I woke up after a dream where something, perhaps a snake, had sunk its teeth into my ankle. I knew I hadn’t been bit, that it was just my mind, my body remembering what that shock of teeth felt like. It mimicked the squeeze and punch of teeth that my freshman bio teacher’s boa constrictor […]
A summer night, a porch swing, Grandma Clara gently rocking. A girl comes out from the house. She stares in the dark. “Mom wants you back inside,” she says. “Now.” “No, baby, not yet. Come sit with me.” Clara makes room for her on the swing. The girl stares. “Just one minute, Izzy. I promise.” […]
A little context: The Puritans disparaged Christmas as “Foolstide” and thoroughly discouraged its celebration. The Plymouth Pilgrims even spent their first Christmas Day in the New World putting up a building, thereby showing their complete contempt for the holiday. You can find more information about this at Wikipedia. This story is set during that time […]
Lord knows I didn’t want to shoot Mendez. Hell, he was only a green kid, a frontline infantry replacement just up from boot camp. He acted gung-ho, but he’d never been exposed to live action before. I knew the stark terror he must have felt a few days ago when the enemy tanks rolled over […]
This is the second column in Bruce Holland Rogers’s new writing series, Technically Speaking. The first column, and the entirety of his Short-Short Sighted columns (dedicated to writing very short fiction), visit his author page. Titles are hard. They have to accomplish a lot in a few words. The ideal title will attract the reader […]
The night my daughter sings my death, I am sitting in the living room floor, sifting through old pictures. I’m on my second glass of wine, white wine because the carpet is new. In this one photo, Emily is lying in her crib, staring up at a mobile that Aunt Linda made for her. Tiny, […]
First we’ll clock you in on the computer and then you can start following me around. Your clock-in number is always the last four digits of your Social Security number, but for tonight you’ll need my number to get to the tables on the screen. Ever use Aloha before? It’s a pretty straightforward system. Go […]
State-Councillor Sharamykin’s drawing-room is wrapped in a pleasant half-darkness. The big bronze lamp with the green shade, makes the walls, the furniture, the faces, all green, couleur “Nuit d’Ukraine.” Occasionally a smouldering log flares up in the dying fire and for a moment casts a red glow over the faces; but this does not spoil […]
The tech at the door wore a heavy toolbelt. He looked angry. The ID collar around his neck pulsed as it broadcast his position to guards at the community gate. Menace radiated from the skeletal body under the rough black clothes and the bony hands under his thin composite gloves. “You called for service?” “Yes,” […]
I asked Evan once what he believed. He paused, scissors in one hand, photograph in the other. “Everything,” he said. He touched his tongue to his lip, all his focus flowing to a point, and he snipped a near-perfect circle out of the picture. “What did you do that for?” The picture had been taken […]