Excerpt
A Trader on the Border of the Mutant Rain Forest
From my mobile station on the shifting border of the Mutant Rain Forest, I watch them come from the Northern Domes, from the slums and ghettos and the failed farms of the Wastelands, the lost ones eager to surrender to Forest's compulsions and the ones who tremble as if they are harboring a fear they must conquer. Then there are the religious ones, fanatics who come in groups. They think they are going to convert the creatures once-human who survive beyond the border, most of them already animal or vegetable in inclination and form. They think they are going to convince them to worship Jesus or Allah or Joseph Smith. Or the latest televangelist.
By Sejal shrestha4 years ago in Fiction
The last Christmas
A small excerpt from my novel “Una casa di vento”. The table has been extended and covered with a red tablecloth, bought in a Chinese store, which does not need to be ironed and is washed with a sponge. The dishes, on the other hand, are the good ones. Michela even tried to make a centerpiece out of discount candles and cones sprinkled with silver spray. Keeping your hands and head busy is an effort that consumes a lot of energy, exhausts and leaves room for little else, but it is essential, it is part of the daily process of repression, which has been going on for a long time now. At this very moment she forces herself to keep her eyes fixed on the plate she is holding, to breathe in order to clear her head and find a way to get to the end of the evening. From the kitchen comes a sickening smell of scorched croutons and sizzled roast. It is as if there were luminous writings in the air, festoons announcing the advent of horror, not of Jesus.
By Patrizia Poli4 years ago in Fiction
Hidden Library: The Second Spell Book
“You look beautiful when you dance.” My back straightened when I heard those words from the other side of the practice room. I hadn’t heard Antony enter. If I had, I would have stopped practicing. I glanced at the stereo system in the corner. My music had not been loud, yet the gentle melody had covered the sound of his arrival.
By Stephanie Van Orman4 years ago in Fiction
Clay Soldiers
Bret woke with a piercing pain in his side, the roar of the battlefield still raging in his ears. The ceiling and walls were white. A white curtain hung at his left. A bag pumped liquid into his vein. His ragged breaths burned. The exoskeleton must've pushed through his lung. Could they fix that? God, he hoped so.
By Sital baniya4 years ago in Fiction
Bleed
The "scientific studies" have finished now, and my captors allow visitors to crowd around my cage. They stare. Their shocked, rapt faces and hushed conversations tell me what I already know. This color is new to them, never before seen. The color of my blood. The color of love.
By Sital baniya4 years ago in Fiction
Rose Red
Harrison stepped through the glass doors and entered the waiting room of Sleeping Beauty Inc. With pink metallic chairs and faux snakeskin seats, it was obviously not his regular hangout. He sat down anyway, close to the door. From the least obtrusive seat in the room, he could see three monitors showing Sleeping Beauty Inc. success stories.
By Stephanie Van Orman4 years ago in Fiction
Gone the Tides of Earth
At first light I am up by the soft blue of breaking dawn. The morning has come clear and cool with a steady breeze sifting in the screen. Alci and Jacqueline lie asleep faced opposite on the bed and I resting on the floor, clothing and pillows cushioning hardwood.
By James B. William R. Lawrence4 years ago in Fiction
Whenever You Want
Christina Witten placed the final double red lines at the end of the last column on her accounting exam. She flipped her test booklet to the front to make sure her student information was correct and then she gathered her things together. She felt a certain relief as she saw she was not the first person to finish the test and not anywhere near the last. It was comfortable for her to finish sometime in the middle. All her numbers matched, so it had to be good enough. She turned in her exam, swung her bag over her shoulder and headed for the door.
By Stephanie Van Orman4 years ago in Fiction
