The howls of the gore-hounds filled the night air. Vanda stopped to catch her breath. Sounds echoed off the trees, throwing noises at her from odd angles. Her pursuers were close. When they caught her it would be the end. via Pocket

Ada had heard that tone before, the horror of a newly assigned doctor witnessing the Leak for the first time. She waited for the novice’s breath to settle. via Pocket

When David got to work that morning, he discovered a large shell on his desk holding down errant pieces of paper. He smiled. His coworkers were always razzing him about how messy his desk was and now, it seemed, someone had taken it upon themselves …

“Excuse me,” Cash tried again, “you’re not a doctor, are you?” Another bemused look and shake of the head. “Oh, okay, thanks anyway,” he said to their backs. The warm bundle in his arms groaned uncomfortably. It was the first Cash had heard from him…

I remember everyone being lit up in colors when I was a little kid. They wore vivid blues and pinks and greens and yellows. Everyone dripped in thoughts and feelings. They were painted with sky blue happy or scarlet red mad, thunderhead gray sad and…

When David got to work that morning, he discovered a large shell on his desk holding down errant pieces of paper. He smiled. His coworkers were always razzing him about how messy his desk was and n…

Carla sat on the edge of the metal railing that lined the motel’s third-floor landing, gripping its paint-chipped bars with long, slender legs. Black lace stockings disappeared into a tattered bathrobe and a lipstick-stained cigarette rested between…

Hishi’s claws ticked on the polished floor as she ran. The sound was barely audible, yet the teeming corridors emptied ahead of her. News had spread through the great city, out and down from the bl…

The trees in this part of the Dragonwood are thin and lanky, like growing boys, like her own willowy limbs, but Lina has no interest in the trees, or young men, or the body that conveys her, stomping feet falling where they will. via Pocket

Six parts after Dunsany Part 1 I set out for Velaya as a young man, having only just pledged to wed. I was to marry Belqis, flower of our village and light of my eyes, in whose father’s orchards I …

By the third time Patricia lost a finger, everyone knew better than to raise a fuss. Her family hadn’t always been this calm. When the first finger, a knuckle’s-worth of her left pinky, had fallen plumply into her dinner salad, there had been an eno…

“What is wrong with him?” Ada had heard that tone before, the horror of a newly assigned doctor witnessing the Leak for the first time. She waited for the novice’s breath to settle. “He is witherin…

Jaxon has just finished doodling Captain Fiero’s victory pose when the math teacher explodes. Students scream as Mrs. Richardson flails back from the chalkboard, body suddenly alight. via Pocket

Claudia Campbell shifted in her seat, clutching her oversized pocketbook closer to her chest. She released an audible huff. With all the automation these days, why couldn’t they move things along f…

Reproduction in a Closed Loop – Andrew M LeBlanc – Metaphorosis Magazine via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2CsFV0W

Once upon a time there were three brothers who lived with their parents in the midst of a vast forest. If there were any other people in the forest, they knew nothing of them, for they found no tra…

I pushed the little girl on the rope swing, guessing she couldn’t be more than seven, knowing she was my mother. The swing groaned as it arced forward, then back, the rope twisting against the boug…

“Excuse me,” Cash tried again, “you’re not a doctor, are you?” Another bemused look and shake of the head. “Oh, okay, thanks anyway,” he said to their backs. The warm bundle in his arms groaned unc…

I pushed the little girl on the rope swing, guessing she couldn’t be more than seven, knowing she was my mother. The swing groaned as it arced forward, then back, the rope twisting against the bough of the mulberry tree. via Pocket

The Astronaut Tier – Jonathan Laidlow – Metaphorosis Magazine via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2yzgB5U

Farren opened the door to the bailiffs and let them in. They pushed into the apartment wordlessly, and began to itemise her former life, ticking boxes on clipboards while they opened drawers and rifled shelves. via Pocket

When Levy Green awoke, he looked around for a few blinking moments, and did not try to remember. He was alone. Through an open window, he could see it was day. Something, somewhere was beeping. via Pocket via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Misalignment – Erik Goldsmith – Metaphorosis Magazine via Instapaper https://ift.tt/33ogjfi

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io The Season of Withering – Lisa Short – Metaphorosis Magazine via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2oUJtEe

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io I dream of vast landscapes. The distance bends like cotton on a washing line or a rabbit vanishing down a hole. In my dream, women come, carrying brutally tined forks. Their hands crook around their bodies and somehow they are monstrous and too big.… A Yellow Landscape – Sarah McGill – Metaphorosis Magazine via Instapaper http://bit.ly/2KcW7rU

The train car reeked of cigarettes and rumbled like a storm. Loud enough to drown out the voice of every passenger crammed inside it, but still Inez’s heartbeat rattled between her ears. via Pocket via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io

The damned shadows did me in. They should have been blue. Yellowish light should cast blue or violet shadows, every artist learned that. While disregard for basic colour principles was new and exciting in paint, in life it was awful. via Pocket via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io

The lander sloped down from orbit towards the jagged peninsula that leaked westwards from Earth’s great landmass. Salzmann’s eyes tracked across the surface as they broke the cloud cover. It stretched brown-green to the limits of his vision, shorn o… via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io A Final Resting Place – Matt Hornsby – Metaphorosis Magazine via Instapaper https://ift.tt/355DGfc

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io The old woman looked up from where she was kneeling in her garden, tending to the tiny green shoots that were poking through the soil. “There’s a name I ain’t heard in a while,” she said to the young whippersnapper shifting from foot to foot on the …

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Julian’s voice filtered through her dying radio. The Prince of Cats was a speck of light, dimming through the gold-grey film that, atom by atom, was devouring her helmet. Valley tried to say something, anything. Failed. via Pocket A Layer Thin As Breath – Thea Boodhoo – Metaphorosis Magazine via Instapaper https://ift.tt/32EdU06

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io “No.” I pushed my chair back from the conference table. I could see myself in the window opposite, Herrje’s deep night sky turning the glass wall into a giant mirror. via Pocket Communication Breakdown – Andrew Knighton – Metaphorosis Magazine via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2XRQplz