Stories from all categories

the pickling palace
5
The people across the road are drunk and two of them are planning to have sex together tonight for the first time. That's at this stage, it's not even dark yet, we've still got the ...read more
exactly right like Goldilocks
1
I was working in a cafe today for the first time in a while and the woman behind me had an extremely carrying voice. I had sought out a quiet corner by the fountain to ...read more
his scarlet-helmeted warrior
I had a pen name, once, after I wrote two excruciatingly awful romance novels thinking this would for sure be my road to steady income. Submitted them with great condescension to Mills & Boon and ...read more
coffee name
23
On the markets I ordered a cup of coffee under canvas, under trees. The fig trees in Brisbane are extraordinarily broad and they spread lumpy dragon roots as well as branches. "What name shall I ...read more
riverfeier
7
Saturday night festival of explosions, fireworks and low-flying fighter jets scamming the river. I was standing behind five dark rows of people. Festive. Restive. Everybody chatting. The city stood lit up behind its bridge, then ...read more
supermantra
2
We were on the markets when a tiny, white-haired lady came up to my partner and offered him a brochure. "Save Victoria Park!" she said. He is two metres tall. He looked down at her ...read more
lies over Baghdad
8
Yesterday I entered into a conversation with someone asking, Why don't the moderate Muslims speak out against terror? I provided link after link as her evasions & demands grew more particular. Those were Americans, how ...read more
a doll, soused
2
In my pajamas at 6pm: pajamas are my favourite clothes. The phone rings. It's a woman I spent a recent evening immersed in, such kinship, a friend who's an acquaintance, we hadn't seen each other ...read more
the bouncer in his castle
7
Sat for half an hour watching this bouncer refusing entry to a drunken girl who had evidently no ID. She tried to show him all her tattoos, including one on the base of her ankle, ...read more