Let little girls dream of becoming princesses, they would say. A grown woman – especially a modern, emancipated one – shouldn’t be wishing to be whisked away to become some guy’s trophy.Ellie Natler would tell those people to quietly stuff it. So what if it was the 24th century, so what if a woman could be anything she wanted? Deep down every woman wanted to feel like a princess – nay, a queen. Regal, lauded and adored. Even if being royalty meant at most being a powerless figurehead t

You can have it all, but you can’t have what you want. Have you seen stories with that kind of message? Movies or books or whatever where the successful businessman has a swank penthouse apartment, vacations in Europe, owns a yacht, eats the finest meals at the fanciest restaurants, but they’ve never been able to let go of The One Who Got Away. That girl from college or the small town they grew up in, the one who wasn’t concerned with fancy and expensive things, and so wasn’t swayed by h

Inheriting the apartment from great-uncle Stanislaw seemed like a windfall and a nightmare at the same time. The responsibility was overwhelming, but the opportunity was that 'once in a lifetime' kind of thing. He was being handed a business that was already running.“I just hope the tenants don't blindside me with a billion complaints when I get there,” Nick said in the executor's office.“The building is fairly new,” the graying man replied as he stamped some papers and handed them to Ni

‘Rochelle Cartier’ was the kind of assumed name that was so desperate to achieve an effect – in this case the embodiment of the concept of luxury goods – that Amelia expected the woman to be as one-dimensional as the most sledgehammer-blunt parody of social media influencers.And while the private chef did meet her prospective employer in a lavishly decorated apartment that seemed to have no permanent occupant, existing solely to serve as a backdrop for influencers like Rochelle to lounge

After several grueling battles Ichiro and his friends seemed no closer to reaching King Kameda’s throne room. The countless minions and lower-tier soliders of the otherwordly conqueror had not been individually challenging, but the demon realm was filled with the razor-teethed and taloned creatures. Crossing through the city surrounding Kameda’s castle had been a trial of attrition, and things only got more difficult when they breached the castle walls and entered Kameda’s domicile proper.

Wake up, Sharon! It’s a brand new day, time to get up and go!“Oh boy!”Maybe she didn’t actually say ‘Oh boy,’ but Sharon was out of bed as soon as her alarm went off. She had another busy day ahead of her, and she couldn’t wait to get started.It was the same every morning, Sharon leaping excitedly out of bed and eager to get to work. She didn’t have weekends, she didn’t take vacations, but for five years she had never struggled to get out the door, dreading another day of work.

New year, new us. Angela and Penny, mother and daughter, made the promise hoping their mutual goal of getting in shape would come easier if they worked together.It wasn’t clear who was more motivated. Angela had seen her physical fitness levels slowly wither right after marriage; an office job wasn’t conducive to regular workouts (not that she had been a fitness freak before), and then two pregnancies and a switch to life as a housewife had KO’d the brunette’s metabolism and need to worr

Early mornings on a farm are way earlier than most people would accept, but Tiffany had never had trouble getting out of bed no matter how much time there was until the sun came up. She didn’t have to do any chores related to the farm itself – there were machines and employees to take care of that – but tending to multiple outsized appetites was enough to keep her busy.Today she had a couple pans of cinnamon rolls in the oven while she also fried up half a hog’s worth of hams and bacon.

Addison had said it was cliché to be doing this in a cemetery, but Gracelyn had responded there was a reason for it. Something about the psychic residue of all those bodies and the shame, guilt and remorse carried over their lives coagulating in one place to create a trove of dark feelings.Dark feelings being perfect for dark magic, of course.The pentagram and candles and salt and knife and incense were also cliches, but they had become so because that was how things were done. For all the sill

Dramatis personae:Richard is a man with a wife, an ex-wife and a daughter. He is out of the picture most of the time because of work.Morgana is Richard’s daughter. She is 18 and has an IQ of 190. She graduated from high school at the age of 15 and is on track to finish her first two degrees in biochemical engineering and neurology. Her self-sufficiency has allowed her to remain well-adjusted even through her parents’ divorce and her father’s perpetual absenteeism.Hazel is Richard’s secon

The phrase ‘nature abhors a vacuum’ is rarely if ever used when discussing the material world. Its utility is reserved for the world of politics, or any realm where power, money or influence are fought over. If one business falls another will swoop in to replace it. If one celebrity loses their status another is right behind them to claim the spotlight.But it’s not always as simple as a new boss replacing the old one. Sometimes a titan is too singularly unique to be traded with another lea

The main building for Edgewood High was much larger than anything in the town near the twins’ farm, and the hundreds of students they saw even from the outside was a veritable stampede in their eyes. But there was nothing overwhelming in the scene before Noel and Veronica. Being supersized set them apart from 99% of their new classmates, and the other preds that they spotted were large, but not as big as them.With a first impression like this the twins could be forgiven for thinking they were

“Where are tickets being sold?”“Over there, by the big oak. See that line?”“Shit. Hope they don’t run out of openings. I’ve gone three days without cumming, I’ve been so excited for this.”“No chance of that. Look how many women they’ve got.”“I don’t know. Those ladies all look pretty huge already.”“They’re just the morning crew. Pretty soon they’ll switch to the afternoon set.”Reaching under her skirt, Mable hitched up her panties, the reinforced fabric lift

The twins were old enough that it should be thought not worth seeing them off on the first day of a new school year, but this year was different. After attending Redstone High for the past couple years it was ‘decided’ that the two would be better served at the larger public school in the nearby city. A decision/request (depending on the party) that had the downside of the teens not being able to see their friends on the regular and now requiring a 45-minute bus ride to and from school.So Ti

It was right on the outskirts of the city that Mark was accosted. Spotting an apple tree in the backyard of a suburban house – one older than most of the ones in the neighborhood, yet standing almost entirely in tact while all its neighbors had collapsed – he had stopped to get some real food in him.The click of a rifle made him shoot up straight, but when the voice said“Easy, now. Turn around slowly.”he obeyed.The man with the rifle looked to be Mark’s age, but having lived a harder l

Why did I fight it for so long? Pride would be an easy answer, but that wasn’t it. I haven’t told this story to a lot of people, but when I do I always have to stress that no, I wasn’t ashamed of my family. Not in the way people think.Fear would also be an easy answer. I was afraid of ending up like everyone else, afraid of becoming the stereotypical fatty – out of shape, lazy, selfish in my gluttony – even though that didn’t describe my family.But this is being written up, right? I

There’s a glint of wicked delight in Maria Wren’s eyes as she moves on from the update about the film actor accused of arson in a Las Vegas hotel room.“Our first story comes with a cringe-warning. Social media star Karissa Kadence announced her engagement a couple weeks ago, I’m sure you all remember, but even before she ties the knot to future hall-of-famer Kent Rosell there’s trouble in paradise. Check out this clip she posted to her Trippppp account earlier today.”“So here’s s

“So, your sister and I have been talking,” my mom started, “and no matter what I say or promise she’s just too darn stubborn. I always had such high hopes that she would follow in my footsteps and get fat, but she refuses.”Katie, sitting off the side and idly tapping on her phone, rolled her eyes.“You know this is a fat-loving family, and I had such high hopes for her to get really fat so she can find a nice partner to take care of her like your dad takes care of me. But she’s all

“Almost there, just a few more steps.”Varada let her huffing tune Mimi out. Any response she could muster would be the shouty, gasping sort that one saw in a cliched sitcom delivery room scene, the husband telling his wife to push and the wife aggravated that she was in pain while he was pleasantly cheerleading from the side.She wasn’t in pain at the moment, though to the 650-pounder trudging from the bedroom to the living room without any breakfast – not even a tray of danishes to take

The parasite’s design used a centipede as a base, ensuring it would have a grotesque appearance no matter what. But it was also larger than a centipede, over a foot long and two inches wide, with pincers that looked like scalpel blades and large red eyes with concentric circles that gave the appearance of irises. It looked like it was looking at you, and maybe it was.Its abilities were off-putting even to its creator; perhaps the horrific design was intentional, a visual warning against it eve

“You’re young, you’re rich, don’t tell me you’re not looking for a wife.”“What year do you think it is?” Charlie asked, laughing. “Hell, what century? I have my whole life ahead of me, you think I want to tie myself down now? Waste my best years with just one woman?”Yeah, okay. Charlie’s friend conceded that point, and Charlie was glad to let the conversation move on from there. It was easy for him to act the playa role, intimating that he was satisfied with a string of one

It was three minutes after my shift ended when Nadia came into the restaurant for the second time that day, followed by another woman roughly the same age and size as her.And the same figure. Yes, I was going to wait on two hyper-pears at the same time now. My shift was three minutes – now four – over, but I wasn’t anxious about getting out of there. To my right Tori, one of the closers, was hurriedly scarfing down a pineapple-mango upside down cake, and I signaled she could keep chowing d

The impulse of every biological creature is to pass its genes on to the next generation.The impulse of a narcissist is to propagate their own image and name.At a certain point scientific progress made possible a merging of these two. Cloning, space exploration, terraforming; coupled with an economic system that allowed for concentrations of wealth so fantastic the wealthiest people of pre-space colonization Earth would be sick of envy, and you had the circumstances needed for someone like Idina

When Mattix’s Comet passed by the Earth it drew more attention than a mundane celestial event would normally warrant. Initial reporting about the comet’s ‘sudden and inexplicable’ appearance near Jupiter caused all sorts of theorizing and fantasizing about it being an alien probe or herald of an apocalyptic upheaval to human society (for good or ill), and the scientific community’s attempt to explain that no, it probably went overlooked because space is big and empty and it’s hard to

Every morning when I wake up I feel proud, and a little guilty.The people need to be led. Being united in their love of our goddess is not enough; too many people are so easily swayed that if left alone all they would do is fawn over Her, fighting with each other to get close to Her magnificence or to be the one to feed Her. It would be disorderly, it would lead to violence, and worst of all it would disrupt the system that keeps Her fed and happy all hours of the day.There are few people like m

The pictures of Lucille through junior year seldom centered her, or featured her at all, but they served as a bridge between the selfies of the younger and still shapely co-ed and what was to come. Becoming instant friends with Tamiko once they both opened up about their excessive love of eating – it took less than two weeks before the two were meeting at Tamiko’s house to try out some recipes the half-Japanese, half-white woman had found – Lucille’s hobby of cooking and eating became mo

(No comic book references here)“God, what an absurd cartoon she is. What the hell can you do with so much of that? Anything bigger than a handful is a waste.”“Heh heh. Yeah.”It’s not believable if you keep staring at her, Ted. But he couldn’t listen to himself when those absolutely, mind-boggingly massive jumbas were rocking back and forth so heavy, so free.Which was also a good defense: how could he not stare when that woman was so big and so loud?“Come on! Is this a party or what

“Hi, Mom!”“Morning, Mom.”Kenny and Isabelle weren’t entirely present as they came into the kitchen and pulled up their chairs to the table loaded with waffles, bacon, sausage, bowls of fruit in heavy cream and fresh-made fritters. Kenny was listening to music and Isabelle had her phone permanently in one hand; their greeting may have been on autopilot, except they both made eye contact with her before starting on their breakfast.They were teenagers, after all. As much as Freida wanted

Fired via Zoom call, and a week before Christmas to boot. A day later and Sandy still thought it was a joke. That wasn’t the sort of thing that happens in real life; you wouldn’t even expect it in a sappy holiday movie; not a decently written one, at least.“So much for Christmas shopping,” she sighed, walking up the steps of her apartment building. Sandy had just deposited her final paycheck, and after doing some calculations on the bus home she felt assured she had enough money to last

It was a competition. Of course the people involved wanted to win. They wanted to prove themselves better than the others.Sarah did too, but really she wanted to eat.That wasn’t all she wanted out of life. She wanted to be comfortable, she wanted to enjoy good music and TV, she wanted to be loved emotionally and physically.But she wanted to eat. More than anything she wanted to eat and eat, she wanted to see herself get fatter as her body had more calories than it needed and so it stored the e

She so did not want to make this call, but if she knew her mother she would be heading off for dinner before long and she didn’t want to put this off another day.The phone rang a couple times, and Kay was torn between wanting it to go to her mom’s voicemail or for her to pick up-“Hey, sweetie. Can we make this quick? I’m about to go eat.”“I figured.” She inhaled, steeling herself. “I’m pregnant.”“I’m sorry? I think you cut out.”“I’m pregnant, Mom.”“Oh! So…”K

Munch, munch, gulp, burp, chomp, munch, guzzle, belch.Kate was two trays into her lunch, but with five more in front of her she was just getting started. Burgers, fries, chicken strips, shakes. One hand would bring something up to her mouth while the other hand reached out to grab something new. She made sure to chew everything thoroughly, but after all the time she had put in getting as fat as she was that didn’t mean she was taking things slow.The other customers and the staff watched her wi

Before applying:“Why would you want to be a cop? You’ve worked so hard to stay skinny.”“That’s a stereotype,” Brenda replied. “Not all cops are overweight doughnut gobblers.”“No, just every one I’ve ever seen. Well, if you blow up don’t come crying to me.”“I won’t.”Brenda’s remark could have been taken either way, but time would tell.First day on the beat:“Caruso’s has the best enchiladas in this district. They’ve got cheese, chicken, shrimp and hot pork.”

The typical witch’s hut was, on the outside, a simple affair; while witches tended to set up their homes in the middle of forests away from cities, there was no need to have a significant footprint. Who were they trying to show off to?Inside was another story. Thanks to basic magic the interior was big enough for even the vastest library of tomes or collection of potion ingredients, not to mention including space for an indoor greenhouse, bathroom with clawfoot tub and a parlor for teatime. Fa

“Sarah? You home?”“I’m out here!” Calling from the patio, where she had been doing some reading in the afternoon light. “Did you bring me any treats?”“I brought you a box of Moon Pies home yesterday-” Ben saw the empty box sitting on the kitchen counter, crumpled up wrappers around it. He smiled. “You already finished it all, didn’t you?”“Sorry,” Sarah smiled, not entirely guilty. “I was just going to have one, but…”“But one became two, two became four, four b