Rated per story
Six lanes · new episodes weekly

Stories for the late hours.

Horror, romance, crime, gothic, dystopia, and the unsettling true-ish. Every story carries its own rating and its own content notes, so you can pick the intensity as deliberately as the genre.

No account needed to read the first episode of anything.*

* Except the Adult lane. Level 4 is explicit throughout, and reading any of it needs an account and age verification — from the first episode, not the second.

Cover art placeholders — awaiting illustration
The rack

Six lanes. Pick your dark.

Lanes are genres, not intensities. A horror story can be mild and a romance can be explicit, which is why the rating lives on the story rather than the shelf.

The rating

Four levels, and notes that say what actually happens.

A number tells you how hard it hits. The notes tell you what it contains. You get both before the first line.

Level 1 · Mild

Tension and atmosphere. Nothing graphic, nothing sexual beyond suggestion. Safe to read anywhere.

Closed door. No on-page violence.

Level 2 · Dark

Real menace, real consequence. Violence occurs but is not lingered on. Sexual content is implied or brief.

Fade to black. Injury described.

Level 3 · Intense

Graphic in one register or another — violence, fear, or sex — and written to affect you. Adult readers.

Explicit scenes. Body horror.

Adult

Level 4 · Unflinching

The hardest material we publish, in horror or in erotica or both. An account and age verification are required to read it.

18+ verified. Explicit throughout.

Graphic violenceExplicit sexBody horrorGoreDeath of a childAnimal harmSelf-harmSuicideSexual violenceCoercionAddictionMedical detailClaustrophobiaReal events

Content notes are written by the story's editor, not generated, and they are specific by design — "death of a child" rather than "disturbing themes." Spoilers are the price of the warning being useful, and we think that is the right trade. Any note you would rather not see in advance can be collapsed behind a tap.

Before you browse

Set your ceiling once.

Tell the shelf how hard you want to be hit and what you never want to read. Stories past your ceiling stay visible but marked, so you always know what you are choosing to open.

  • Saved on this device only. No account, no server, no tracking on this panel.
  • Changeable at any time, including in the middle of an episode.
  • Level 4 needs an account and age verification, whatever your ceiling says.
  • We hide nothing from you. Marked is not the same as blocked.
Nothing saved yet. Shelf is showing everything.
This month

Six openings, first episode free.

Your saved limits are applied to this shelf. Anything past your ceiling is greyed and labeled rather than removed.

Horror

The Tenant Above

Written by M. Halloway · 8 episodes

The footsteps upstairs keep her company for eleven months. In the twelfth she learns the flat above hers was demolished in 1974.

Level 3 · Intense
Graphic violenceBody horror
Past your ceiling — open anyway?
Erotic

Eight Weeks in the Off Season

Written by Nadia Ferreira · 12 episodes

A hotel closes for the winter and keeps two staff on. Neither of them mentions the arrangement afterwards, which is the whole story.

Level 4 · Unflinching
Explicit sex18+ verified
Past your ceiling — open anyway?
Read episode 1Account required
Thriller

Nine Minutes of Tape

Written by D. Osei · 10 episodes

A parking garage camera recorded everything except the nine minutes that matter. Four people remember those minutes differently, and one of them is lying well.

Level 2 · Dark
Graphic violence
Past your ceiling — open anyway?
Gothic

Mrs. Ashgrove Regrets

Written by Cleo Bantry · 6 episodes

The invitations went out in 1911 and the guests have not stopped arriving. A comedy of manners in a house that will not let anyone leave.

Level 1 · Mild
No content flags
Past your ceiling — open anyway?
Speculative

The Consent Registry

Written by Yuki Arai · 9 episodes

Every agreement she has ever made is searchable, and the system has begun filling in the ones she has not made yet.

Level 2 · Dark
Medical detail
Past your ceiling — open anyway?
True-ish

The Lighthouse Ledger

Written by R. Vance · 7 episodes

Three keepers walked off an island in 1900 and the logbook kept being written. Sourced from the record where the record exists, and marked where it does not.

Level 3 · Intense
Real eventsDeath of a child
Past your ceiling — open anyway?

Level 4 stories need an account and age verification before the first episode, so the free opening does not apply to that lane. Nothing on this shelf is hidden from anyone; the limits panel marks, it does not block.

Write for us

Six ways to get paid for this.

Rate, rights, and credit stated before you send anything. Non-explicit and explicit work are contracted separately.

Open · all six lanes

Episode Writer

Serial fiction in any lane, 1,800–3,000 words per episode. You pitch the arc; we commission by the outline.

Rate
Per word on acceptance, plus a fee for a commissioned outline. Paid within 15 days.
Credit
Legal name, pseudonym, or none. Changeable later, including after publication.
Rights
Non-exclusive, named-title license. You keep everything else.
Open · audio

Narrator

Recorded narration from a script you read before accepting. Refuse any line without explaining why.

Rate
Per finished hour, plus a share of episode revenue for a defined term.
Credit
Voice only. Likeness is never requested or stored, and voice cloning is prohibited by contract.
Rights
Named-title license, 24 months, renewable only by you.
Open · per story

Content Editor

You write the ratings and the content notes. It is the job that makes the rest of this site work, and it is a real one.

Rate
Hourly, or per completed story rating with notes.
Credit
Named on the story's rating panel if you want to be.
Rights
None requested. Hourly or per-piece work.
Open · illustration

Cover Artist

One cover per title, plus lane furniture. Illustrative rather than photographic, and never a likeness of a real person. You read the story, or a synopsis if you would rather not.

Rate
Per accepted cover, plus a revision fee if we change the brief after acceptance.
Credit
Named on the story page and in the file metadata. Pseudonym accepted.
Rights
Named-title license for the cover only. Print and merchandise are separately negotiated, never assumed.
Open · audio

Audio Engineer

Edit, mix and master narrated episodes. You work from the recording and the script, and you never need to hear an explicit title if you would rather not — assignment is by lane.

Rate
Per finished episode, or hourly for repair work on an existing master.
Credit
Named in the episode credits if you want to be. Many prefer not, and that is normal here.
Rights
None requested. The master is work for hire; your tools, presets and chains stay yours.
Open · per series

Series Editor

Own an arc across a whole title: pacing, continuity, and whether an ending has been earned. Distinct from the Content Editor, who rates a finished story rather than shapes it.

Rate
Per series on commission, paid in stages against agreed milestones rather than on delivery.
Credit
Named on every episode in the series. Removable at your request, including after publication.
Rights
None requested. Editorial direction is not authorship and we do not claim it as such.

Rates are illustrative pending counsel approval of worker classification and payment terms. Nothing here is an offer of employment. What will not change: the rate and the rights are on the card before you send us a word.