By Julie Iverson “We got to get clothes; three days we go bul, fresh so we not crumb.” “Nah, three days? Nah, what fuh”? “Cuz we ade it, Mum’s prize pie, the jawn fa’ St. Michaels, Tommy” “Jeez, James, bro’ now I’m skeered. She okay or she keel us”? St. Michaels Parish at Queen Village, … Continue reading On the Lam
The Black Cat
By Harley Carnell When I initially heard the meowing, I thought it was coming from Pumblechook, my black Maine Coon. Only when I came out into the hall did I realise that it was actually coming from outside. I opened the front door tentatively and saw a small black cat outside, who began to meow … Continue reading The Black Cat
The Clockwork Heart of Elias Thorne
By Plamen Vasilev Elias Thorne was a master of imitation. Not of voices, or faces, or physical tics, though he could manage those too. Elias was a master of imitating lives. He was a chameleon, a blank canvas onto which others projected their expectations, their desires, their lost hopes. He became, quite simply, what they needed him … Continue reading The Clockwork Heart of Elias Thorne
And the Hero Arrived
By Oliver Hickman And the Hero arrived, galloping through the gates on a golden-maned mare. It was a dark place he entered, snuffed torches reaching out at the one he carried, begging to blaze once more. Another gate waited before him, then another after that. They were all buckled inwards, their timbers cracked by great … Continue reading And the Hero Arrived
Of What Remains When All Is Lost
By Ruchi Sneha Prologue Dear Hoshi, It’s raining and the Earth smells like you. This is a different kind of rain - impure, acidic, laden with the debris of countered missiles. It burns through marble towers, eats through the iron foundations of my house. It tastes like our sweat from when we were still young, … Continue reading Of What Remains When All Is Lost
Pancakes For The Universe
By Ella Andreasen Our cosmic understanding is a stream of events that transcends time and challenges everything that you previously believed to be true. You all have spent decades studying us, and yet, what is understood is nothing. What you’ve come to know is the physical. What you don’t understand is everything that lies in … Continue reading Pancakes For The Universe
Welcome to America
By John A. Tures “Colonel Martin Carmichael, much has been written about your heroics at the end of the Vietnam War, rescuing so many Americans and Vietnamese,” the reporter from The Washington Morning Herald began. “I just have to know—where did your courage and sense of duty come from, sir? Why were you willing to … Continue reading Welcome to America
Mothers and Sons
By Stan Wild I look at him now, as I become conscious that my eyes have been on my screen, and I realise that he has lolled across my line of vision so as to meet my gaze. My son is in the nappy that he slept in, and so I wipe him down and … Continue reading Mothers and Sons
A Game of Chess
By Michael J. D'Alfonsi The first time I played Brooke Davidon she was twelve and had just discovered how to weaponize her voice. “Checkmate,” she declared, the moment her hand left the bishop. Her tone was almost apologetic, like she genuinely pitied my stupidity. It was six in the evening and the windowless multi-purpose room. … Continue reading A Game of Chess
Static
By Ben Macnair The asphalt rippled under the oppressive heat, a black ribbon stretching into a horizon that shimmered with false promises. Arthur traced the lines on his topographical map, his thumb smudged with dried coffee. This forgotten stretch of highway, nicknamed 'The Devil's Backbone' by some ancient guidebook, was supposed to lead him to … Continue reading Static
Academy of the Heart And Mind 