We’re some distance away from the commercial Scots pine plantations (they’re too well guarded for what we have in mind), in an area of ancient woodland. Bump, bumpity, bump goes our pick-up along a narrow, snowy track. “Keep your eyes… Continue Reading
‘Bodmin Beast Body Count Reaches Fifty’. Charley had scrawled the potential headline in her notebook. It was a sensational headline, an alliterative headline, and fifty was a solid, attention-grabbing number. It was, in fact, the kind of headline that could… Continue Reading
Cherry Peters, commander of the American Sector’s moon base, was considering disobeying orders. “A Halloween get together?” she raged. “What kind of publicity stunt is that?” “It’s a secret, UN-sponsored meeting, Ma’am,” replied Peters’ communications officer. “Conducted under a radio… Continue Reading
My name’s Kari Herman, and I’m not sure whether I murdered my landlord. Hopefully I did, in which case that’s an end to it. This is what happened. Mr Rasnov Alba Claud, or R. A. C. as he preferred, was… Continue Reading
The end of the world, or more precisely the end of human civilisation as we know it, didn’t come with apocalyptic suddenness and all-consuming hellfire. It approached us far more insidiously. This is how it happened. I had always been… Continue Reading
Daphne Mills, the sexton at St. Elijah’s Church, parked her white Ford van in front of the lych-gate. She opened the rear doors of the vehicle and manoeuvred a wheelbarrow out the back. Inside it she placed large swatches of… Continue Reading
Scrooge removed a shilling from his purse. “Thank you for making sure my old friend Jacob rests in peace,” he said, handing the coin to the sexton. “Very generous, guv,” said the gravedigger. “And a Merry Christmas to you.” Returning… Continue Reading
“And here’s the cosy breakfast room,” says the realtor. She makes an expansive sweep with her arm. The fraudulent smile on her face doesn’t falter — even when the back of her hand smacks into the wall of the cramped… Continue Reading
Unbidden, violent thoughts crowd into my brainbox. Perhaps it’s because of this unpredictable mental state that I’m residing on Skid Row with all the other dross. It’s not even as if I initiate the violence that follows me everywhere. Well,… Continue Reading
The early December snowstorm lifted and the two hunters, lost and disorientated, were surprised to discover a log cabin slap bang in the middle of the wilderness. A signboard, set between the building’s eaves and flanked by a smoking chimney… Continue Reading