1. The fish and the bag (0’ 51”) Underwater shot of a whale shark swimming alongside a plastic bag. Graphic: The Gulf of Tadjoura, near Djibouti. The plastic bag twists and shimmers. …
The Gift (Peter Farrar)
(Edited by Laura McPhee-Browne) Bushfire smoke tasted in rain. I opened my mouth. Rain tingled, drying on my tongue the way it did on concrete. I stopped at the rear …
The Love Scene (Craig Billingham)
Cameron got out of bed in a manner that would not disturb his wife. He stepped into a pair of flip-flops and put on a blue shirt, the one he’d …
Plover (Susan McCreery)
Edited by Michelle McLaren About midday by the sun. She should have been an explorer — but what is today if not an exploration? Been walking for hours. Four hours. …
The Motel No Vacancy (Fiona Hardy)
I moved across from the hotel when I was seven years old and my mother gave me to her parents, like a late Christmas present, just before the New Year. …
THE BUILDING BLOCK BOY (Joe Davies)
The room was large, high-ceilinged and poorly lit. There was a lamp on the desk and another beside the mattress in the corner, both were on, but the light they …
Simone Says (Emily Barber)
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 …