoot, which sounds more glamorous than it is.
47 The Wooden Paddle's Apology
The gravel lot at Braidhaugh Farm hasn't changed in two years, which is more than I can say for my mood.
48 Letters from the Front Row
I am fifty-two years old and I let a forty-five year old woman talk me into emailing a total stranger.
49 The Archive Sessions
Callum Buckley was twenty-nine years old, and he was wet.
50 One Night Deal
I'd been smiling for nine hours straight and my face felt like it was gonna crack.
51 The Archive Invitation
It had been two years, give or take a month, since I'd last stood in front of Terry Walsh, and the whole drive over I kept rehearsing what…
52 The Salt on Her Skin
The storm came in faster than the forecast said it would.
53 Barely Surface
Okay, so here's how I'm going to tell this, because telling it out loud in order makes my face hot and I have to work in twenty minutes.
54 The Bride's Escape
I woke up on my twenty-ninth birthday to a text from my ex-wife that said only "happy bday, hope you're well."
55 The Off-Season
My birthday is in three days, which is a thing I keep forgetting to mention to people, because nobody asks anymore.
56 Wax and Heart
I'm Sherrie, I'm twenty-two, and I moved up to the Mao Mountains seven months ago with one duffel bag and a job tightening the caps on…
57 The Thank You Letter
So here's how it started, and I swear on my dead husband's toolbox that this is the true version.
58 The Stranger in My Kitchen
Okay so let me set the scene for you.
59 Backline Confessions
I'm forty-two years old, and last Tuesday I got off in a recording studio control room with an old bandmate watching.
60 The Wrong Pitch
I signed up for the retreat on a Tuesday night in March, half a bottle of wine in, and I remember thinking it would either fix my life or…
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.