Stories


This is our ONLINE COLLECTION of stories, what will you read today? If you don't have time to read now, bookmark your favourite ones and check your Reading List later. 

If you are taking the bus, find our posters, scan and access a curated collection, part of Stories on the Go

Stories for Fiction

John paused and turned away from his screen to glance at the steaming cup of coffee. Something felt a little off but he couldn’t place his finger on it. ...More

Action & Adventure, Drama, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Fiction
Steven Moe

18 min read

img Generic

On the first night, Grace dreamed of country music. Traditional troubadours like Hank Williams, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson. She woke up with the t ...More

Drama, Fiction, Travel & Environment
Jenna Heller

20 min read

‘How’s Alex?’ Hope said. She and Molly were sitting in a café by the river in early spring drinking tea from the same pot. Molly sighed, looked out ...More

Fiction
Pip Adam

19 min read

img Page-014

  He whakamāoritanga i te pukapuka o Puripāha nā Witi Ihimaera mō ētahi whānau hoariri e rua ki Te Tairāwhiti. Ko Puripāha te tapang ...More

Fiction, Maori & Pasifika, Translation
Witi Ihimaera

8 min read

Published by Auckland University Press
img Page-029

Feijoas roll down the roof to be pecked by the birds startling the rats which scurry above. A grimy workbench dusty with tools next to a soggy, wet lead che ...More

Fiction, Young Writer
Georgia Daniell

1 min read

Published by WRITE ON Magazine

  Extract from Mazarine published by Penguin Random House   Twelve I hadn’t expected Sophie Greenaway to be at work in the middle of the s ...More

Action & Adventure, Fiction, Psychological Thriller
Charlotte Grimshaw

22 min read

I ate my brother. I was always fond of him, looked up to him. He was older than me. I measured myself against him. We stood back to back. At first I on ...More

Fiction
Helen Heath

2 min read

img Generic

She is heavy on my bedroom wall. I reconstructed her, slapping mortar between each brick, but my room is not big enough so she is reduced to eyes, ...More

Fiction, Inspired by Street Art
Heather McQuillan

3 min read

We rode with the wind at our backs. Cut across Mr Sandbird’s yard even as he yelled at us to get off his property. Gave him the finger and laughed and ...More

Action & Adventure, Drama, Fiction
Jenna Heller

2 min read

It’s what I could do to help Fleur out. Family is family. The last Friday each month, we’d drive into the city from opposite directions, and in the mote ...More

Fiction
Heather McQuillan

2 min read

img Page-029

When I pick her up she feels warm and frail. She’s like a giraffe sticking her neck high above the canopy searching for a decent snack. When she ...More

Fiction, Young Writer
Blake Lucas

1 min read

Published by WRITE ON Magazine
img Generic

Sitting on the small brick fence outside the night shelter, watching the early morning commuters. Thinking about the dream he had last night. He was in the h ...More

Fiction
Karen Clarke

4 min read

Eve is busy setting the long thin tables – fork knife fork knife fork knife – and doesn’t see him approach. “Do you want some help?” Sh ...More

Fiction
Rachael King

12 min read

img Page-031

Meet her in the forest You’ll find her fascinating She may not welcome you but she has no choice in this The tree which she is forever linked to cr ...More

Drama, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Fiction, Young Writer
Sophia Williamson

1 min read

Published by WRITE ON Magazine
img Tally stick

A gripping new novel from one of our leading writers. A compulsive and chilling novel about subjugation, survival and the meaning of family. “U ...More

Fiction
Carl Nixon

32 min read

Published by Penguin Random House
img Generic

Large brown seals dot the craggy flat like giant cigars spilled from a box. They roll and scratch against the rough rock, big blobs blending in w ...More

Drama, Fiction, Maori & Pasifika
Jenna Heller

4 min read

Jerry and his friend, Ross, were playing in Jerry’s sandpit. Charlie appeared. “What are you playing?” Charlie asked Jerry. “Planes.” J ...More

Action & Adventure, Fiction
Andrew M. Bell

5 min read

img Page-029

Grayce huddled in the dark of her bedroom. The slithering sound came again, something scraping, knocking. Scrape-knock-knock-slide-slither. Somewhere in ...More

Action & Adventure, Drama, Fiction, Mystery & Crime, Young Writer
Sarah-Kate Simons

3 min read

Published by WRITE ON Magazine
img Page-031

Nobody knew who he was. Or where he came from. Only that he lived on the traffic island in the middle of the intersection and had one arm. When h ...More

Fiction, Mystery & Crime, Young Writer
Lilah Hughes

4 min read

Published by WRITE ON Magazine
img Page-031

I remember the clock He liked to count down Whether we liked it or not, Whether we smiled or frowned He hung in my house On the nursery wall We saw him as b ...More

Fantasy & Science Fiction, Fiction, Young Writer
Published by WRITE ON Magazine

It’s been nearly 70 years since my children left home. That sounds ridiculous but I am 120 years old. When they left, my house felt empty. I began ...More

Fiction, Travel & Environment
Kat Miller

12 min read

Right in the middle of trying to keep the schnitzel from burning and the broccoli from becoming a waterlogged mess and while Lucy fed the goldfish and ...More

Drama, Fiction
Jenna Heller

6 min read

The time had come. In the warm darkness of his egg, the flamingo chick moved. Crack! His mother stood up. She fussed about, touching the egg gently wi ...More

Action & Adventure, Fiction, Travel & Environment
Andrew M. Bell

14 min read

The photo shows two dozen red and yellow beetles inside a dog’s mouth. A trail of ladybug-like insects thumbtacked to the roof and wedged behind ...More

Fiction
Jenna Heller

2 min read

“What do you intend to do about this disgraceful situation?” Alison Carrington seethed. Mayor Harper stared at the outraged, elderly woman, like a man abo ...More

Drama, Fiction
Andrew M. Bell

22 min read

It was a glimpse into Paradise. The sun caught the old town first, its jumble of faded pastels glowing like the gilded ceilings of the Vatican – yello ...More

Fiction
Mandy Hager

22 min read

Leila stood in the doorway, her little legs shaking in her blueberry pjs. “I don’t want to, Daddy,” she whispered. “Come on, sweetheart,” Michael s ...More

Fantasy & Science Fiction, Fiction, Humor & Comedy
Sarah Pratt

4 min read

Mo

img Generic

When Mo was born her mother fractured into tiny pieces, her father disintegrated and her family broke up completely. Mo was left in the care of a variety o ...More

Fiction
Bill Nagelkerke

18 min read

img Page-031

I am lost in countless dizzying turns and endless corridors. A bare light bulb flickers as I pass beneath it. I flinch involuntarily. Ping! The familiar weig ...More

Fiction, Mystery & Crime, Young Writer
Published by WRITE ON Magazine

It’s morning. I know this because the clock says 7.23 and a finger of light is trying to pull back the curtains. My room faces east. So that makes it mor ...More

Fiction
Rachael King

22 min read

img Page-029

You can do it for fitness You can do it for play You can ride your bike All of the day When you drive in a car It creates pollution Join with me Start ...More

Fiction, Young Writer
Cooper Harris

1 min read

Published by WRITE ON Magazine

The dragonfly’s eyes are made up of multiple hexagons. Inside each hexagon is a black and white picture of my face. I’ve printed the photos from my fil ...More

Fiction
Gail Ingram

2 min read

img Generic

Chapter 1 Anna looped bubble-wrap around her father’s favorite sculpture: a peacock made entirely out of mirrors. The only upside of moving out of the ...More

Fiction
Amy Blythe

29 min read

First, find a location. Find a shabby farm that keeps its neighbours at arm’s length. Find a house with a rusted roof, with guttering that dribbles down the s ...More

Fantasy & Science Fiction, Fiction
Zoë Meager

5 min read

img Generic

There was the hand to hold and he held it. Beau’s hand, big, bold, Beau’s hand and he felt happy and proud and self-conscious and amazed all at once. The ...More

Drama, Fiction
Scott Menzies

8 min read