Category: All Stories

All Stories, Historical

Shinmiyangyo, 1971 by Samuel T. Hake.

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Dock-tailed and white-eyed, the aged collie barked at a boy’s approach. The boy halted and then crept on in silence. Her cloudy gaze remained fixed. Twenty paces down he turned and watched the blind animal still shouting threats at that vacated point. He stood dumb, impressed. Something caught his eye in the rear of Train Man’s house. It was a dark figure swinging a large hammer in the perpetual motion of an oil derrick, and from that ceaseless striking of steel on steel emanated a violence so general it seemed part of the air.

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All Stories, Science Fiction

Bunker Cleaning Lady by Franny French

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They only had time to perfect the robot dog, and the robot car, and the robot bank teller, which still eyed people like me with suspicion. And the robot mail carriers, whose knee socks would not stay up. And the robot Walmart greeters, whose human accents weren’t much better than the old GPS bots that put the emphasis on the wrong syllable (“Take a left onto ML … K-Junior Boulevard”). And the robot armed-agents-of-the-state, which, it’s weird, actually did resemble pigs. Before the outside air became unbreathable, they never got around to perfecting the robot house cleaner. That left them no choice but to save people like me, laborers who more and more had gotten used to things not working in our favor.

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All Stories, Fantasy

The Monster at the end of this Tale by Mohammed Babajide Mohammed

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Growing up as a Nigerian meant that your parents filled your head with all sorts of supernatural phenomena. When we were children, my mother would tell us these euphoric stories, a lot of which kept us up all night, like they kept a lot of other kids around us up at night as they too were being told these stories in their own homes.

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All Stories, General Fiction, Horror

Gentlemens’ Agreement by Steven French

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As one of the new faculty members at a small Midwestern college, I used to get the short straw when it came to various off-campus activities, such as ‘community outreach’. Basically, that involved a long drive out to some godforsaken rural township in the middle of nowhere to give a talk on local history to a bunch of bored Shriners. Who never asked questions, never showed any more interest than ‘that’s another event ticked off the calendar’ and who wouldn’t even stump up for dinner afterwards. Which meant hunting down a diner somewhere for a slice of pie as a reward to myself, partnered with a stay-awake coffee and refill.

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All Stories, Science Fiction

Last Stable Backup by Ed Dearnley

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“Harry… Harry…”

The voice was muffled, barely audible.         

Who was Harry?

A foaming mess of memories flooded into his head, a tidal wave of information he could barely comprehend.

The wave retreated, leaving a simple truth washed up amongst the flotsam and jetsam. 

He was Harry.

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All Stories, General Fiction, Historical

An Appreciation of Alfredo Epps’ ‘The Last Jacobite’ by Michael Bloor

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Alexander Korda’s 1948 film ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’, starring a moustache-less David Niven, was a famous flop, in both Britain and America.  At the time, it was suggested by the critics that Niven had been miscast, but Alfredo Epps’ new release, ‘The Last Jacobite,’ implies that there was a deeper problem with Korda’s original movie. Namely, that the main character was at fault, not the main star.

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All Stories, Fantasy

Knockers by Amy Tryphena

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William Wendron balanced on a wooden stool, wedged into the corner of the old pub, leaning upon the slate bar top. A crooked half smile fixed upon his face; old hands deformed with arthritis by years of toil in the damp with pick and axe. He grappled with his mug, draining the last of the sour gin down his throat. He welcomed the warmth spreading out from his gut, encompassing his wizened body; worn before its time, the pain of years of hard labour dulled under the gin’s spell. He knew he should not have another; he had promised the mine captain he would stop turning up in the morning stinking of gin with glazed eyes. Despite the ember of guilt in his conscience he shouted for the barmaid.

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All Stories, General Fiction

The Wave by D J Roosh

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His wife smiles as she looks over at him, slipping her hand over top of his. They sit in rented beach chairs not far from where their three small children are playing in the sand. Digging up ‘rivers’ for the sea to flow into and filter out of. Sand castles that are hastily built and quickly moved on from. Splashes in the cool surf washing far enough inland to get their ankles wet.

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All Stories, Sunday whoever

Sunday Whoever

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Time for another delve into the darkest secrets of one of our favourite writers. Alexander Sinclair first joined the Literally Stories family back in 2020 and has built up quite a list of shorts. It is a fascinating mix of work, well written, intriguing, and entertaining rather like his answers to our writer’s interview questions. Here is what he told us. p.s. This editor is fascinated by his answer to question 16!?

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