Fragments by Katie Oliver 1. Eve has been informed by her mother of what is to happen: there can be no negotiation. She smooths her brown dress over her knees, focusing upon the weave of the linen; the pulled threads…
Enkidu’s Harlot
Enkidu’s Harlot by Patience Mackarness Back then I was a legend, at the top of my profession. They called me queen of harlots. When rumours of Enkidu first reached the city of Uruk, I was planning my retirement. I had…
All the King’s Puppets and All the King’s Strings
All the King’s Puppets and All the King’s Strings by Avra Margariti King Alexander dreams of puppets. Stringed dolls of tanned wood and fabric-scrap fatigues fighting losing battles for freedom. You must never forget that we are foreigners, his father…
Backstory: Five Questions with Genevieve Allen
Backstory: Five Questions with Genevieve Allen Author of Half Past Two What inspired you to write ‘Half Past Two’? Almost all of my pieces are inspired by two things: nature, and the stories of LGBTQ+ people throughout history. The inspiration…
Half Past Two
Half Past Two by Genevieve Allen The wallpaper was growing increasingly difficult to ignore. That morning, Lyle had felt the same vague distaste for its sugary green and twee mauve flowers that he always had. Then he’d read the paper,…
BackStory: Six Questions with Lourdes Mackey
BackStory: Six Questions with Lourdes Mackey Author of A Despicable Article What inspired you to write ‘A Despicable Article’? I was doing some research on convicts transported to Van Diemen’s Land and came across Red Kelly – Ned Kelly’s father,…
A Despicable Article
A Despicable Article by Lourdes Mackey Kate Kelly to her youngest sister Alice, October 4th, 1898 You asked how it began Alice. Well God and His Mother knows that from the very minute Ned Kelly opened his eyes as a…
Haori
Read and listen in English Read and listen in Japanese / 日本語 Haori by P Akasaka 31 August 1923. What the fuck! said Koume. Her name meant “little plum,” but sweet she was not. If an apprentice could wear a…
This is not a story about my grandfather
This is not a story about my grandfather by Salena Casha On July 26, 1956, my grandfather’s suitcase hit a seabed at the bottom of the Atlantic just off the coast of Nantucket. While made of newly flogged leather cinched…
Amber Rose
Amber Rose by J.B. Stone After Anne Sexton’s “Briar Rose” When you crawled out of your pod, slinked unto the branches: a newborn insectoid, exploring the earth eons ago, you were told you would rise into a throne of horns,…