Gaslit

The chimes of the clock ring out over the fog. Shadows stretch from grey buildings over grey streets. The Thames winds under bridges and past docks, murky water seeping up the bank. The stink hangs over the city, a smell of people and industry and waste, a stench that worms its way into the bricks....

Announcements

First of all, I want to apologize for the lack of activity over the past month. A combination of work, lack of energy, and writer's block led to the least productive writing month of my life. Hopefully I can get things back on track for the New Year. Secondly, I'm excited to announce the publication...

Airport Lines

The line moves in spasms, little fits of stopping and starting. All around: coughing, grumbling, the whining and crying of children, the barks of irritated adults. He is adrift in a river of misery, drawn slowly on towards the little booths with their tired attendants and thumping stamps. He clutches his passport, making sure he...

The Mariner’s Broken Chains

Once the mariner was bound in chains – of duty, of expectation, of law, of iron – but she cast them aside, seizing her ship and making for the open seas. Above the crash of the surf, skimming through white spray and deep blue waves, the mariner pressed on. She heard the cries of the...

The Innocence of New Buildings

There is a purity in beginnings, the architect thinks as watches the digger trundle across virgin earth. A fresh building is like a newborn, untainted by people and purpose. The building simply is. A thing unto itself. The digger claws at dirt, gouging holes in the earth, ready for the foundation to be laid. The architect...

The High Price of Roofing

Tristan had once haggled for ten minutes over a banana, so it came as no surprise to his friends when he fired the man he'd hired to put a roof over his new restaurant. "Simply criminal prices," he muttered. "Daylight robbery." A week of torrential rain left tables and chairs floating across the floor, but...

The Jacobites

The army of the Pretender encircled the high rock of the castle, armed with bullets and steel and Parliament. They would win. There was no question of that. The commander of the castle walked its wall, speaking words of encouragement to his men, offering easy smiles in the face of difficult defeat. He looked upon...

Third Night

It was his third night in the hotel and he was getting used to all the noises in the night: the wind whistling through cracked plaster, the scurrying in the walls, the groan of the elevator, the shrieking of police sirens and car alarms. Everything stank of cigarette smoke and cheap disinfectant. Three nights. He'd...

Edges

The edges of the world are narrow things, seen only at the perfect alignment of time and space: a step to the left or the slip of the second hand on a watch and they are gone. If you look through, you will see the world's end, where a waterfall of  moments and matter cascade...