Rachel sneaked aboard at six bells, deep in the night. The ringing masked her tread. The snores of the sailors cloaked her steps, but still, the floorboards creaked. She thought of her sister, held hostage behind the cold stone in Boston Gaol. Rachel steeled herself. She had to get to Nassau. […]
I saved the world once. Twice, if you count that time in Budapest. But that was back in my glory days with The Agency. Back when secrets were stored on microfiche, and guys like me could do our job with a poker face and a whole lotta badass. When
I saw my first hanging in Wapping when I was four years old. My father swung me up on his shoulders so I could see across the rabble of spectators. The prisoner was a scrawny youth accused of stealing a gentleman’s horse, and as they dragged him to the gallows, his britches darkened
After four long hours of descent, the deep-water submersible Goby reoriented to glide along the ocean floor. I prepared for another lonely journey, with grief my only companion. I clicked the LEDs on full. Their bleached glare pushed against sulfurous clouds. Gripping the stick, I leaned forward, straining to see.
Crawling Toward the Light Read More »
This is how they tell it, those childless people who long for a child. The forest witch keeps a mossy glade, and it is full of healthy babies. You can pick one up and keep it to care for as your own. Tanet was not there to get one of the
The fucker stole the phone right out of my hand. I was in the middle of writing you an annoyingly difficult text, waiting at the bus stop to meet you, and before I knew what I was doing, I was running down the street after him, giving chase with unreserved fury.
And Here’s What I Said Read More »
On the beach, in the darkness, two men handed out life jackets. They gave one of the men in our group instructions on how to turn the engine on. Then they disappeared. Others pulled the dingy out into the water, and we climbed in, waiting for the motor to start. It
Not Drowning but Waving Read More »
Héng. Horizontal, left to right. The brush travels slowly across the parchment. Sseong-hi watches the black ink bleeding from the line he has painted on the yellowed page. It spreads along the grain, but he holds the brush steady from start to finish.
The End, in Five Strokes Read More »
Cold winds blow from the north and lift the albatross high over the bay. From below, the cracking of breaking wood follows loud booms of cannon blasts. A great battle is taking place in a war that has been waged for years. Flames erupt from some of the ships, and giant
The Last Albatross of Greywater Read More »
Kat sleeps with the data. Old school, USB, under the Mouse pillow. Caught the methane release in real time, live, last night, by chance. Was messing around in her former company’s servers, suspecting they had an imperceptible delay on a few key sensors. Less than a second,
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