At sixteen, Abby had decided that she wanted to work outdoors in the woods. While all her friends left secondary school for colleges studying hair and beauty, catering, or aiming towards A-levels ready for university, she headed to college to study forestry and woodland management. This came as a shock to her parents, who didn’t have a single drop of agricultural blood between them, with her mother being the financial dir...

Brian had been working 60 hours a week at the office and had neglected his social life. He felt burned out and was becoming agitated frequently. Brian had always been the kind of guy to work, work, and work some more, but never take care of himself. After listening to a self-help podcast, he decided to do something about it. He decided he wanted to try his first massage ever, but he was nervous about the thought of walkin...

"Hold the elevator!" Giancarlo Palpeggio, the only person in the elevator at 10:30 in the morning lull, pressed the "open door" button and held it. Jordi Madden was just returning from a run to the bank. He sprinted across the lobby and into the ornate elevator cab. "Thanks!" he said, acknowledging the older gentleman. Jordi had seen him before, had admired his beautifully tailored suits. They matched his luxurious waxed...

My wait was over when the clock ticked 8:00 p.m. After all my prep during the day, every minute felt like chewing gum stuck under a shoe. Dragging. I checked my sling bag three times to make sure I hadn’t forgotten the pack of chocolate-flavoured condoms. I was sure I would use them tonight—God, I wanted to. “Tensed?” Leena made me sit on the sofa. “A little…” “Hope Jignesh and Guru will be gone by now.” “Yes, Lee. They’l...

​I still remember how my obsession with trans women began. Back then, I was buried in books, studying for my SATs. My only escapes were junk food, sleep, and porn. I had to box up my PlayStation; otherwise, I’d never make the cut for college. The rest of my time, the vast majority of it, was consumed by studying. ​I went through every category of straight porn: pussy, hardcore, solo, you name it. But over time, with no ot...

​We live in an age of extremes, where everything is allowed, in a way, but it’s also a time where old moral judgments still rest beneath the ashes of our parents' and grandparents' world. A lot of things are no longer said, more out of fear than true understanding. It’s not that the people who made mean-spirited jokes in the nineties have suddenly had a change of heart. Quite the opposite: in my view, those people simply...

Blackmoor Academy, 1991–1998 They met on the night the headmistress gave her annual speech about unity and division among the students. Two girls, trembling in identical ways, both trying very hard not to show it. Lilith came from a quiet Tudor cottage on the edge of a Surrey village whose name no one ever remembered. Her mother was a librarian at the local school and her father a quiet academic who had vanished into gove...

Richard Lane closed the door of his avocado green fridge, balancing a can of Coke in his other hand while holding the evening newspaper clamped under the arm. Making his way around the kitchen pass-through, he placed the can and paper gently on the coffee table, then walked over to the record player. A few moments were spent considering the collection on the shelf below it before he made his selection, sliding a contempor...