My grandmother’s house was full of clocks. They were never wound properly, their haphazard ticking all over the place — a cacophony of irregular mechanical heartbeats — so at any given moment one of them was busy striking or chiming,… Continue Reading
My mentor Tila and I swam side by side, laughing and whistling, enjoying the serenity of the water, until she brought up something serious, something I wasn’t sure I wanted to talk about. “Tell me what happened,” she said. “The… Continue Reading
At Rodor’s signal, the executioner swung his axe. It cut through flesh and bone and buried in the wooden block with a vibrating thunk. The sorcerer’s head landed in the dirty street. Rodor gestured with one meaty hand for guards… Continue Reading
“And now, for our next act, please welcome to the stage… Gertrude, the Cleaveress of the Rhineland!” The attending crowd clapped politely as a stout and simply-dressed woman took the steps onto the circular platform. Spotlights of reflected candleflame lit… Continue Reading
“Sephra, I’m off to my weekly human meet ’n greet. While I’m gone, do the cleaning thing,” Ada said as the gravi-lift elevated the profoundly obese woman from her bed and whisked her out the door to her awaiting electric… Continue Reading
My hands hover above my open eyes. I let out a deep sigh in the hopes that my wife would hurry up so I could get back to the game. I cast a quick glance below at my son, Bobby.… Continue Reading
Alice May greeted her friends on the porch of Castle Rock, a sprawling Virginia estate. Zoe, the taller of the two, held a pizza box, and Anna clutched a paper bag that clinked when the girls unloaded onto the kitchen… Continue Reading
During the day, Paul gave his opinions on things. Pencils, backpacks, decorative yard rocks, things like that. No one read his opinions except for the people who commissioned the people that he worked for. His desk was on the 12th… Continue Reading
Kelly met Frank on a snowy night in January because Megan kept her late at Patrick’s bar. “Megan, it’s snowing. We need to go.” “Just one more,” Megan pouted like a kid, her lips full and red. By the time… Continue Reading
The last time Greyson made his wife pancakes for dinner, he glimpsed a fly on the kitchen window and, without thinking, flipped his spatula at it, leaving a greasy square on the glass. At the kitchen island his wife didn’t… Continue Reading