Featured Short Stories
Every week, the featured short stories will be updated. There will be two of the more recent stories featured and one story that is much older. If there are any stories that you have seen posted on social media or that you have read in the past, but you can’t find it here, please double check the section titled “All Short Stories”.
Featured Story #1: Adventures in Modern Slang
Summary
An overzealous English teacher endeavors to learn the ins and outs of his students’ vocabularies. Unfortunately, he is unprepared for just how quickly the modern vernacular evolves.
Preview for: Aventures in Modern Slang
Jack took position at the front of the class and held his journal aloft. “Alright, so the prompt was: write about a time you and a friend got into some trouble. Me and my buddy Trelaythan…”
“Stop,” Mr. G interrupted. “My buddy Trelaythan and I.”
“I got you. My buddy Trelaythan and I went down to the convenience store the other day. We were slish-sloshing back and forth when these two guys came up and said we were being shantos.”
Mr. G held up a hand. This time, he was less enthusiastic as he walked over to retrieve his binder. “Wait just one second. You were slish-sloshing?”
A girl in the class, Dorothea, piped up. “Mr. G, come on. This can’t be the first time you’ve heard of two people slish-sloshing.”
Mr. G dutifully filled in his binder. “I’m ninety-five percent sure that you are just making terms up to screw with me now, but I will play along. You and your friend were slish-sloshing. Do I want to know what shantos are?”
If you enjoyed what you’ve read so far, continue reading here: https://themodernmarktwain.com/adventures-in-modern-slang/(opens in a new tab)
Featured Story #2: The Diversity Hire
Summary
A quintessential every-man, Pete Slowinsky, wanders into an average NYC comedy club on a weeknight. At first, this comedy club seems like any other, but there is a catch.
Preview for The Diversity Hire
“Welcome everyone, to my comedy club,” the man said. His voice was as dry as the Sahara. “It’s a great night for a few laughs. If you find yourself so inclined, please tell your friends about The Manhattan Comedy Club Between 2nd and 5th. I’ve owned this place for six years and I wanted to give you a little background before we get into the program.
We used to call it The Dragon’s Lounge, but after the third D&D club took our last corner booth, we had to rebrand. We bounced around some new ideas after that. Larry suggested we grab the female demographic and call it the Ryan Reynolds Comedy Club. We called him a dumbass and then realized… dumbasses are our main customers. Why not just make the name dumbass friendly?”
If you like what you’ve read, continue reading here: https://themodernmarktwain.com/the-diversity-hire/(opens in a new tab)
Throwback Feature: Coming Soon
When this blog is a little older, we’ll have one here.