When the Crows Laugh

We knew the story long before we young ones realised the place existed. A tale told by the old ones around the fires at night. They talked of the Old Times, and we thought they were just stories. Stories like the tales of the various long-ago gods fighting each other until they killed this world.

A World Written on it

There was nothing there. Zeka stood in the doorway, looking back at her flat. It was normal in its chaotic untidiness. Her work briefcase lay where she’d dropped it last night as she came in late, struggling to juggle it and the takeaway she’d picked up as she’d come past the shop on her way

Down in the Warrens

The Warrens were a dangerous place; everyone knew that, especially those living in the Warrens. They knew they didn’t so much live there as survive another day, and – possibly – another night. The Warrens were not for the faint of heart, the nervous or even the credulous. Those that survived there survived on cunning,

A World Spinning Out of Control

There were too many times now to dismiss them to all as accident or coincidence. Gina was getting increasingly nervous, unsure if her day would be normal, or if it would be One of those Days. There were people for whom one of those days was little more than a string of petty inconveniences, but

The Naming of Things

So, this. It needs a name. We give names to places. We give them an identity. Even though this is all there is and she knows of no other place, or even of the possibility that there could be anything beyond the here, she still feels that it needs a name. How can anyone be

The Survivor

There are places that keep our secrets to themselves. Helva would go back to the clearing deep in the woods every now and then, just to sit and remember. She was still young, but she felt so old now that she had lost so much. Helva had nearly died during the winter, alone in the

There is Always Time

There is always time. It never waits for us, but it is always there, taking each moment that passes and hoarding it to itself. Time is the great miser. The dragon that sleeps upon its horde of moments, preventing any one of us from stealing some time back, or going back and changing the said

The Man in Black

‘Morning.’ ‘Morning.’ ‘Are you ready?’ ‘Ready? The man in black looked around. ‘I know I’m a bit early, but I thought the sooner we get started and all that?’ ‘Started?’ ‘The man in black frowned. ‘This is your story, isn’t it?’ ‘I think so.’ He paused for a moment, as he became Steve. ‘Only I

The Stranger in a Strange Town

Hella was walking down a street. There was nothing unusual about that, except she had never seen this road before, never seen this town before. The people too, did not look right to her either. It was as though they came from some other land. A different tone of skin colour and something about their

Can’t Stand the Rain

Plunk, the new weather god, sat at his desk. There were piles of paper to the right of him and piles of paper to the left of him. He hadn’t seen that much paper since the village feast when they’d all eaten some dodgy meat and the privies had used up every book in the