Stories About the Quiet Moments That Change Us
I write literary fiction exploring loss, connection, and the lives we carry forward. Some stories are grounded in everyday life. Some take unexpected turns. All are meant to linger.
What You'll Find Here:
Stories about the dreams we abandon and the ones we hold onto. About the small decisions that change everything. About grief, hope, and the absurdities of everyday life. Each one is standalone—start anywhere, read what calls to you.
Featured Stories
The Last Cup
The bell over the diner door gave a weak jangle. She stepped inside: burnt coffee, fryer grease, a farmer hunched at the counter. She slid into cracked vinyl and ordered coffee. Black. The waitress studied her with sharp, knowing eyes. "Heading home or leaving it?" The question landed like a stone in still water. "Leaving," she said. "I think." But the waitress had seen her kind before, running from something, or toward it, or both.
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What the Silence Took
She found out through a voicemail. No name. No number. Just a flat, broken voice telling her Drew was gone. Overdose. Two nights ago. They hadn't spoken in almost two years, the last words between them were not kind. She thought giving space would make him come back. He never did. Now, he never would.
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Compromised
The air was stale. Heavy. Too many bodies crammed into too small a space. Dan crouched low at the edge of the corridor, peering into the chaos ahead. "Two targets left, crossing into the open," Tyler muttered. They were running out of time. Out of space. The mission was simple: survive the furniture store without their wives catching them hiding in the supply corridor.
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About Jonathan Austen
I grew up in Massachusetts, moved west to Arizona's White Mountains, and spent 35 years in IT before finding my way to the stories I actually wanted to tell. After writing five fantasy novels that left me burned out, I turned to short fiction. Stories about character, emotion, and the moments that define us. These days, I write for the connection.