“Five…” The astronaut scanned the console. All green. Good to go. “…four…” Far away engines roared, his helmet muffled the noises but vibrations still rattled his teeth. “…three…” He thought of the crowd, miles away, cheering. He imagined his parents and his wife and child. He smiled. “…two…” He would be a hero. The first […]
I’ve got two old shirts wrapped around my mouth and nose but, even so, I can still feel the dust coating my teeth, prickling on my tongue, and the thought of breathing it in, of swallowing it, is making me feel sick, The world is gyrating insanely, like a child’s spinning top just before it […]
The editor called at about five. I’d been waiting for the call, so I let the answerphone take it. As I say, I’d been expecting the call, but not for it to start: “Fucking hell, Wilksy, this is the best thing you’ve ever written -” I snatched the phone from the cradle.
The girl was skinny, skinny like one of them you see on teevee. Not the pretty ones, the starving ones – though my momma says sometimes you can’t always tell which is which, these days.
“Who’s that?” There was darkness, the tang of decay and breathing, rasping and loud. “I’m here.” Petr shuffled forward, arms outstretched, almost blind.
I’ve heard people say that Columba was a nasty drunk. It’s true, he could be a mean bastard when he’d had a few drinks, but that was only half the story. Columba was far worse sober than he ever was when he was drunk. He might shove a broken bottle in your face after a […]
One year ago. “Hello! Hello! Yes Charles. Yes I can hear you now. I hope you are getting these pictures. This really is a remarkable moment.” The screen flickered and, woozily, the image became clearer. There was an empty stage, surrounded by rank upon rank of soldiers in brown uniforms. The soldiers weapons were lowered […]
Seamus panicked when he saw the tiny bundle in his wife’s arms. “What have you done?” he asked Maire. She stood in the doorway, calmly dipping a finger into the little font of holy water they kept on the hallway wall. She blessed herself and thee bundle. The light from outside spilt around her. She […]
The banshee was waiting for me at the bottom of the escalator in Tottenham Court Road tube station. If I’d known what she was, I’d have run a mile. But I didn’t.