From this place she can see the topmost spire, winking (slit-like) in the night. She is Ana and her body is feminine. Red hair sprouts from her head and in the corners of her jaw, her body is white as driven snow. Her arms have tangled into triangles across her chair. The angular seat adapts [...]
Image copyright: Noel Tanti The nib scratches under the fading lamplight as the old man bends in closer, hunched. Here, in the soft glowing luminescence that is always like falling dusk, he squints through the grime of years at meticulous symbols that sprawl effortlessly across blank space into the galaxies of his creation. Here, he [...]
The iron gates of her late husband’s château were rusted open, ever receiving, immovable and wide. A day after the funeral the young widow was seen pushing those massive iron weights closer until they met at the edges and drew themselves shut with a magnetic finality. “Ra-pha-ella, Ra-pha-ella, Lives a-lone in the old châ-teau, Ra-pha-ella, [...]
Fredrick arrives ten minutes earlier than expected, and I put my hands in my pockets to hide their nervous tremor. Tonight is probably the most important evening of my career. If anything goes amiss, I’ll be humiliated. Fredrick smiles warmly and hugs me. “Damian. It’s good to see you again.” “How was Algeria?” “Fantastic.” He [...]
They lowered the corpse onto the dinner table with more care than Vermillion thought necessary, and he was regaled with a foreshortened view, feet first, of the shabbily clothed test subject. Its nostrils felt noxious to him. They seemed, in a vile way, to be pricking at his conscience. One of the men handed Vermillion [...]
A FLASH FICTION SERIAL FROM THE ULTRANAUTS ARCHIVE – PART 3 to read part 2, click here! They went through more corridors, entrances and exits, Tagliatellen having to admit that even she couldn’t hold up to ?urek’s incredibly efficient stride. He explained that they were going through the station’s backstage – the bulk of which [...]
Tip-tap, tip-tap, goes leather sole on cobblestones. He must hurry, he has one last errand to run tonight, and a steamer to catch in the morning. Still, he is calm, and careful, he threads his path across this city with the precision of a dance. Every action is meticulous – years ago, he had planned [...]
“I am hunted, by the lives that I have loved, and by actions I have hated” Have you ever wanted to see places long forgotten and people long dead, know the mysteries never solved? Have you ever desired to unfold secrets of the past? I have been there many times. I walk the line between [...]
The perfectly manicured acrylic nails tapped a rhythm on the coffin-shaped counter. “Ring…Ring….Ring…” she intoned, glaring at the new-and-improved ‘Ravenous Rat’ cordless telephone: another slow day at Tell-Tale Mart. She dug her hand into the bowl of Filmy Eyes and sighed. She disliked these macabre Halloween trinkets her father held so dear more [...]
“I wish to recount a dream to you,” the Prince began, “a vexing phantom that troubled my sleep some nights hence and has not granted my disarrayed mind a moment’s repose since. “I found myself standing upon a great tower, overlooking a city of strange and beautiful design. You will, I trust, pardon an enthusiast [...]
