Short Stories

The Alternative List With the local elections coming up Jane and I decide to drive to the Sous-Préfecture in the regional town and ask for advice on voting. Our request is met by a blank look. “What happens?” I ask. “You go to the Mairie and you vote,” replies the young woman, rather sniffily. “Will …

I Got Beat At The Park I’ve been feeling really bad lately since my mom is feeling so bad. I talk to her daily, but there is no conversation anymore. We used to talk about the books we were reading, TV shows we were watching, foods we were preparing, current events, and more. But she …

Echoes Among The Columns The great god Ra had not yet arisen from his bed beyond the world of man. Neither had the members of the royal household of Egypt who still slept soundly in the cool air of the palace. No one heard the faint clattering sound of a wooden stylus and a wax …

Macfarlane Left the Stick in Joint Jenny Macfarlane had never run before. She had waddled up the stairs when late for a meeting, cursing and panting. She had sprinted for a bus and then been too puffed to ask for the correct ticket. She had begged her children to stop running through the house when …

Weather I don’t know the science behind it but there’s a period every year when, after a long spell of rain, a thunderstorm roars up like a gang of Hell’s Angels gatecrashing a party. At its worst it rips out trees, tears off roofs and hurls hailstones the size of golfballs that smash roof-tiles and …

The Lizard and the Golden Fish A small lizard stood motionless next to a garden pond, his eyes fixed on a swirl in the water below. Beneath the water’s surface glided an exquisitely beautiful fish. Never in this life had he seen anything as lovely; the fishes’ scales gleamed an amazing golden color, her tail …

Out On A Limb Long before it happened, Soldier knew the end of his world was coming. In truth, it was only as a consequence of his caste that Soldier appreciated better than most where the threat to their small and fragile world really lay. Queen could never have noticed or understood, even if she …

Bleeding Foolishly, I caught my finger in a gauge and it started bleeding. It was late at night. I put a bandage and went to bed. At first I really thought nothing of this incident. The next morning I woke up and my bed was soaked. Woltz! Somehow the cut did not stop bleeding during …

The Books The little girl lived with her mother in a small apartment in the city. An apartment full of all sorts of things. Mom liked old stuff. Things that had lived for a while without her. Things she could exchange with other things, give them away or change their place in the apartment. She …

Driving Licence – Part 2 As we walk back to the surgery a tiny car passes us. It’s so small it’s almost a toy and squeezed inside is a large, large man, who smiles broadly at us. “That was TweedleDee, wasn’t it?” says Jane. “Hmm… I can’t tell, but it was certainly a Tweedle,” I …

Driving Licence – Part 1 As we drive along the twisting lane clouds of mist are rising in the valley. “It’s as if a steam train has just been through,” I say dreamily to Jane. “That’ll be the legendary Chatel-Nooga Choo-Choo,” she replies. “You’re quick today. Can you remind me,” I say, “why exactly are …

Roggan’s Tower Everything that he had ever been told about the crumbling old tower high on the hills above the dead plains of Azurewrath was true after all. Shivers ran up Garren’s strong back as his vivid grey eyes took in every evil detail. The legend often told by storytellers, said it was once the …

Turning Japanese Running late. Slipped into my shoes without pulling the backs up. Easy to do. They’re so smoothly caved in now. Halfway to the station I stop, pull them on properly. Don’t want to lose them in the standing-only commute crowd. “Hmmm–no laces. Do I even own a pair with laces anymore?” Yes, just …

Nosferatu Diaries He believed he had been done an injustice. His kind and their image had been done the most unfair injustice through the ages. He often tossed this thought around in his pale bold head. He thought about it as he watched the man through the skylight window. The man roused from his sleep …

Terror Most mornings I wake up on the sofa. With news on the television. I enjoy falling asleep there. With the television on. Maybe I should watch TV in the bedroom. But it’s just not the same. I used to live in an old one-story farmhouse built in the late ‘20s and situated on 72 …

Blacklisted Written by Mary Crocco The position of his ears tells it all: pricked forward, he is signaling alertness, curiosity, or interest. Slightly flopped to the sides, he is relaxed, sleepy, or bored. If rotated backward, he is listening to something behind him. However, if they are rotated backward and flattened down against his neck, …

Allen’s Pledge By Brent Frysinger “Gram you’re lazy,” Amber said. “You’re a procrastinator, you have no motivation to do anything,” as she rolled over. Gram quickly thought to himself, “I have plenty of motivation to to screw you,” gesturing the middle finger with her back turned. “Yes I know I need to drop off this …

The White Lady By Michael C. Boxall Freighted with tapas and Concha y Toro and trailing ghosts in her glittering wake, the White Lady glides toward the quay, where a sparse crowd — ten? a dozen at most — raises a long yellow banner with black writing. From Peter’s daysailer Luca hears faint shouts across …

Runner’s Gauntlet By Jack Eason Albert Johnstone and his pal Dick Madison had both enlisted at the same time, barely twelve weeks after war had been declared in 1914. At the time, Dick was nineteen and Albert was barely eighteen. Since then three long and bitterly hard fought years had passed in the ‘war to …

Alex Russell’s iTest By Alex Russell The day for my eye test with Doctor Gerbil has arrived – I’ve only had to wait five weeks. It’s early May but Vichy, the spa town, feels like a sauna. We find the ophthalmologist’s surgery not at number four, as we had been told, but at number eleven. …

Get High By David Moon Every year when the weather turns a bit warmer, I think of that hot night in 1975. I had a summer job in the Purchasing Department of the American National Bank on North Main Street in Jacksonville, Florida. One of my co-workers there was a former high school basketball teammate, …

A Personal Tempest in Cape Coral by Dayna Reid The moist, warm, air carries hints of the sea, sand, and palm leaves in a single breath. A twenty-minute drive from town takes you to the ocean. Surrounded by canals, this is not Italy’s Venice … but an American Venice—Cape Coral, Florida. There are no quaint cobblestone streets and …

Footprints in the Sand By Isabella King The sea might wash away all trace of our existence – but the love we shared will always endure. I look out through my children’s open bedroom window towards the shimmering ocean below. Quiet little waves are lapping up on to the sand as the sun begins its …

The Classified Written by Mary Crocco The Ad read: Help Wanted. Individual needed to deliver telegrams. Must have own vehicle and insurance, must know Las Vegas area. Call 555-1212 for interview. Equal Opportunity Employer. Matt carefully read the ad and called to schedule an appointment for an interview. He was instructed to come in next …

Barry Humphries has always inspired me. Better known to many all around the world as Dame Edna Everidge, it is the other talents of Humphries that I have most admired. Writer, actor and teller of tales. I wrote the following piece based on the style and my memory of a monologue I once heard him …

I have been asked numerous times why I don’t write in popular genres such as romance, paranormal, vampire, urban fantasy or stories that involve wizards and pixies. Well, the honest answer is that I am just plain hopeless at it. But in an attempt to pacify the calls, here’s a good example of why. The …

My special guest today is Colette Caddle. Apart from being a well known Irish author, her other talents include drinking excessive amounts of tea and being a professional colour-coder of her larder. She also has a rather odd obsession with taxis. So read on and enjoy. Cabbie! Taxi Please! Taxi drivers are the same the …

My very special guest blogger today is Jack Eason. Author of Onet’s Tale. As fellow antipodeans lost in Europe, we share a special out of place experience. So sit back, read and enjoy a little taste of Jack’s wonderful writing.   The Endless War No one knew the reason why the ritualistic war had begun. …