Der Bibliophile by Nicola Davison My timeworn lungs buckle, but I don’t want to close the window. I push it wide open to be reacquainted with Freud, Kafka, and Hemingway as they rise, shifting and swirling to reach me. It…
BackStory: Four Questions with Q.Y. Tie
BackStory: Four Questions with Q.Y. Tie Author of The Peony Hairpin What inspired you to write ‘The Peony Hairpin’? For a while, harem dramas—period dramas centred on palace intrigue among the emperor’s concubines—were all the rage in mainland China. You…
The Peony Hairpin
The Peony Hairpin by Q.Y. Tie The empress dowager whispers open the seals between her selves. The empress stabs the dying emperor with her peony hairpin, watches his blood spurt in impossibly bright streaks, listens to his impossibly hurt accusations.…
Timeline: FlashBack’s Thirteenth Season
Timeline: FlashBack’s Thirteenth Season It’s the end of our thirteenth season, so we’d like to take the opportunity to pause and celebrate the pieces we’ve published this year. In case you missed them, here they are, and of course you…
BackStory: Five Questions with Lindz McLeod
BackStory: Five Questions with Lindz McLeod Author of Harald Hardrada Intensifies What inspired you to write ‘Harald Hardrada Intensifies’? I’d been thinking about Harald Hardrada for a while; he’s quite the character! I’d been teaching myself Danish ahead of a…
Harald Hardrada Intensifies
Harald Hardrada Intensifies by Lindz McLeod As history tells it, Harald Hardrada waded into the battle of Stamford Bridge with both hands on his sword, cutting men down left and right. Buoyed by battle-rage, he refused to wear body armour…
BackStory: Four Questions with Katie Oliver
BackStory: Four Questions with Katie Oliver Author of Fragments What inspired you to write ‘Fragments’? This originally appears in an as yet incomplete novella-in-flash I have languishing in my drafts. I was writing about Eve’s life, which features an event…
Fragments
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…
BackStory: Five Questions with Patience Mackarness
BackStory: Five Questions with Patience Mackarness Author of Enkidu’s Harlot What inspired you to write ‘Enkidu’s Harlot’? I first read the Epic of Gilgamesh while living on the island of Bahrain, sometimes identified with the mythical land visited by Gilgamesh…
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…