I wake naked in an empty bed. ‘Reuben?’ I call, but there’s no response. Anxious all of a sudden, I pull on knickers and a camisole and pad down the …
My Father’s Shopping List (Mark O’Flynn)
The trouble with having a doctor for a father is that you are brought up calling a spade a spade. Or more accurately a spatula a spatula, a scalpel a …
All Flesh
(Ben Brooker)
‘We should give it a name,’ Angela said. Her mother blinked at her. ‘You said “it”.’ ‘What?’ ‘If it’s an “it”, how come it needs a name?’ Angela, not knowing …
Book of Colours
(Robyn Cadwallader)
The cross had just enough lacework and carving to give space for his hands and feet, and despite his aching clumsiness he climbed up as far as he could for …
Removing Blood Stains
(Amy T Matthews)
(edited by Laura McPhee-Browne) 1. Exsanguination. Ex – out of. Sanguis – blood. To bleed out. 2. It takes up to fifteen minutes to bleed out. 3. Felix Baumgartner fell …
Gold Coast to Colombo Return (Emily Riches)
(edited by Kathryn Hummel) To be having an adventure / is a sign of incompetence. ~ Anne Carson Gold Coast to Colombo Just before we get on the plane, my …
The Health Inspectors Part II*
(Anthony Macris)
(from an untitled novel in progress) Later that night, lying in bed, he hears his parents arguing. The tongue-and-groove walls, muffling their voices make it impossible for him to hear …
Black on White (Yi Chao Foong)
(edited by Laura McPhee Browne) Black on white. That’s how people see us. A splotch of black, spoiling the virgin white. It is my good fortune to have him, they …
The Tea Ceremony (Indigo Perry)
Once, after he’d confessed to another indiscretion, she got up and ran from the riverbank. When she reached the highway, she slowed down and walked, heartbeat steady by the time …
These Things I Know (K W George)
I know things about this man. I first met him seventeen years ago when he removed a BCC from the right side of my forehead. That time I had staples …