They were an odd group, the delegates who attended the conference. Old and awkward, with a puzzling assortment of aides. They had travelled considerable distances to the isolated hotel, high up in the mountains. One gentleman insisted on stabling his six reindeer in the hotel garage while several had arrived on horseback, one on a…
I do not remember dying, yet I must have. I remember kissing Arthur and bidding our friend, the Doctor, to guard him and then all was darkness. I baulk at the memory now. Arthur was a pathetic human. I recall stupidly asking the Doctor to give me peace, but in this strange, half-life, I sense…
Below in the valley the trees barely move, but here the wind tugs the purple heather and salt spray fills the air. My hair whips my face, stinging my eyes. This will be the longest walk I have ever done. Out in the bay, the island – humpbacked and barren – is clad with its…
It was one of those aggressively sunny late Summer early Autumn mornings that ought to come with a trigger warning. Does anyone forget those days? I shudder at the memory of a prefab classroom already chilly in September: fat, stressed-out mums, grubby kids and half the class, including me, wearing clothes that were either stretched…
The Ashoka Superstore has the biggest parking lot in Kathmandu. Sarita frowns as she looks down from the balcony of the staff canteen at the cars, jeeps and rows of motorcycles that shimmer in the heat, the sun bouncing off them in a blaze of colour. Customers move in the gaps between, a guard loads…
It was unusual for the men to be called this early on a Friday. It was barely noon, and the sun beat on the back of Harka’s neck as he laid a brick and smoothed down the cement on either side. The walls were going up at last. This was the part he’d been waiting…
“Porky pig! Porkers! Oink oink!” Jimmy’s taunts followed Harry down the road. He hunched his shoulders and held his breath to appear thinner, therefore a less prominent target. It didn’t work. Mustn’t cry. Mustn’t cry. The tiny voice inside his head chanted. “Try to run, Fatty!” Jimmy, a natural string bean, streaked past his victim,…
It had been three years and in that time Alice had mastered numerous bits of technology, learnt to mow the lawn in under twenty minutes and shop for one. She decided now was the time to tackle the attic. She had ignored the rectangular shaped hatch door in the spare room ceiling for long enough,…
“Did Maria prepare the back bedrooms just in case?” Beth quickly scans the two small rooms. “Yes. They’re ready. She does good work.” Checking and re-checking the details, which she had explicitly written out for the housekeeper, paying her dearly to come in during the holidays, she eyes the clock, adds ice to the bucket,…
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Text & stories © Joanna Sterling
Stories © various authors
Editing by Joanna Sterling & Alyson Faye
Audio by Menna Bonsels
Brooch photography by Mark Colliton
Website by Brighton WEBtech