Category: Fiction

  • The Dogs by Stephen Orr

    The Dogs by Stephen Orr

    “You’re going to have to try harder, sir.” The old man pushed down on the unmade bed, the yellowing sheets, the stale rugs, the scent of Bill and semen and the true, sea-smelling salt of life.

  • Swinney Lane, Insanely New by David Gladwin

    Swinney Lane, Insanely New by David Gladwin

    Heated unseasonably, ground baking dry, every lawn shrinks a fingerwidth back. Track. Daily I walk town and country, find newly-mysterious things. Images, scratched into stone and dried earth, made from twigs. The same figure, I figure. The artist unknown. But I watch, for the pure joy of seeing. The being. Whomever, whenever. Awaited, awoke.

  • A Scotsman in Prague by John Szamosi

    A Scotsman in Prague by John Szamosi

    “I’ve been here ten years and love the place. Prague is a great city; sound economy, a unique culture, affordable housing and a decent selection of lager. Still there’s one thing living among the Czechs that captivates us expats more than anything else: there’s little or no crime here.

  • It’s Been Burning for a While by Anna Booraem

    It’s Been Burning for a While by Anna Booraem

    On the shore, Helen hiked up her pants. She shaded her eyes with a freckled hand. There, way out there. A plume of smoke. What was it? “It’s a barge,” Frank said, shaking out his newspaper and digging his feet further into the sand. “What do you mean, a barge?” Helen felt herself spit at…

  • Wet Blankets by Victor Okechukwu

    Wet Blankets by Victor Okechukwu

    Kingsley lay on the straight-small bed in the backyard where they carried him. It was warm under the sagging roof, with a pile of assorted junk in one corner – a dirty motor tyre, sundry split and warped boxes, and an old display sign where the enamelling had cracked away to reveal the map of…

  • Footprints by Stefanie Shapiro

    Footprints by Stefanie Shapiro

    Her lithe body sprawled across the sand, caking her in dirt, grit, and purity. Her face turned skywards, suntanning, soaking in warmth and light. She walked to the ocean’s edge, dipped her pink-painted toes into the cool, rough waters. Running in wet sand, her footprints erased by the sea.

  • Free Hugs by Odi Welter

    Free Hugs by Odi Welter

    I give the dying man a hug. Then I take his money. He walks away. Healed. He’s gained a few more years in exchange for a sizable dent in his bank account, and I’ve lost a year of my life in exchange for a sizable increase in my bank account. My hugs certainly aren’t free.

  • Worm by M. L. Owen

    Worm by M. L. Owen

    Worm was three steps down the hallway when the voices reached past his ears to his brain. “I’m sorry that I can’t get my patients to schedule their problems to suit your needs.”

  • The Colour of Lavender by Merel Schreurs

    The Colour of Lavender by Merel Schreurs

    She wore a bracelet of pale purple, and then there was the scent. A continuous bouquet of lavender that followed her like a natural cloud of perfume. He remembered this in particular as if he had watched her wade through the corridors in her habit just a few hours ago.

  • Domino by Anthony Ward

    Domino by Anthony Ward

    I preside in darkness. In this coffin. For what seems like eternities. Crammed like sardines with the other twenty-seven. All made of bone. Then, out of the blackness we hear muffled sounds of voices accompanied by coughing. We become weightless, knocking against each other as we rattle around in a quake. A shaft of light…