Folk Horror “I don’t want to go.” “Then don’t go.” “I have to go.” Marc Holdstock was moaning like a little kid over his bucket of fried chicken. He had reluctantly accepted Ros’s invitation to a scary Halloween experience with her friends. It was now the day before and he was getting cold feet. “Why […]

War Heinz Hasenkamp had doubts about Brodeur’s plan (henceforward known as The Plan) but kept them to himself. The Frenchman and Demi Leather had outlined their ideas to him straight after he had passed their ridiculous spot-the-genre test. Theorist Brodeur had done most of the talking. “Heinz,” he’d said that day in his office. “I […]

Ghost Story Towards the end of the last century on a date in July a reasonably good-looking middle aged man stepped out of a public house to look about him. The light was fading fast. It was twilight and despite the summer month a gentle breeze was wafting tendrils of fog from the river and […]

Fantasy Herein lies a tale. There will be a quest and there will be discord and ruin but we shall also find valour in an unexpected place. It is a tale of one palace and, within it, two towers. The palace is the home of the Queen Empress and her Court. It is the hub […]

Urban Noir We can only imagine what Feyderbrand thought of the machine’s new selection. But in the case of this guy we can, and should, go right inside his head.   Hull: Crime City, the metropolitan borough of burglary. “If we can lift it, we’ll shift it”. That should be Hull’s motto nicely dressed up […]

Satire:  a Comedy of Manners Marc (with a c) Holdstock was nervous. He was in unfamiliar territory and on his way to date a girl he’d only met the night before. He was walking eastwards along Clough Road, a road he’d travelled by car but never on foot. This Sunday afternoon he was the only […]

1950s Style Children’s Adventure   Sarah Spence threw open her bedroom curtains to find a beautiful morning waiting for her. So it should be, she thought, it was the 27th of May and the first day of the spring mid-term holidays and she had a full week off school. Skirting around her half-completed Bayko construction […]

SUPERHERO “She can be whatever she makes you think you want her to be.” Illusory Girl paced around her superhero’s den hidden under the streets of Akihabara, Electric Town. She was waiting for her sidekick, Bubblegum Boy, and the kid was late. Maybe he’s got stuck in traffic, she thought, or more likely got stuck […]

Mystery Kev (Joe’s grandad) was standing by Scott Street Bridge one afternoon at the end of March. He had some time to kill before meeting his friend and he wanted to take a few minutes here for old time’s sake. He could remember when this was a working bridge. Now it was permanently open, unrepairable […]

CONSPIRACY THRILLER Over four months later in early November 2016 the results of the US Presidential election plunged Feyderbrand even further into despair. He had meals brought to his room and rarely ventured out. Some days he neglected to shave his head. By the end of the month his team were worried about him. They […]