CHAPTER 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... Continue Reading →
Whyte City – Samuel Clark
I 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... Continue Reading →
The Siege – David Arnold
Rain 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... Continue Reading →
The Bio-Kam Technique – Sam Hall
They 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... Continue Reading →
The Hike – Paul Weil
Erik 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... Continue Reading →
In The Same Place – Matt Hobbs
‘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... Continue Reading →
Leave Them Be – Thomas Wood
A clock hung as guardian above the locked steel door. Each ticking second was a sledgehammer, shattering the darkened silence, slamming against the concrete slabs of the enclosure. He rolled in his bunk toward the wall, away from the contraption at the far end of the room. The metal frame groaned; each sight and sound... Continue Reading →
Pilgrimage of the Black Shepherd – Jack Barry
The dew had settled on the grass. Fog, dense, is the pressed cheek of the sky flush against the earth. The heavy water in the air fills the lungs. There are shapes in the mist, the great swelling figures cast shadows as they are born from the water, traverse the dewdrop grass, and dissolve again... Continue Reading →
Laborotics – Degen Hill
Electricity coursed through the concrete bunker that housed Unit 11, bringing the 30 androids to life. Green lights atop each mechanical worker flickered on while their gears clicked, unlocking them from their charge stations. C-17 clenched his black mechanical hand into a fist and then slowly flexed each of his five, tri-jointed metal fingers until... Continue Reading →
