Goddard waited in the field for Mr Andrews, who had gone to get his camera. The area before which Goddard stood was not like the rest of Mr Andrew's pasture: it was brittle, grey and dead. Something, Mr Andrews said, had landed there. A visiting journalist had done a story on Mr Andrews because he [...]
Cue for Strangeness
“Grandma!” Sylvia called. From upstairs had come a shrill scream, then a breaking of pottery. Sylvia had been asleep, but woke from a nightmare and had been meandering around the living-room in darkness, forgetting what it was she wanted and looking at the cuckoo clock, which was covered in dust, was loud and was detestable [...]
Lord of the Fishes
Norman turned to get his bearings, to look out at the hills he had passed and considered vaguely, not seriously, climbing. He wasn't sure what the paperwork would be like for something like that—just to get a view of the desert, the undistinguished, white horizon. He gazed listlessly down at the toxic grey soil. He [...]
The Visitor
“Bless us all!” said Marlene, trying to get a good look around Tom's hulking body. “I've never. Never. Seen anything like that.” Mark, the second eldest, tucked his thumbs beneath his armpits in his usual officious observer's stance. The children had found a bird that none of them could identify. It had been by the [...]
The City (From Ben’s Apartment)
Andrea stirred. The espresso machine had woken her, had made her groan something unintelligible as happened sometimes when she lost sight of where or what she was. Ben sat beside her on the couch and smoothed back her hair. Her forehead was damp. “You okay?” he asked softly. “Yeah,” she said. She squinted at the [...]
Dalia and the Jellyfish
The tide washed between Dalia's thighs, receded, bubbled and fizzed as it was dragged back out to the blue ocean. From the deck her uncle watched—he was entertaining guests from work. On the soft grey shore clear blobs of jellyfish sat happy and inert. At first the children had been throwing them back into the [...]
The Insect Men That Came From the Pink Light Beams or Why The Cartoons Were Cancelled
Dalia closed her curtains and clambered back into her sheets. Her father had finished the bedtime stories too early she thought; she was used to slipping into her dreams with the sound of his voice carrying on, the lilt and masculine vibrations, his presence caulking over the way back to the loud and bright echoing [...]
