Root by Becky Tipper Twelve midwives have come already. Have bustled through the sharp wind with their bundles of charms and bitter herbs. Have sighed and prayed and despaired. Frau Mueller now, her cold hands on Ilsa’s belly, prays to…
BackStory: Five Questions with Carys Crossen
BackStory: Five Questions with Carys Crossen Author of God’s Image What inspired you to write ‘God’s Image’? I discovered Eleno’s story by accident. I had Googled the Inquisition after watching a film featuring the Spanish Armada. I saw the name…
God’s Image
God’s Image by Carys Crossen Eleno faces the Inquisition. Their vestments glow red even in the Stygian darkness of his cell. Their eyes shine with religious fervour. They live in a world where uncertainty, transmogrification, introspection do not exist. They…
BackStory: Four Questions with Sam Payne
BackStory: Four Questions with Sam Payne Author of Torrey Canyon 1967 What inspired you to write ‘Torrey Canyon 1967’? Some time ago I read article about the Torrey Canyon disaster. It was one of the world’s most serious oil spills…
Torrey Canyon 1967
Torrey Canyon 1967 by Sam Payne We wash seabirds in the sinks at the hairdressers. Their thin bones tremble in our hands as the brown foam slips over stained porcelain. We shift from foot to foot as our fingers work…
Timeline: FlashBack’s Tenth Season
Timeline: FlashBack’s Tenth Season It has been a difficult year so far, but we feel grateful to have been able to publish yet another group of brilliant pieces. We be back in mid-April with the start of our next season…
BackStory: Four Questions with T. L. Ransome
BackStory: Four Questions with T. L. Ransome Author of The Last of El Dorado What inspired you to write ‘The Last of El Dorado’? A trip to Phoenix through the cactus-studded Sonoran Desert. The saguaro are arguably the most iconic…
The Last of El Dorado
The Last of El Dorado by T. L. Ransome “La Reina! La Reeina!” they cried, stamping mud-worn heels on the dented boards. But she was in pieces in the desert, miles of lace-melt, skin flinted red between saguaros. The tall…
BackStory: Six Questions with Mark Cassidy
BackStory: Six Questions with Mark Cassidy Author of Gibbet What inspired you to write ‘Gibbet’? I grew up in Guisborough, North Yorks. At the end of the street on which I lived was a narrow lane called Northgate, which was…
Gibbet
Gibbet by Mark Cassidy Once I was a young boy, clambered limber, surefooted, into an empty gibbet and swung the blackwood, gristle-crusted cage bang tight. Sat squat-faced, open-legged, in the charnel basket, rocking in the swooping sea fret neath racing…