Are There Similar Sites To ASSTR For Stories?

I surrendered long ago to Project Rastko. Every time I tried to use the site to find something I ended up getting lost in three clicks reading something entirely irrelevant. I’ll wait for someone to post a direct link to one of these ‘classics’ people are talking about. I don’t have the exploratory skills for Rastko. 90s internet was a different beast and I’m a modern creature that can’t survive without a search bar on a site.

There’s something thrillingly ephemeral about online stories – you never know when they’re going to vanish into thin air. Perhaps the author will delete the work, or the whole site will collapse in on itself and shut down forever. Either way, there’s a sense of reading-by-timemachine that’s opposite to the current model of permanently storing stuff online in virtual clouds. It’s all so fragile, and therefore all the more special when you do come across a good ‘un – rather like stumbling upon a rare and dusty book in a second-hand shop. And it’s a salutary reminder that not everything on the net is here to stay.

I am also highly skeptical of claims to have found a “legit” free full-text site. It is possible that the site in question is not “official” (i.e. sanctioned by the copyright holder) or that the speaker is actually describing a library portal and not making it clear. Even in authorizing free access to the material (as a library does), that access is not directly from the publisher and thus is not “free” in the monetary sense. What one means by “officially-sanctioned free access” to material is thus typically either unauthorized (i.e. “pirate” site) free access or free access authorized by someone other than the publisher. In discussions of this property, these two types of “free” access get frequently blurred.

If you're looking to publish 'short sex stories', you'll want platforms that cater to adult content while offering a mix of visibility and community engagement. Literotica is a classic choice—it’s been around for ages and has a massive audience. The site is user-friendly, and stories are organized by categories, making it easy for readers to find your work. It’s also free to publish, though monetization options are limited. Another solid option is Smashwords, which distributes erotica to major retailers like Apple Books and Barnes & Noble. You can set your own prices, and the platform is indie-author friendly. For a more modern approach, consider Medium’s adult sections or even Patreon if you want to build a subscription-based audience. Just be mindful of each platform’s content guidelines—some are stricter than others.

The Reynard the Fox stories I read are another reason why I love folklore: it’s all about the underdog (be it two-legged or four) outsmarting the bigger, more powerful foes. While not exactly the same sort of tales, The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov features the devil in Moscow, and his pet Behemoth is pure, unadulterated chaos energy, just like Reynard the Fox. Animal tricksters from around the world feature in a plethora of wonderful stories – many Native American tales feature the Great Trickster Coyote, for instance. And there are plenty of African Anansi stories too, all fun, wise and of a high standard. A recently purchased book, Trickster Makes This World by Lewis Hyde, has reinforced my love of such characters and their stories.

Project Gutenberg has an 'interactive fiction' section with a number of classic choose-your-own-adventure style gamebooks from Project Gutenberg. While not exactly interactive fiction in the modern sense, some of the books, such as the ‘Lone Wolf’ series and ‘Heart of Ice’ are classics of the genre and have complex stories with a surprising amount of player control. Reading them online through an interpreter that handles the page turning and inventory management for you makes them easy to read. For adults interested in the roots of interactive storytelling, the ‘interactive fiction’ section of Project Gutenberg is a rich and free resource. Often the prose is dense and the challenges to the player are merciless and need to be solved through careful planning and mapping of the game world.

There's a certain magic in Dickens' children's stories—that blend of warmth, hardship, and hope. If you're looking for something with a similar vibe, I'd start with Frances Hodgson Burnett's 'The Secret Garden' and 'A Little Princess.' Both have that Victorian-era setting and themes of resilience, just like 'Oliver Twist' or 'A Christmas Carol.' Burnett's heroines face bleak circumstances but find light through kindness and imagination, which feels very Dickensian. Then there's 'The Water Babies' by Charles Kingsley—a quirky, moralistic tale that mixes fantasy with social commentary, much like Dickens' own allegorical style. For something grittier, try 'Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates' by Mary Mapes Dodge. It’s less known today, but it has that same mix of adventure and moral lessons, wrapped in a snowy Dutch landscape. And if you love the episodic, character-driven nature of Dickens, 'Little Women' by Louisa May Alcott might scratch that itch. It’s not as dark, but the March sisters’ struggles and joys echo the emotional depth of Dickens’ young protagonists. Honestly, revisiting any of these feels like stepping into a world where even the harshest realities are softened by a thread of hope.

So long as you understand what you mean by “best,” Amazon’s KDP is still by far the largest audience and the greatest profit potential. We publish directly to Kindle Unlimited. Note, however, that Amazon’s rules for content are notoriously vague and that books can be “deleted” at any time for no clear reason. Smashwords is a great way to get into distribution with a writer-friendly platform that has a good scope of distribution to retailers such as Apple’s iBookstore, Kobo, Barnes & Noble and more. They charge 10-15% for ebooks that are non-epub (which means they convert your work for you). The largest trick to consider when it comes to publishing adult content is how each platform considers it in terms of promotion. While many platforms allow adult content, some of them refuse to promote it. As a result, it ends up getting lost in the puddle of all of the other content. So, be sure to consider this when deciding on a platform to publish your work.

If you enjoyed the historical aspect of ‘Typhoid Mary’, you may enjoy ‘The Great Influenza’ by John M. Barry. Another book which combines personal stories with the wider social history, this time covering the 1918 flu pandemic rather than a single person. Plenty of tragedy but plenty of resilience too. Another book on this topic, ‘Patient Zero’ by Marilee Peters, is a YA novel about disease detectives. It is a much lighter read than ‘The Great Influenza’ and ‘Typhoid Mary’ but does give an insight into how much we have learned about illness and how much we still don’t know.

I assume there must be someone out there running a backup of the archive and perhaps even accepting submissions on obscure contact pages. But as far as I can tell, that archive would be a ghost town and – most importantly – dead conversations (comments, reactions from the community etc.) would not be revivable even in such a scenario. Writing is a conversation. You write and others react to it and that can even affect what you write next. Post to an inactive archive and you’re delivering a monologue to an empty room. Go find a room where people are talking. Listen in for a while, then join in. That’s how you get to be part of a writing community these days.