Speculative Fiction
Narrated by Bob Eccles Deep in the forest, a fire was burning. Little more than a flickering tongue of flame, it licked the underside of nearby trees with heat and light. Usually a thing to be feared in the wilderness, the fire was welcome now. Winter had come and frost was deep in the ground. [...]
Literary Fiction
Perversions of the Senses by Dawn Wilson
Narrated by Reggie Lutz God liked to play with my head. He was our new soccer mom. One week he would tell me little Billy was almost good enough to be a starter, the next week he’d go out of his way to list all the failings in my son. Starting at his birth. Billy [...]
Speculative Fiction
Narrated by Bob Eccles (translated by Michael Shreve) Time is an invention or it is nothing at all. – Bergson Milar Drogan was sweating badly. His coat weighed a ton. He felt like all his clothes were soaked—his underpants, socks and especially his undershirt. He snuck a peak between his legs, expecting to see [...]
Speculative Fiction
Chicken Skin Gloves by Steve Toase
Narrated by Bob Eccles Fiona opened her eyes and knew the day was off to a bad start. Green-tinted light reflected on the wall above the bed, the sun high enough to clear the oak tree outside, shining through the stained-glass window. Already late, she felt around for her mobile. Her fingers touched the edge [...]
Speculative Fiction
A Sinner’s Remorse by Stephan Heard
Narrated by Bob Eccles Above, the sky rattled, trembled. Below, the ground hissed, shivered. The man wanted to look away from these shifting prisons, but his mind hurt. Stung. Floated within the blood of his wounded thoughts. He felt nothing. Nothing but the rope on his neck. The noose. “Sentenced to death,” the judge had [...]
Literary Fiction
Narrated by Bob Eccles Polly sits on the stairs leading to her apartment. She can enter; she has a key–always. She is the girl with the key; this is how you can recognize her, point your finger at her on the street. As always it is in the front pocket of her jacket. In the [...]
Poetry
Firmly anchored to the soil near the lazing ripples of my pristine pond where Grace, my piranha, plays, Marigold frolics madly in the sun. I am her only love. Her body slim and tall her hair a golden hue she styles her smile for me. Swollen with ecstasy I hasten to her side. [...]
Poetry
he's deadly trivial in the morning thinks himself an auteur of horror a newly minted incarnation of Argento i have no desire to tell him that Terror travels closely and isn't planning to stay hidden by the night if he wanted to make his introduction he could have made inquiries of the proper keepers of [...]
Poetry
A Toast to the Hero Upon Her Defeat of the Wyrm of L’Incertain by Ada Hoffmann
CHLOE Dawn makes brass of the air and I raise my cup: I, to whom you whispered first of glass-scorched earth and the burning beast: I who calmed your lips with mine murmuring to you that you were strong enough: I who bore your shield through silver peaks at last: I have earned this [...]
Poetry
Paul: an unpublished letter (for Stephen) by Nancy Hightower
my lashes, suddenly full of angel dust, crust into scales. your face wraps around my eyes, seals shut the lids, traps the wrath of my justice underneath. chaos swirls into shadows, and i scurry about like one of the three blind mice, arms lifted, fingers spread, searching for a place in your dim outline to [...]
Flash
The Living Corpse by Michelle Lloyd
Lee Gibson is his real name. Osiris is his professional name. Whatever you want to call him, he is the necromancer who took it upon himself to rip me from my eternal rest.
Flash
Hibernation by Shauna Gordon-McKeon
The cars on the street, the people at the grocery store, they're laid out for me like traps. They'll spring shut if I'm not careful, they'll splinter bone.
Flash
Marisa Fortunata looked with a mixture of indulgence and annoyance at her husband. She moved the platform a few aspects to the right and spun it across the split continuum she had set up. She leaned forward to watch the activity that appeared on the platform surface.
Flash
Killing Time by Guy Belleranti
It was to be the perfect murder, so perfect that Amos couldn't help but smile as he set things in motion. He moved up silently behind Craig Robertson, his partner at AC Scientific, wrapped the nylon rope around the man's neck and drew it tight.