He heard the wail of fire engines racing through the street. He kept walking. As he reached the top of the hill, he got a good view of the village below him. The flames competed with the smoke for ascendancy. The fire engines, two of them, came to a stop in the square.…
The Special 100 Irregular Sloword BirthMonth Festival 2021 Featured Guest - Indrani Ganguli Indrani Ganguli is an interpreter of languages. She’s as adept at staring down recalcitrant witnesses in court while taking down their depositions as she is compassionate with those who clearly are devastated at being there at all. Her stories are…
Gwen put away the stapler, pens, stenographer’s pad neatly into the top drawer of her desk. She opened the bottom drawer and pulled out the typewriter cover. She locked the drawer and put the key into her bag. She got up and walked over to the Superintendent’s office door. She knocked briefly and…
Day 7 has come and I'm done my stint for the day. Not as much as I would have liked. But this fictional stuff is hard. It's not like the stream of unconsciousness crap I usually churn out on this blog. That comes from a unlatched brain. I can usually churn out 1500…
It was a dark and stormy night. The wind was high, he didn’t pay it any mind. He had his boots on and he walked on down the hallway. He came to a door and he stepped outside. It was a stormy Monday. He knew Tuesday would be just as bad. It was…
Ecks was lonely, they said. Ecks didn’t think so. He was always busy, doing something that most people thought was doing nothing. Jay Ecks was 42 and single and this made people click their tongue and make sympathetic noises. In their book, loneliness, or being alone, was not a desirable way to be.…
“Where to, Chief? Back to HQ?” Goon grunted. Fatty slipped in the clutch and pulled out of his parking slot outside the tiny coffee shop. Goon wiggled to make himself comfortable in his seat. Fatty gave him a sidelong glance. “So what really happened, Chief?” “What?” “Inspector Jenks. You know what I’m talking…
Goon and Fatty exchanged glances. There was a moment of silence before Goon cleared his throat. "Would you please explain, Mrs. Miller? What makes you think someone is trying to kill you?", he asked. "It's quite obvious, isn't it", said the old lady, "why else would I find a skateboard at the top…
< An edition of this story first appeared in Unbound EMagazine. > Andrew Quinn had spent 8 years writing. Burned out from playing corporate games, Andrew had turned off, tuned out, and then dropped out. He was 48 years old with a receding forehead, an aquiline nose and curls greying at the edges. This…
< An edition of this story first appeared in The Telegram Magazine - https://www.magzter.com/IN/Talking-Books-in-Delhi/Telegram/Fiction/215124 > In the car, he was unusually silent and if Sushil Deka was silent, then, the situation was serious. I had expected that. It’s not everyday that a man learns that his wife is in a sexual relationship with another…