We heard them before we saw them. Drums banging, boots crunching. Everyone in the village was out in the square slowly forming into a half moon in front of the soldiers as they stomped their shining black boots in time with the drums. Then there was silence. One soldier came forward, his scarlet jacket a [...]
Penelope jumps from her chair, breakfast forgotten. She spills tea over the table, narrowly missing the page that has her so excited. ‘Here, look, it’s perfect.’ I grab the page to steady it as it’s thrust in front of me and try to work out which of the numerous advertisements is the one I should [...]
“Can you hear the drums,” the General yanked the man’s head up so that he could look into the bloodied and bruised eyes, “Fernando?” he jerked his head back down again Fernando felt nothing. “They are counting down the remainder of your life,” the General spat in Fernando’s face, the spittle mingling with blood from [...]
It was just another summer’s day. The sun climbed wearily into the clear azure sky. Birds twittered in the rattling grasses tousled by the teasing wind. The young boy skipped down the silken sand to where the sea toyed with the shingle. Standing at the foaming edge of the cool waters wiggling his toes in [...]
A bad day at the office. Keith was “kicking off” again. His project wasn’t going right. His suppliers were letting him down, his transport was late and the people in China didn’t know what they were doing. But Keith was often like this; every problem was a drama. He wanted everyone to know he was [...]
An introduction to Detective Inspector Curtis Kalashnikov, a raven, and their world.
A white room twenty feet by fifteen, well I say white but it’s magnolia, as if that seems any less clinical. The recessed fluorescent lights in the suspended ceiling illuminate the room in harsh flickering detail, a white six panelled door with chrome furniture where you ‘come’ in, an identical door where you ‘go’ in. [...]
A lot of babies are born comically plain with bulging cheeks, enormous eyes, prominent ears and bald everywhere, but they quickly metamorphose into things of beauty. Alice, unfortunately, didn’t. Her mother tried hard to love her but eventually handed over the care of the ugly bundle to a paid nurse, while her father, her wealthy [...]
“Let these events in Tiananmen Square be a lesson to you Karen. Student politics can be dangerous.” “But Dad, I only want to go to a concert.” “It might only be a concert now. But next it’ll be a rally, or a protest, then you’ll be fighting the police …..” “Dad, it’s just a concert. [...]
On 18th March 1948, James Camb, a 31 year old ship’s steward, married with one daughter, stood trial for murder at Winchester Assizes. What made the case unusual was the absence of a corpse. What made the case unique was the allegation that Camb had disposed of the body through the ship’s porthole. It was [...]