I am standing on the beach. The sand under my feet feels like soot. An uncanny, organic look emerges from the bowing, rusting skeletons of the sea-view skyscrapers. He is gone, like his father, into the ominous, omnipotent water.
Continue reading “Disconsolate Chimeras by Jie Wang”
This early gem, The Number 26 by our own Diane M. Dickson, involves a group of lives which end with the cessation of one heart.
Continue reading “Literally Reruns – The Number 26 by Diane M Dickson (11th December)”
Beware the Vicars of Obfuscation
I recently saw a documentary in which a scientist discussing the Big Bang said that there is a condition in which something can arise from nothing but went on to say that it is too difficult to explain what that means. Although I am positive that there are lots of equations in the explanation, the scientist was guilty of a form of religious hypocrisy; he behaved as though it were a secret knowledge to be dispensed to the unwashed by the learned on a need to know basis. The way it was with the clergy of the middle ages.
Continue reading “Week 406:Beware of the Vicars of Obfuscation; the Week that Remains and the Eight Articles of Rat Bastard”
“Turn that off!”
The dog nudged his elbow for a little attention
“You don’t like NY1?”
“Of course I do, but we are still in pre-game mode”
“Oh yeah?” she replied playfully.
Continue reading “Iced Coffee by Adam Kluger”
“Is that all?” she asks.
He offers her the strap of woven hessian. She runs it through her fingers feeling the soft weave.
“All natural materials,” he says, “natural colouring, as strong as steel and 98% recyclable.”
“What about the buckle bit?”
“The ratchet.”
He hands her the item. She turns it and lifts the bar. The click is sharp and staccato in the over stuffed office.
Continue reading “A New World by Peter O’Connor”
Frank noticed the couple when the Antique Collective shop doorbell clanged. Even to this day, he expected to see his wife June pass through that door as the bell reverberated. The couple came inside. She a bit mousy and dressed with some expense to look like she shopped at thrift stores; he was in expensive clothes meant to look expensive with a smartphone glued to his ear. They were the kind of patrons the collective needed to survive. They were the kind to admire his craftsmanship, while still needing furniture and having the revenue to purchase.
Continue reading “A Left-Handed Woman by Ann Harper Reed”
Lana Jardine always told me she’d be taken in the rapture, when God would gather up true Christians just before the apocalypse. She accepted Jesus as her Lord and Saviour, so she’d never burn in hell. “I confessed my sins,” she said. “And he saved me.”
Continue reading “The Music of Lana Jardine by Harrison Kim”
To whoever has the misfortune to find and listen to this recording, this is not a hoax, joke, or the results of delirium, hallucination, or a fevered drug dream. My name is Oslo Jennings, and I’m a 64-year-old victim of a fatal heart attack while driving. My medical records at the San Juan Medical Center document I was dead for 4 minutes and 33 seconds.
Continue reading “A Hell of a Story Part 2 by Frederick K Foote”
As advertised, our stories come from all over the world. Although most are from the West due mainly to this being an English language site, we are often given sensitive, intelligent glimpses into the mores of various cultures. Still, when you get to it and remove all the traditions, we are all human and hurt much the same.
Continue reading “Literally Reruns-They Always Welcomed Visitors by Mariam Saidan”
I had a wee ‘conversation’ with James McEwan a couple of weeks back in our anniversary post and this got me thinking on one of my huge bug-bearers – Double standards.
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