CHIP TACO
January 18, 2025V tottered up the mulchy path to the beach shack, opened the power-box on the outside wall, and poked a finger through a spiderweb to…
Category: Short story
CYCLONE NOEL
December 6, 2023The TV went whoop whoop whoop, and Ben (6) and Hillary (10) watched Mum and Dad stop chewing their dinner, mouths still full of…
SWARM
June 19, 2023I’m singing an old song in American – give me land lots of land, and starry skies above – taught years ago by a US Army staff…
EYESHINE
June 19, 2022Reflection of strong light on the back of the retina picks up the shine of the eyeball. Hold a torch close to your head and…
UNSHADOWED BY THOUGHT
February 11, 2022I have no parents; I make the heaven and earth mother and father. In a tower-block unit above Sydney Harbour, a party sparkled along. The…
THE PEOPLE’S SCRABBLE
September 3, 2021Max loathed games. He described them as “bourgeois timewasters”, in his hard-line way. So we were surprised when one evening, he appeared round the side…
LIVE BAIT
February 11, 2021I hadn’t seen McLeay since soldiering days, and there he was. Sat at a desk under the house where, in a manner both businesslike yet…
MOONSHOT
June 23, 2020Professor Charma Toukley watched the Earth swim into view. The planet slipped across the huge round skylight, as if the circular window itself was an…
A STRING OF PEARLS
May 12, 2020A STRING OF PEARLS “That was ten years ago,” Frances Corry said. DI Fyfe looked at her, but with eyes half shut – as…
SING-SONG
March 23, 2020The Minister sticks his head round the door, looks at Sam who taps diligent words into a record of minutes. “Sam, I need you!” the…