An Imposter in Our Midst

The Mayor and the town manager waved as their next victim approached. It was old Elke Svørtsenbørg, and she had her teeth in. She munched on their improbable whiteness while she made her way to the cake table. The Mayor smiled his best. “Our next victim,” he said in the unctuous tones familiar to all who…

Lost in the Mall

Stranger Danger was all he could remember. What was the rest of it? It was like some kind of secret code, something about when it was okay to ask a stranger for help. He wasn’t about to start crying again like some little kid. He would be brave this time. He stood on a bench,…

The Balcony Would Do

He sat in the big armchair, staring at the body. So strange to think it would never move again, at least on its own. For some reason this last was hilarious. His face twisted into a smirk the way it had when he was in school and someone had passed him an amusing note about…

Namesake, Hell

“Enzo!” The boy would not look up from his game. Carbone felt his gorge rising. The guide went on, oblivious. “Craftsmen from Naples and Sicily were brought in special to do the plaster carving. They would fight, so the foreman had to have them work on different floors.” “Enzo’s great grandfather was one of those…

Mrs Professor Sexy

“At first, it looked like an ordinary marble, but it was far from it.” He looked around the table, that familiar drunken glee in his eyes. I was sick of it. “Jesus, Ned. Just tell them already.” I had heard this particular gross-out story at least ten times. He always told it after five or…

Dig That Clock Tower

He seemed sad. He gazed  through the limousine window as we wended through the impossibly green countryside. “You know, baby,” he said, his voice so soft I almost couldn’t hear it. “When I lived in London, my mind was always blown by this thing and that thing. One time I saw this cat in Kensington…

Reblog: Review of Hawser

A World At War Just Like It Was Yesterday: HAWSER – A Review POSTED ON JUNE 12, 2015 BY KURT BRINDLEY 1 BOOK | FICTION | LITERARY HAWSER by J Hardy Carroll RATING: ★ ★ ★ ★ To one who considers some of his favorite literary works to be those about World War II –…

Cha Là Nhà

  When she opened the door of the apartment, Linh did not recognize him, though she did see something familiar in his face. A nice face, she thought. At first she she thought he was another American salesman who had business with her mother. The smells of the restaurant downstairs mixed together with the usual odors…