For an Underground station Putney Bridge is peculiarly ill-placed. For a start it’s around thirty feet up in the air. The District Line, of which it’s part, only becomes subterranean ten minutes or so up the track to Earl’s Court. Between there and here it’s an aerial ride through the rooftops, roof terraces and loft conversions of trendy Fulham. A
Read moreI don’t think that there’s any reason to panic. I mean the whole thing is kind of strange quite honestly and I don’t know what time to expect to happen. It’s all very strange. Of course there seems to be more things going on. I get the feeling that the sun is coming up soon. The shadows seem to be
Read moreJohn Gage stepped through the double doors of the Seaside Vista Motel and into the glare of a cloudless dawn. With a deep breath came the realization that a strong rain could wash away just about anything. Even the lingering aroma of the cannery and sour stink of the fishing fleet anchored at road’s end had been replaced with the
Read more“It’s too far away to go by myself. I’m begging you.” Aida Firenze stood before him, and even in Europa’s tiny gravity, slightly less than that of the Earth’s moon, there was no question of pushing her aside. Her expression gave a good clue as to how the quiet-looking ESA exobiologist had gotten herself a ticket on the first ship
Read moreCHAPTER 1: SARDINES Gordon’s eyebrows are far too big for his face, for any face in fact – big bushy things that leer out over the hollows of his beady eyes and tax-collector spectacles. She’d always thought so, you can tell, but now they’re close, far too close, almost touching her, as he tries to squeeze his way into a
Read moreI Jordan Vesper toyed with the olive in her martini glass, gazing solemnly into the clear liquid feeling its coolness against her fingertip. Soft piano music played in the background of the café/bar, known as The Violet Hour. Picking up the toothpick laid next to her drink she sensed something and glanced behind her, searching through the smoky hue of
Read moreRain crashed down onto the muddy field, swimming downhill through ranks of men. Ove looked up, iron helm heavy on his skull. He scratched his neck under a thick auburn beard and ducked his head down, trying to keep the rain out of his eyes. A thick heat swelled deep in his stomach, when he finally saw the approaching castle.
Read moreThey say your life flashes in front of your eyes before you die. I had been suffering with a chest infection for a few weeks and had been feeling very peculiar. Antiobiotics hadn’t shifted it. Lying in bed one night I found my memories cycling before my closed eyes. I sat bolt upright, my heart beating fast; 00:59 glowed softly
Read moreErik has sewn a thousand tabs of LSD into the seam of the strap in his backpack. A sheet of Purple Ohms neatly cut into long strips of fifty-by-two and carefully wrapped in clear cellophane. He has kept fifty for the journey and has them stowed under the tight skin of his African drum. “We’re going to walk to Glasto,
Read more‘Pull yourself together,’ Messalina said to Henri Delacourt, as they sat in the Limehouse Water Bar. The ancient poet in the tatty blue corduroy jacket stared down into his vodka club soda. She could only see bushy grey brows where eyes should be. So irritating, she thought; if you’re going to ask my opinion at least have the courtesy to
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