The Soviet artillery is a steady heartbeat above our heads now. Reminds me of a child stomping about the house inside his daddy’s oversized boots, moving from room to room. Footsteps instead of detonations. I rather like the image. So do a few others in here with me. It lessens the fear. And down in our hole, there’s a lot to fear these days…
Dark Fantasy
Viy
An ogre’s worth five minutes. Demons are ten. Double that if you’re working with two people; triple it for three. Multiply it by six if you want a horde. Increase [...]
Pullen & Bumber’s Catalogue of Particulars
As we at Pullen & Bumber are familiar with your particular proclivities, we hope to interest you in a series of items that have just come into our possession. They were delivered to the auction house mere days ago, and I assure you that no other customers yet know…
The Boy Band
You have to understand: I’m putty in the hands of sad Asian men. Ever since I saw Jet Li’s wife get killed in “The One,” I’ve been the world’s biggest [...]
The Mistress of Baby Breath
When I find little babies left alone by their mothers, I take them and kiss them until their bright baby eyes shine with laughter, with joy. I carefully tuck the [...]
Brother Zimmy Fly
Bob and I dragged ourselves out of bed and were at the church by five, but six other families had camped out overnight and were already in line. Macy was [...]
Dragon’s Food
“You are the funniest-looking kid I’ve ever seen,” Wyatt said.
Indeed, he was a funny-looking kid. His hair was wispy and white, his skin scaly and a bit leathery. He wore [...]
Desert of Sharp Sorrows
There was Myra and there was the sun, descending.
The sun hung low on the horizon, a blood orange crushed, its pulp smearing the sky, leaving a yellow and purple band [...]
Heroic Measures
Rip, tie, cut toy man—Greg Egan, Permutation City
It ain’t a popular stance these days, but me, I still hang with Velvet. It ain’t his fault, yo. Somebody sold him a bill [...]
Brothers
Selfran and Seldard were of the same womb. They came into the world on the same day and within the same hour. It was a hard birth, but it did [...]
And the Raindrops—Its Tears
Long before her blindness, his mother, like all mothers, preached of the safety beneath umbrellas. Now the way she insisted on hers, though she could not see, reaching for it [...]
What Uncle Howard Did
Uncle Howard didn’t even bother to hide the door in the cellar. I mean, how many visitors could he have had way up there in the hills, surrounded by No [...]
Father
…and on that prodigious day, the day of His return, He will come for me, and we shall reign like a virulent black storm over this place. We will be [...]
Private Land
“It doesn’t look like much,” Clark said, squinting, one hand shading his eyes. “Anyway. Not much. Surely the owner wouldn’t mind?”
Lochinvar Luck and Shandy were certainly eager to try it; [...]
Possession
He lies swollen and still, his body curled beneath the sheets, breath hitching like there’s a roadblock somewhere in the back of his throat. She wants to turn the [...]