What you can be guaranteed with David Constantine is a fabulous story, masterfully told – and this can be said for his latest offering The Dressing-Up Box – which left me enraptured and stunned at the sheer brilliance on show. Comma Press are a publisher whom I love, they continue to churn out top quality
The room was painted pink. It was a flamingo pink that hurt the eyes. The job was done by an amateur because the mustard yellow was still visible over the new stripes of paint that were thrown over the walls. The smell coming from the kitchen, a mixture of chicken and sweat, formed a cloud
The parrot squawks, “Smell like crrrap, farrrt, farrrt, farrrt.” “You’re silly,” Aunt Elvira tells me. “He’s a sweet bird and would never say anything inappropriate.” Aunt Elvira is my favorite human but she forgets a lot, and her hearing is worse every day. Sometimes she calls me Vlado. That was her husband, who used to
In the introduction to The BBC National Short Story Award 2019 broadcaster and chair of judges Nikki Bedi writes… ‘short stories are not a warm up for the ‘real thing’ as some would have us believe. They are gifts of concision, they demand one’s total attention’. As an ardent fan of short fiction – more
This story must be told, that of a young girl, not taken but ripped from her mother’s arms. A mother following instinct to protect her daughter, to find safety, a place without fear of death. This mother, witness to murder, inside a spring day while the birds sang of new hungry babies, opening wide beaks
There is an old piano with chipped keys and fine lines on display inside Whitechapel station. There is an official bucket tethered with a silver chain and a not-unworthy cause interleaved between two sheets of plastic. For some, a chance to showcase. Performances erupt intermittently, often during the calmer moments between rush hours. Songs are
A short story collection that captivates from the very start, Subjunctive Moods is a spectacular triumph and brilliant example of how setting can really bring a story to life. Menon is no stranger to multi-cultural experiences, and this shines through in her short prose. Each story is crafted to the utmost quality, and we feel
Fact: Falling in love activates the same part of the brain as cocaine addiction. So, you just have to accept it. I’m addicted to you. It’s out of my control. * Fact: A 2011 study found that the brain patterns of longtime, happily married couples behave in much the same way as those of couples
A post by the account PDX alerts: Report of a nude female masturbating on the Cesar Chavez Blvd I-5 overpass, incident causing slowed traffic in Northbound lanes. Eight minutes later, next post in the same thread: Police responding to multiple calls. Eleven minutes later, next post: Police in foot chase with suspect. Thirty-seven minutes later,
Pity on passing faces, like I’m dumb for doing what smart guys avoid. Females at first smile on seeing a spiffy young male standing tall alongside the ramp up to a west-bound highway. Short hair parted left and combed flat with white sidewalls. Pale Oxford shirt tucked in, belted dark chinos, thin black necktie, shined
