Martin Smith
Dilini Fredrick
The Dreaming Dead
A short story by Dilini Fredrick A mortuary in Van Nuys has a coffin for $395. Great deal. Fibreboard, and totally natural. A grey cloth is mentioned too for, I don't know, to lay upon the corpse? And it's, the coffin, is lined with white cloth.
stories
Covid, Cement and CCR
by Mel King It’s mid-morning on a temperate autumn day in 2020, during the early stages of Victoria’s first COVID-19 lockdown. I’m sitting in my home in North Geelong, the walls closing in around me. My next-door neighbour and his mates drink, build things
Andy Mclean
The Sinking Ship
A short story by Andy Mclean In the darkness of the early morning, a tearing, grinding screech reverberates throughout the entire ship. Despite her thousand ton bulk, she shivers like a leaf in the breeze, until the grinding stops and she floats forward, silent except for the water hissing against
Steve Gray
Sally's Inheritance
by Steve Gray Chapter one The air inside Sally's Bookstore was not merely still; it was deeply sedimented, a fragrant blend of aged paper, desiccated cedar, and the subtle, sharp tang of binding glue. Sunlight, filtered through the small, square-paned windows facing the cobbled side alley, fracturing
Mel King
The Paladin
Magical realism, horror. CW- violence, abuse, language
Brett J Cole
The sad stillness of a caterpillar
by Brett J Cole ‘The sad stillness of a caterpillar slowly crawling over sand.’ He lifted his head, chewing on his toast as he stared at her. His expression wasn’t much to speak of and it could have shown many things. Bewilderment, confusion, apathy, despondence… When she stared back
Steve Gray
Jack
by Steve Gray He could sit for hours, though the hours often bled into days, measured only by the shifting weight of the sun across the room and floorboards. He’d sit and wait, a quiet observer wallowing in the honeyed gentleness of the light. Outside the glass, a riot
Ferris Knight
Mother's Day
Fiction by Ferris Knight. LGBTQI+ lit fic. CW: Adult themes, grief, language.