…the writer should seek his reward in the pleasure of his work and in release from the burden of his thoughts; and, indifferent to aught else, care nothing for praise or censure, failure or success.

Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence

*     *     *

Any writer worth his salt writes to please himself…It’s a self-exploratory operation that is endless. An exorcism of not necessarily his demon, but of his divine discontent.

Harper Lee

*     *     *

(Stories below by Allen Kopp.)

A Conversation Between Two Mothers:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/a-conversation-between-two-mothers/

A Cross-Eyed Woman:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/a-cross-eyed-woman/

A Cup of Contempt:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/a-cup-of-contempt/

A Good Clown is Worth Repeating:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/a-good-clown-is-worth-repeating/

A Head of Its Time:
https://literaryfictions.com/a-head-of-its-time/

A Man Without a Wife:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/a-man-without-a-wife/

A Mate for the Monster:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/a-mate-for-the-monster-2/

A Pack of Cigarettes and Thou:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/a-pack-of-cigarettes-and-thou-2/

After You’ve Gone:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/after-youve-gone/

All I Have:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/all-i-have/

Andrew Magenti:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/andrew-magenti-2/

At the River:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/at-the-river/

Aunt Bunny Lives in the Country:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/aunt-bunny-lives-in-the-country/

Baby:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/baby/

Broomstick:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/broomstick/

Busy Will You Wait:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/busy-will-you-wait/

Bye Bye Blackbird:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/bye-bye-blackbird/

Camp Bonhomie:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/camp-bonhomie/

Carried Off by the Monster:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/carried-off-by-the-monster/

Cat Scratch Fever:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/cat-scratch-fever/

Celeste:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/celeste/

Charmaine Chatsworth, Society Girl:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/charmaine-chatsworth-society-girl/

Chauncey Peeps:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/chauncey-peeps/

Church People:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/church-people/

Cigarettes:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/cigarettes/

Death is Kind:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/death-is-kind/

Dizzy Street:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/dizzy-street/

During the Storm:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/during-the-storm-2/

Eating for Two:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/eating-for-two/

Empty Grave:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/92-2/

Eve’s Apples:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/eves-apples/

False Alarm:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/false-alarm/

Faux Chinchilla:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/faux-chinchilla/

Find Out Where the Train is Going:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/find-out-where-the-train-is-going/

Five-Finger Discount:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/five-finger-discount/

Freaks I Have Known:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/freaks-i-have-known/

George’s Train:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/georges-train/

Good Night, Sunny:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/good-night-sunny/

Happy Trails:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/happy-trails/

Hat in the House:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/hat-in-the-house/

Hawk Prescott:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/hawk-prescott/

Head in a Bottle:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/head-in-a-bottle/

Hermaphrodite Ward:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/hermaphrodite-ward/

His Last Good Time:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/his-last-good-time/

Hold All Calls:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/hold-all-calls/

I Don’t Want to Miss Any of This:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/i-dont-want-to-miss-any-of-this/

I Have Never Known the River Ishcabob to Flood:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/i-have-never-known-the-river-ishcabob-to-flood/

I Liked Her Better When She was Ugly:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/i-liked-her-better-when-she-was-ugly/

If You Can’t Be Civil Be Silent:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/if-you-cant-be-civil-be-silent/

I’ll Do It but I Won’t Like It:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/ill-do-it-but-i-wont-like-it/

Imperial Hotel:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/imperial-hotel/

In a Cemetery on Halloween Night:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/in-a-cemetery-on-halloween-night/

In the Fullness of His Years:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/in-the-fullness-of-his-years/

It Has Come to Our Attention:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/it-has-come-to-our-attention/

Just Passing Through:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/just-passing-through/

Late of Cherry Street:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/late-of-cherry-street/

Lola Fenwick:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/lola-fenwick/

Look for Light in the Vegetable Patch:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/look-for-light-in-the-vegetable-patch/

Looks Like Wally Fay:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/looks-like-wally-fay/

Mademoiselle Lulu:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/mademoiselle-lulu/

Map of the World:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/map-of-the-world/

Martha Beck and Ray Fernandez:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/martha-beck-and-ray-fernandez/

Miss Snooty Britches:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/miss-snooty-britches/

Miss Wessel:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/miss-wessel/

Mortal Remains:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/mortal-remains/

Mr. Woodbine is Here:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/mr-woodbine-is-here/

Muriel Self:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/muriel-self/

My Hundred Years:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/my-hundred-years/

My Mother is Away:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/my-mother-is-away/

Never Marry:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/never-marry/

Never Mix, Never Worry (I Was Dancing and I Was Ridiculous):
https://literaryfictions.com/2018/07/13/never-mix-never-worry-i-was-dancing-and-i-was-ridiculous/

Night Train:
https://literaryfictions.com/2018/08/26/night-train/

Old Friends:
https://literaryfictions.com/old-friends/

On Company Time:
https://literaryfictions.com/2018/04/27/on-company-time/

On the Face of It:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/on-the-face-of-it-2/

One Way:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/one-way-2/

Pass Without Paying:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/pass-without-paying/

People are Talking:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/people-are-talking/

Phiz:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/phiz/

Pink Eye:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/pink-eye/

Queen for a Day:

https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/queen-for-a-day/‎

Queen of the Monkey Women:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/queen-of-the-monkey-women/

Rain Continuing Tonight and Tomorrow:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/rain-continuing-tonight-and-tomorrow

Ring the Night Bell:
https://literaryfictions.com/2018/05/17/ring-the-night-bell/

Saddle Oxfords:

https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/saddle-oxfords/

Schooled in Depravity:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/schooled-in-depravity/

Seascape:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/seascape/

See a Show, Smoke a Lucky:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/see-a-show-smoke-a-lucky/

Shall We Have a Cigarette on It?:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/shall-we-have-a-cigarette-on-it/

She Wants a Boy She Can Dominate:
https://literaryfictions.com/she-wants-a-boy-she-can-dominate/

Sleep Will Banish Sorrow:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/sleep-will-banish-sorrow/

Society Wedding:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/society-wedding/

Some Dinosaurs Die in Their Sleep:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/some-dinosaurs-die-in-their-sleep/

Sometimes I’m Happy:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/sometimes-im-happy/

Sorority Girl Ties the Knot:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/sorority-girl-ties-the-knot/

State Line:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/state-line/

Suicide Hotel:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/suicide-hotel-2/

The Beauty Box:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/the-beauty-box/

The Business of Doing Good:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/the-business-of-doing-good/

The Christmas Club:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/the-christmas-club/

The Clown Who Stole Lady Chatterley’s Lover:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/the-clown-who-stole-lady-chatterleys-lover/

The Day Belongs to the Rain:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/the-day-belongs-to-the-rain/

The Disappearing Boy:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/230-2/

The Doctor Will See You Now:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/the-doctor-will-see-you-now/

The Last Hour of the Day:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/the-last-hour-of-the-day/

The Man Who Prepared Himself for Death:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/the-man-who-prepared-himself-for-death/

The Midnight Hideaway:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/the-midnight-hideaway/

The Monster’s Vision of Heaven:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/the-monsters-vision-of-heaven/

The Queen Bee of Café Society:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/the-queen-bee-of-cafe-society/

The Ruined City:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/the-ruined-city/

The Same Chair at the Same Table:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/the-same-chair-at-the-same-table/

The Seeing-Eye Mouse:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/the-seeing-eye-mouse-2/

The Story of the Wig:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/the-story-of-the-wig/

The Teddy Bear Phase:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/the-teddy-bear-phase/

The Truth About Lizzie Shennick:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/the-truth-about-lizzie-shennick/

The Widow’s Mite:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/the-widows-mite/

The Wolves are Waiting:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/the-wolves-are-waiting/‎

The Woman with the Broken Shoe:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/the-woman-with-the-broken-shoe/

The Yack-Yack Club:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/the-yack-yack-club/

Threes:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/threes/

Tomorrow You Shall Find me a Grave Man:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/tomorrow-you-shall-find-me-a-grave-man/

Training Wheels:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/training-wheels/

Ugly as Sin:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/ugly-as-sin/

Uncle Billy’s Funeral:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/uncle-billys-funeral/

‎Until We Meet Again:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/until-we-meet-again/

Verisimilitude:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/verisimilitude/

We Don’t Ask Much of You:
https://literaryfictions.com/2018/05/10/we-dont-ask-much-of-you/

Welcome to the Neighborhood:
https://literaryfictions.com/2018/07/05/welcome-to-the-neighborhood/

What Better Night Than Christmas Eve?
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/what-better-night-than-christmas-eve-2/

What the Young Matron is Wearing:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/what-the-young-matron-is-wearing/

When He Saw They Were Dead:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/when-he-saw-they-were-dead/

When My Turn Comes:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/when-my-turn-comes/‎

Where I’m Going:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/where-im-going/

Where the Frogs Are:
https://literaryfictions.com/where-the-frogs-are/

Without Sin:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/without-sin/

Your Friend August Wellington:
https://literaryfictions.com/short-stories/your-friend-august-wellington/