Head South?

She shrugged. I shrugged too.

She had brought along her camera and a few sets of batteries inside a black, leather messenger bag. If something particularly morbid snagged her attention, she would ask if we could stop so she could snap a shot of it. (more…)

Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, California, United States of America  

[Before the Great Panic, this island was little more than a monument to an inescapable prison that had held some of the most notorious criminals this country has known. Today, it acts as a mental health clinic, treating the many survivors whose mental health was devastated during the war. (more…)

Up in Northland, the Nga Puhi iwi hold sway. It was, and still is, an area of breathtaking natural beauty and nearly continuous indigenous Maori settlement. (more…)

SEQUEL TO THE PEZZOLANTI COLLAR

I roll off her, sweating and breathing hard. Almost instantly, my brief dalliance with euphoria ebbs away. My desires slaked, and the image of Dr. Pezzolanti creeps back into the forefront of my mind. (more…)

Patrick parked near his in-law’s graves. The sunset was nearly finished, and the graveyard was appropriately dark. He flashed Lilly a glittering rockstar grin — clearly visible despite the coming gloom. (more…)

Juliet Williamson awoke, and smiled to see the usual threads and circles of incandescent multicoloured light crowding above her:

“Hello, my friends. Tell me who you want me to contact for you and why.”  (more…)

It was a Thursday, the last day before the weekend that the boy would be visiting Ewing. They sat at the kitchen table at Ewing’s condo in Van Nuys, fruit punch between them, Darius using his fingers to count through single-digit multiplication problems. (more…)

As she lay waiting for the end to happen, holding Bryony in her arms, Rosa thought back to how they came to be lying together on this bed. The sounds of the distant zees cut through the night, but there was no chance that they’d make it in here. She couldn’t do it to the woman she loved.  (more…)

Billy awoke slowly, almost reluctantly; his skinny arms still wrapped protectively around his little sister. The city was waking up from the long, dark night as well and an insipid light was filtering into their hiding place.

(more…)