Short Fiction, Poetry and Classic Book Reviews
The girl might as well have been stone. Her eyes, blank and cloudy, stared blindly ahead; her face was void of expression. Victor backed into the corner, shaking his head and mumbling. Awful astonishment filled his eyes, yet he refused to take them even for a second from the inanimate child in front of him.... Continue Reading →
He marched down the hall then entered the grand room formerly haunted by the vampire. In the fireplace, yellow flames whispered, and cast a wobbling shadow of Victor on the far wall as he crossed the floor. At the bottom of the stairs he looked up; the light in the hall above beckoned like the... Continue Reading →
One by one (orange) Victor carved away at the pencils (red). Each one (green) took a little longer than the previous (purple), and the rest breaks (brown) between pencils lengthened (yellow). He paused (white) frequently (black) to wiggle his fingers and (dark green) stretch his arms. Finally (pink), after an hour and forty-five minutes (light... Continue Reading →
He glared at the painting. He stood up and turned to face the mirror, then stepped toward it until he could see the painting's reflection. Fingers twitching at his sides, he watched for any sign of the vampire's appearance; there was none. The painting was—for the first time since Victor had entered the mansion—just a... Continue Reading →
The book Victor took with him was called Horrid Mr Hobble. It was a children's novel about a mean school librarian who makes life miserable for students. The protagonist, Billy Finch, was a fourth grade student with a penchant for elaborate pranks. Victor's bowels were in such a state of discomfort he read a third... Continue Reading →
As a child, Fernando Chang showed an extraordinary aptitude for science. While other boys would be riding their bikes outside, Fernando would be dismantling his in the garage. When he showed the boys his reconstructed bicycle—now a model of the Milky Way's planetary orbits—they just scratched their heads. A week later (after developing a shampoo... Continue Reading →
My old neighbour, Harry McKnees, Fashioned himself some marshmallow skis, And decided to hit the slopes. But poor old Harry didn't know, It's better in winter with plenty of snow, If you want the skis to run fast. So he climbed to the top of Breakneck Rock, His skis tied up with a... Continue Reading →
"And this final one is a favourite of mine. I call it Swans at Sunset. You'll notice the warm hues on the water—I wanted to emphasise those, create a dynamic. The brush strokes here, the trees—at first I intended to come back and smooth these out, but as the painting took shape I decided to... Continue Reading →
Gavin stood inside the entry and faced his store. He sighed. Charred boxes, half-melted merchandise, walls stained black—it was an eyesore, but what could he do? And then there was the smell. Even near-toxic levels of air freshener could not hide it. He could have curled up into a ball and cried, but there were... Continue Reading →
