Magun by Douglas K Currier
All high schools are pathetic, as are all high school students, high school existences, high school achievements. That your team beat anyone else’s, ever, you should forget two days after graduation. We’ve fabricated childhood – damn you, Locke, damn you, Rousseau – then built traps to keep young people in it – that comfortable space of “for your age” and “improving” and “participation.” Continue reading Magun by Douglas K Currier
Review: One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each
In 2018 Penguin Classics reissued the collection of Classical Japanese poetry One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each translated by Peter MacMillan, which is a full translation of an ancient and very popular book that in Japan is called Hyakunin isshu. This book is a key influence on Japanese literature to this day, and (comparable to Shakespeare in the English-speaking world) is a major part of their national syllabus. Continue reading Review: One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each
An Account of Our Last Days in the Solar System by JL Bogenschneider
Everything was beautiful: blueschist states of mind. The night sky was complete and we knew it, thanks to the old mnemonic. Mother didn’t show us anything per se, but she bought the book in which I learned the trick: a Junior Collins Encyclopaedia that included a comprehensive chapter on the subject of Space. It was simple and beautiful, the way certain things are: nine words forming a coherent and logical sentence that perfectly aligned to its raison d’etre. Continue reading An Account of Our Last Days in the Solar System by JL Bogenschneider
Smoke by Josh King
I remember the day when Charles’ parents moved to town. They came from the city, which was an intimidating thing for us in our small slice of English countryside. They hadn’t had Charles yet, but they did have another baby, about two years old I think – I never learned its name. Continue reading Smoke by Josh King
An interview with… Hailey Piper
Hailey Piper is the author of The Possession of Natalie Glasgow, An Invitation to Darkness, and Benny Rose, the Cannibal King. She is a member of the HWA, and her short fiction appears in Daily Science Fiction, Flash Fiction Online, The Arcanist, Year’s Best Hardcore Horror, and elsewhere. She lives with her wife in Maryland, where they spend Friday nights raising the dead. Find her on Twitter via @HaileyPiperSays or at http://www.haileypiper.com. Continue reading An interview with… Hailey Piper
For Your Own Good by Lina Carr
I pronounce the words as I scrub toilet bowls. The clerks are on their way back home. The lamps on the desks are off, but still warm. The sweat on the keypads drying. The trains murmur on a dark blue horizon. Continue reading For Your Own Good by Lina Carr
Subha by Deeksha Verender
When Subha began working for us, I was twelve, and she said she was seventeen. It seemed a big age difference at the time, despite the fact that I was already taller than she was, and broader too. She was the latest in a long line of full-time housemaids that my mum had employed and subsequently fired for various reasons: stealing my old stuffed animals, taking extended holidays to their hometowns, and the most recent, moonlighting as a sex worker. Continue reading Subha by Deeksha Verender
An interview with… HALEY NEWLIN
Haley Newlin attended Southern New Hampshire University, where she earned a Master of Fine Arts in English and Creative Writing -Speculative Fiction. When she’s not spinning tales of blood and terror, Newlin is likely falling victim to jump-scares and strobing torments from The Conjuring Universe or reading Stephen King.
Newlin has published two novels, Not Another Sarah Halls and Take Your Turn, Teddy. Her love of all things dark and grim inspired Newlin to share the horror genre’s inherent beauty through her writing. Newlin weaves stories of madness and curiosity that whisper, “What are you afraid of?” She believes that horror begs self-reflection, and perhaps that is what makes these twisted tales truly terrifying. Continue reading An interview with… HALEY NEWLIN
Human After All by Kwasi Kurosawa
As any sensible person would be, Cylia was wary of long-distance relationships. Given the lack of options in her own vicinity however, she was inclined to look further afield, succumbing to the smorgasbord of electronic dating sites. Eventually, her search reached such sequestered spaces, the depths of some of the most seldom used applications, yet she had little to show for it except for some faded sparks, clumsy comments and innumerable unopened messages, each with a hint of potential, though probably promising disappointment. Continue reading Human After All by Kwasi Kurosawa
On Being A Writer
Ah to be a writer. It’s a wonderful thought, isn’t it? I have always wanted to be a writer, even when I was very small. And then, at thirteen, I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy. And that was that. I would imagine my favourite authors writing their works with relish. There’s Tolkien, walking around the woods at Sarehole Mill, Hobbits running just ahead, the promise of a pint of ale at the Green Dragon awaiting him. Continue reading On Being A Writer
Estrangement by Tomasz Gravil
He paid the man, got out of the car, and took off up the driveway. It was a long driveway. More like a dirt track, with various winding twists and turns. He could not see the house; the track was surrounded by large trees and high untrimmed hedges. When the driveway finally opened up, and he did see the house, he was taken aback. Continue reading Estrangement by Tomasz Gravil
An interview with… Andrew Post
Andrew Post lives in Minnesota with his wife, who is also an author, and their two dogs. Continue reading An interview with… Andrew Post
Trees of Nature by Nicolas Ridley
I was visiting St Kilda. I’d come to see the colonies of gannets, when – for no reason I can think of – I found myself remembering Simon. Simon in his black jacket. The two of us in St James’s Park. But that’s the way with memories, isn’t it? They come to us in ripples. Then they’re gone. Continue reading Trees of Nature by Nicolas Ridley
My German Grandmother Was Totally a Bitch, and Also So Much Cooler than Yours by Shannon Frost Greenstein
Certain things are absolute, compulsory. There are universal experiences of a German grandchildhood that link so many of us in a complicated daisy chain across space and time: holiday cookies. Hiding an ornament shaped like a pickle on the Christmas tree. Church, specifically Lutheran church. Being early. Raggedy Ann dolls and Hummel figurines and Black Russians and, at the foundation of it all, resilience. Grit. Continue reading My German Grandmother Was Totally a Bitch, and Also So Much Cooler than Yours by Shannon Frost Greenstein
Chart Topper by Jack Doherty
I’ve been going through a bit of a rough patch recently, what with Sarah leaving and everything, and, well, I guess I’ve been looking for some sort of escape, a project to take my mind off the situation at hand. I never thought that project would be joining Hetton-Le-Hole’s Premier Lazer Tag League, but then life throws you a curveball every now and then, doesn’t it? Continue reading Chart Topper by Jack Doherty
The Ashes Can Wait by Chris Pleasance
Nancy and Sean were sat outside Coco’s Cafe, at a cast iron table that was warming in the sun. Leftover foam was drying in their coffee cups and imprinting itself on the china. Pigeons waddled close by, eyeing up scraps of baguette that had fallen to the concrete, unsure whether to approach. Sean was cleaning the lenses of his tortoise-shell sunglasses on the corner of his blue linen shirt. Continue reading The Ashes Can Wait by Chris Pleasance
Anatomy of a Home by Zoë Wells
Sammy pronounces it more like “kit-hen” when he points to the upper right-hand part of the diagram. It’s a common problem for a lot of Somalians, that harsher “-ch” that doesn’t exist in all languages. We’ve done a sheet like this with cutesy drawings of architecturally unsound houses every week for the past month that I’ve been coming to the refugee centre. This week there are five rooms: a kitchen, a bathroom, a bedroom, an empty living room, and a hallway. Continue reading Anatomy of a Home by Zoë Wells
The Infinite Woes of Being a Hero by David Christopher Johnston
I fantasise about quitting all the time. I storm into human resources, slam my notice down on Adam’s desk, say something witty and cutting, then spin on my heels and strut out of there like I’m King Arthur. On my way out of the office I sweep my colleague Megan off her feet and into my arms before heading to the stables, where I steal one of the company horses and ride off with my love into the sunset. I hear the staff applauding and cheering from the windows as we disappear over the horizon. Continue reading The Infinite Woes of Being a Hero by David Christopher Johnston
Bandit Fiction 