He accepted the night. He always had. The street people never caused him any fear. It was a case of if he didn’t bother them, they wouldn’t bother him. The unapproachable demeanour which he carried also helped.
Category: Short Fiction
Literally Reruns – Swan River Daisy by Tom Sheehan
Ms Allison has revisited an old story by one of the site’s most prolific writers and we think it’s wonderful to see this having a new crack of the whip. Swan River Daisy is the story that she has pulled from the dusty archives and this is what she said.
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Amy by Darren Nuzzo and Toddy Smith
Chairs by Barrie Wayne Sherwood
“The planning of a new chair can take much longer than the actual construction,” Shinji said as he laid out his sketches. “No other kind of furniture has a purer function.”
Around the table stood three rows of sixteen year-olds dressed like old men in once-white shirts with the school crest on the pocket, ill-fitted black trousers with frayed hems, and green sandals. They jostled and pushed and muttered insults at one another.
Grendel’s Pouch by David W. Landrum
The baby had gone to sleep and the boys and Eva, her daughter, had gone to watch Manton drill with the other men in the exercise/muster the village held each month. She cherished the silence. It reminded her of the quiet of the convent—not a pleasant memory, but she did experience some beautiful moments in the years she lived there. She hurried to the kitchen table, wiped it clean, dried it, and spread out the fine linen cloth she had spent too much money on, opened a bottle of ink, got out a stylus, and began to write.
The Tall Man by Mark Joseph Kevlock
It was in the eighth year of her life that Becky truly became obsessed with The Tall Man. His coming, his arrival, was all she had to fear in the world. He could be upon her at any moment. Becky turned her mind away and sat Indian-style on the floor, playing with her dolls. She wondered if she would ever feel safe.
Week 197 – Critiquing, Commenting And Not Getting Wood
Hello there folks.
I just wanted to pass on that our Sunday Re-Run spot is doing very well. Leila has embraced this with her perception and wit, Dave Henson is there being thoughtful and selective and L’Erin has also thrown her pen or typing finger into the fold and we would keep asking that more of you get involved.
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This God is Going to Happen by Leila Allison
Once per year, Vicar meets her child at Altar. The event is a scheduled appointment, and means as much to both participants as an annual dental cleaning had meant to a First Form human being. For whatever reason, Awesome insists on yearly Vicar-class “mother-daughter” contact, which will terminate the year the color of the child’s skin changes from topaz to jet, thus signifying spiritual maturity. At that point onward, they will neither see nor think about each other again. Vicars are happily solitary beings, in keeping with Awesome’s self-image.
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Winter by Wm. Brett Hill
When I was seven the world blew up.
I was in the depths of a nightmare when my mother, tears streaming down her face and her voice raspy like torn cardboard, shook me awake and dragged me from bed. I was in the air before I knew what was happening, my favorite friend Fitzy hanging from my frightened grip as we bounded down the stairs and headed out the back door.
A Killer Mistake by Amber Aspinall
I was walking past his car when he decided to kill me.
I was supposed to be setting up the shop front display, he was supposed to be picking his son up from school. My friend covered for me, so I could have a cigarette – it had been seven hours, for god’s sake. As the impact hit my left side, I almost felt the need to scrabble to pick the fag back up.
