You Never Asked Me to Stay

A short story by Anthony Marigold

Imagine it was 1925, when literature was at its peak, and you could pay a small amount to read the manuscripts of [insert one of your favorite writers here]. For that fee you could access it before almost everyone else, critique it, and talk to him about it. That’s pretty cool.

We can do that now. That’s why I’m adding a paywall to my fiction. I want to become one of your favorite writers, who you’d be happy to patronize.

But I understand that not everyone can pay to read my writing. So all you have to do is DM or email me (anthonymarigold at proton dot me), and I’ll un-gate these posts for you. In return all I ask is that you support my work in another way:

• Leaving thoughtful criticism in the comments (or via email).

• Regularly sharing my work (notes, posts, etc).

• Buying me a coffee.

• Something else that makes sense for you.

Please do not feel bad about reaching out and requesting. These forms of support are fantastic.

One other note: I don’t like reading fiction on the app, or via email, so I’m attaching this story as a PDF. Ideally you print it out, but reading it in the Preview app works too.

Thank you all.