Two dragons twisted through the moonlit clouds, shifting to a graceful dive before tumbling into a field of enormous poppies. “I love your laugh,” cried Serafina, stretching her sapphire blue wings. Lillyace covered her snout with her claws. “I sound like a sick horse.” Serafina scooched closer and gently lowered Lillyace’s claws. Lilly was an… Read more How to Break a Dragon’s Heart
In April every horse in the world suddenly sprouted wings and began to fly. It still feels weird saying that, and to think that Pam and I watched it happen. It was the first warm day of the year and we were drinking coffee on the patio when a chevron of low-flying thoroughbreds darkened the… Read more Every Horse in the World
It is said by the tellers of tales, that there was once a woman who was rejected by her lover. She howled and she wailed and she wept, but there was no changing his mind. So she travelled far away from his lands into the deep forest and found a cottage where she dwelt alone… Read more The Woman Who Put Out The Moon
There was once a man brought to Earth. He was not of the Earth in the conventional sense, nor was he of heaven in the Biblical sense. He had a mother, a father, many siblings. Each day the sensation of the ground jerking erratically under his feet, woke him with a start. Shifting and swaying,… Read more Fixed in the Firmament
Grim though it be Little Red Riding Hood and The Woodcutter, with his hewing axe, eviscerate and skin the Big Bad Wolf, thus rescuing sickly Grandma. Grandma’s a bit worse for the wear after her couple of hours in Big Bad’s overstuffed stomach. But she cleans up nicely. In the backyard of Grandma’s cottage they… Read more Little Red Riding Hood, The Woodcutter, Grandma, and The Big Bad Wolf: Their Ongoing True Story
I wonder if my family was ever normal, or if, as time has unravelled, they lost their wits. I first noticed the change when Mother hid her potted plants inside the dark cupboards and corners. As the winter came close, splashing windowpanes with frost, she opened cupboard doors only a fraction to see if the… Read more The Family
Cursed with curiosity, dear Papa I cannot help but wonder If Hera bought your story? Hephaestus! That crippled bitter cuckold of a man made me? Fashioned these exquisite folds, smooth curves and pungent juices? Surely, Hera’s noticed how my ears are shaped. How prettily they frame the flawless pearls my uncle gave when all the… Read more Pandora Addresses Zeus
The little boy rubbed the two coins together in his palm, generating a faint scraping sound. The noise was unfamiliar because he’d never before possessed so much money. Not until this morning, when he’d spotted them hidden in the dust. He’d been observing the plant merchants setting up their wares when the glint of metal… Read more Two Coins for a Flower
(Creating humans) Soul, sentience and sense Odin, Vili and Vé embroidered rough knots into muddy, half-dark, dregs two husks of drifted ash The brothers salted shadows stitched their turf-cut emblems into form, softened knitted flesh man and woman, oil treated smoothed out Ask and Embla Bombarded by night voices they dreamt a first tongue saw… Read more Vili and Vé
Staring at the open maw of the cauldron, all she wants is for it to be over, to be free. She throws in anything she can find, everything she had carefully saved: The mangled black feather from the windowsill The moonlight reflecting off the snow beneath her window The translucent blue sheen of spilled milk… Read more White as Snow, Red as Blood
