“Sometimes it’s too much,” Jack says. The ship hums beneath them, steaming out to the fishing grounds. He and Garl lean against the side. “If you’re on the water at night with sea black beneath you, and sky black above you, it all seems too big. Might swallow you whole.” Jack squints at Garl’s lopsided … Continue reading Trawling the Dark by Sera Flynn
Like most of John’s projects, the compost bin became mine to maintain almost as soon as he started it. I put a bucket on the counter and filled it with acceptable scraps. Coffee was a good source of nitrogen. Depending on what blog I read, citrus was iffy. Meat? A definite no-no. Not long after … Continue reading How Does Your Garden Grow? by Georgene Smith Goodin
Mustafa had been a conductor since the Occidental Railway launched. Or ended. Timing was difficult to pin down with life unfolding in reverse. The line’s anomalies weren’t revealed in the interview. Perhaps Petr in HR was unaware. The job description promised short trips, a dream come true after a lifetime of traversing two continents. Compared … Continue reading The Way Station by Georgene Smith Goodin
Everyone knows that Dogman comes out of the woods every seven years, on the seventh day, of the seventh month all well groomed and handsome. He swaggers out slow to sit at the Olde’s heavy wooden bar and drink whisky, before getting up to dancing with whatever women catch his eye. This summer’s no different … Continue reading Dogman’s Daughter by Ani King
The mailman stopped short before the enormous work boot, and looked again at the letter in his hand. It was addressed to Mrs. Mungo Oliphant, Size 99 1’2 EEE, on Drury Lane. It was a pretty big boot, the largest he’d ever seen. In the front of the toe he found a brass mail slot, just below … Continue reading There Was an Old Woman by Elizabeth Archer
I’ve walked a lot of blacktop since leaving home almost five years ago. Worked my way across the country on one paving crew or another—driving trucks, swinging signs, making memories. Nothing’s better than a piece of road running beside you. The way it feels underneath your feet, the way it curves and twists, the way … Continue reading Flowers in the Road by Jennifer Todhunter
You are fifteen, and you are wearing your tightest dress. You’re dancing with a guy who is probably called Mike. You don’t actually know if that’s his name because the pop music is so loud the sticky floor is vibrating, but he made a “Mike”ish kind of shape with his mouth when he said it. … Continue reading The Pure of Heart by Abi Hynes
Celia and the others drift across the playground to the school’s steps, gathering like birds. All of them waiting, eyes closed and lips parted in anticipation, their shade-bodies sliding through each other’s, tangling like mist as they arrange themselves. A ringing begins and the building comes alive: heartbeat of footsteps, breath of swinging doors. They … Continue reading Vestiges by L.S. Johnson
As I walked home after the show, there was a spot in the sky that looked blacker than it should. Alex had offered to drive me home, one hand searching for his keys while he asked me, and I’d almost taken him up on it. We’d have fallen into bed; sometimes at night, after shows, … Continue reading See Sky Sea Sky by Chloe Clark
By the sixth day I was more pain than person; unplugging myself, piece by piece, from the rituals and routines that tied me to the rest of my race. I arched and roared, swiped palms like paws across my cheeks. But still I wouldn’t let them take it. I slept in dull bursts of drunken … Continue reading Rootless by Carly Holmes