All Stories, Humour

European Dishwasher Stacking Championship by Michael Smith

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This year’s competition, held in Zurich, will see strong challenges from the Eastern European bloc, hoping to break the Scandinavian dominance of recent years. However, three time champion, Roine Svensson, remains the bookies’ firm favourite to retain his title. Dimitri Zitesev, head of the Bulgarian delegation, was adamant however, “Our men have been training all year for this event. We are very confident.” Despite the dark cloud that hangs over their participation, Zitesev insists, “the doping allegations have not distracted us from our goal.”

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All Stories, Horror

Hades Lounge by Jacob Otira    

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Part I:

HELLS KITCHEN

An arachnid-type beast roasts portions of sin-marinated corpses from inside a furnace in hell. Its tentacles slither along the hallways that connect Hell’s kitchen to the abyss, while holding onto non-silver platters filled with well-done souls for beings of the underworld to feast on.

As a passerby behemoth helps itself to a portion of sin-glazed appetizers, an ascetic’s essence is delivered as an array of gourmet selections to the holiest orders in Hades’ lounge. The martyr’s soul bears too much essence for Beelzebub and his priests, and so most of it is served to visiting heathens from heaven.

It’s here in Hades’ lounge where all energies made manifest by man’s thought, word, and emotion are fed to the holiest of deities after death—to again manifest life through rebirth.

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Latest News, Short Fiction

Week 558 – News Stories, Ritchson Was Closer By A Mile And Come Back Next Week

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Here we are at Week 558 which is just before the special 559. I’ll mention this later.

I had my usual look at the papers this week and a few things tipped my interest…Or should I say poked my anger!!!!

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All Stories, Crime/Mystery/Thriller

The Wood Places by Ena Kaitch

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   “It’s great of you to come and hear me speak. I know that’s not actually what’s going on; saying that makes it seem like this meeting is the product of a request or a personal choice. I like that. I prefer it to the alternative of having to introduce myself and explain a little about why I’m here. We all know why I’m here.”

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All Stories, Crime/Mystery/Thriller

A Nobel Ending by Steven French

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Frank paused as he left the hotel and looked up and down Skomakargatan. With the sky shading into a deeper blue, lights were already coming on along the narrow street. To the left was Stortorget Square and Stockholm’s famous Christmas Market which he and Ellen had strolled around earlier that day. Exhausted from the jetlag and needing some rest from the bustle of the crowds, she was fast asleep in their room but Frank had too much nervous energy still and had decided to burn some off with a brisk walk.

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Fantasy, Short Fiction

The Saragun Civil War by Leila Allison

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Auntie Bellum

Every society must schedule at least one civil war during its existence. It appears to be an unwritten cosmic law. Far be it from Saragun Springs to scoff at unwritten cosmic laws by continuously living in peace when such is considered abnormal.

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General Fiction, Short Fiction

Most of the Things He Remembered Took Place Long Before He was Born * by J Bradley Minnick

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Neither Mr. Dunner nor I knew which now-gone relative carefully placed the photographs in the chimneys. Had it not been for Mr. Dunner’s care, we wouldn’t have known the photographs existed. All that I know for sure is that Old Da, my grandmother, took up each newly discovered photograph and studied the emergence of her former self (portrayed in various instants), but there was more to it than that. I’ve come to believe that all the while she was either healing or dying, and I expect we were both waiting for some coda of presentiment.

Let’s go back to the beginning:

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All Stories, General Fiction

Willie the Postie and the Humpbacked Bridge by Michael Bloor

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I’d dropped into the Gordon Arms the other night, expecting to watch my team in a death-or-glory relegation struggle on the pub’s sports channel. Instead, they were screening some jaw-cracking yawn of a European game (how could you ever get excited about a team called ‘Borussia Mönchengladbach’?). I was just about to drain my pint and head home, when I recognised a familiar big red face grinning at me from a table in the corner. It was Willie the Postie, now retired, who I hadn’t seen for a couple of years. So I bought us a couple of pints and we settled down for a catch-up.

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All Stories, sunday whatever

Sunday Whatever – The Killer -An Essay by Dale Willliam Barrigar

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          “Honey don’t walk out – I’m too drunk to follow.” – Tom Petty

Written on October 31, 2022, and later recovered from the files:

Jack Kerouac, from his position as a marginalized, criticized, and rejected American prophet, wrote about the “big American night, redder and darker all the time.” He noted that the night was “closing in,” and concluded that “there is no home.” In his song “The Waiting,” Tom Petty sings, or screams, at least four times, “Don’t let them get to you,” and, “Don’t let it get to you.” The prophetic shout of American rock and roll came to early and lasting perfection in one of Petty’s greatest heroes, Jerry Lee Lewis, “The Killer,” the best of them all.

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