Easter could feel the uncomfortable gaze of the cashier on the back of her head as she stood at the refrigerated section, trying to decide between Mt Olympus Sparkling Water or Jerusalem Spring Water. She liked having bubbles fizzing around her mouth and popping on her tongue, but she was trying to be good in … Continue reading Post Office
The winters in Central Asia are piercing and bleak, while the sweating, foetid summers bring cholera, dysentery and mosquitoes, but, in April, the air caresses softly and the scent of all the flowering trees douses this city’s throat-catching whiff of cesspits. The Kiss, by Angela Carter It is a ghost city. For all the colourful … Continue reading Journeys
There was a dead cat in the washing machine. One surprised emerald eye stared out of the mangled, inverted face. Matted black fur speckled with dirty dried suds covered its other eye, and its absurd pink tongue lolled heavily out of its mouth. What the hell? I stepped a little closer to the partially open … Continue reading The Imp
The ancient mariner’s face was as scratched and weather-worn as the inn’s façade, like a creature fabricated from the building itself. Ink-stained skin hinted of stories both exotic and hazardous, of a life well-lived in the arms of his favourite mistress, the sea. From my perch I beckoned the gnarled innkeeper for a second ale, … Continue reading The Fisherman
EMMA LOUISE GILL 