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It was with a sense of the forlorn that I looked up at the tall tree against the coal grey sky. All its leaves had fallen, heralding the coming winter. Bone-like branches protruded in twisted shapes as if it had suffered in torment from unseen forces that froze it in place. I stood on a...

Druidic

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"Some revelations invite the willful Destruction of the soul.." --Samuel Erqhart Xavior, "The Highway of the Toad" There were certain...

Druidic

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The (Un)real Wolf The fire of Life coursed through its veins, rippled like flowing electricity through the muscles of its sleek, powerful frame. All vestiges of former identity, all vestiges of humanity, had been consumed by that purging flame of Change, and now it knew only the...

Druidic

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Removed by Author for publication.

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“And I hoped to create an idiot word, a chain of symbols wholly emptied of meaning. I wanted each letter to be as pointless and arbitrary as a pile of stones or a gnarled length of root.” -John Abrew, Notebooks John Abrew perished in the company of his wife and children. He lay in...

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A disheveled, haggard man bundled in a thick coat shuffled with head down into the shabby all-night diner, sliding into the first booth his downcast eyes lit upon. When the waitress came, he muttered a request for coffee without looking up. The waitress sneered slightly at his bent head...

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My short story (1300 words) 'Down' is now available from 'Flash Fiction Press'. This was my attempt at writing a Ligottian story in as close to a thousand words as possible. Hope you enjoy it, and any feedback gratefully received. :) Down

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Doctor and patient in session

Druidic

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June, 1950. He came out of convalescence, returning to the world in the gray rain and mist, leaving the Rest Home behind him and carrying a large brown bag in one hand while clutching a long looped bit of rope in the other. After entering the taxi with painful difficulty, he sat in the...

Druidic

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An Angry Room I. A View to Die For A man in an angry room, pacing, mechanically pacing, shuffling through stifling air, pausing now and then to lean against one or the other of the room’s two narrow windows, raising his hands to cup the sides of his face as he gazes through...

Druidic

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The Hill The grass was always greener on the Other Side of the Hill. Always. Unfortunately, that vibrant green also crawled, swayed and hissed in the absence of all wind, made high keening banshee sounds, stunk like a gangrenous limb and had multiple rudimentary...

Druidic

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Those Wascally Bears The driver panicked his brakes and the little car screeched to a stop. There was a large bear in the road. The damn thing wouldn't move. The driver of the sports car whose name was Bob hit the horn repeatedly but the animal seemed stubbornly deaf. ...

Joseph Rodgers

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I'm a bit nervous posting something among such prestigious authors, but I've been working on this for a while now and I'm desperate to share it. Edits, and revisions will occur as time passes.

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The Alchemist has requested that this be taken down and more worthy material be put in its place. -- Editor

Druidic

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Probably the last bit of fiction I'll post unless I finish a fragment still lurking here at TLO. Before I quit, I just had to provide a sequel to Montag's "Wisdom of Kings."

Druidic

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1. Carleton knew he was dreaming. Outside the tent the wind whistled and howled, the sand rose and scattered, and the thin air of the plateau was freezing cold. The moon cast a light, pale as bleached bone, over the tent in which the Professor slept and dreamed his lucid dreams....

Druidic

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(For NJ) Every seven years… ...in the blackest hour of the blackest night… ‘I can hear it,” said Sam Ellis. “I can hear it! Goddamn, that train is rolling tonight…”

Druidic

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The Abyss 1. Will we recognize Its smile when It comes to us, Its dark gaping maw filled with soundless mirth of fresh turned earth.

Druidic

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Original title: A Boy and His God (but I didn't want to be sued by Harlan.