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  • Endless Joke
    Endless Joke
    by David Antrobus

    Here's that writers' manual you were reaching and scrambling for. You know the one: filled with juicy writing tidbits and dripping with pop cultural snark and smartassery. Ew. Not an attractive look. But effective. And by the end, you'll either want to kiss me or kill me. With extreme prejudice. Go on. You know you want to.

  • Dissolute Kinship: A 9/11 Road Trip
    Dissolute Kinship: A 9/11 Road Trip
    by David Antrobus

    Please click on the above thumbnail to buy my short, intense nonfiction book featuring 9/11 and trauma. It's less than the price of a cup of coffee... and contains fewer calories. Although, unlike most caffeine boosts, it might make you cry.

  • Music Speaks
    Music Speaks
    by LB Clark

    My story "Solo" appears in this excellent music charity anthology, Music Speaks. It is an odd hybrid of the darkly comic and the eerily apocalyptic... with a musical theme. Aw, rather than me explain it, just read it. Okay, uh, please?

  • First Time Dead 3 (Volume 3)
    First Time Dead 3 (Volume 3)
    by Sybil Wilen, P. J. Ruce, Jeffrey McDonald, John Page, Susan Burdorf, Christina Gavi, David Alexander, Joanna Parypinski, Jack Flynn, Graeme Edwardson, David Antrobus, Jason Bailey, Xavier Axelson

    My story "Unquiet Slumbers" appears in the zombie anthology First Time Dead, Volume 3. It spills blood, gore and genuine tears of sorrow. Anyway, buy this stellar anthology and judge for yourself.

  • Seasons
    Seasons
    by David Antrobus, Edward Lorn, JD Mader, Jo-Anne Teal

    Four stories, four writers, four seasons. Characters broken by life, although not necessarily beaten. Are the seasons reminders of our growth or a glimpse of our slow decay?

  • Indies Unlimited: 2012 Flash Fiction Anthology
    Indies Unlimited: 2012 Flash Fiction Anthology
    Indies Unlimited

    I have two stories in this delightful compendium of every 2012 winner of their Flash Fiction Challenge—one a nasty little horror short, the other an amusing misadventure of Og the caveman, his first appearance.

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Entries in Pillars of Creation (1)

Sunday
Oct062024

Yellow Nebula

I’m okay. I’m okay. Alright, back off already. You’ve told me now.

Give me some sp… 

She’s… 

Wait.

She’s… what? Dead?

Right. Yeah… got it, thanks for that, can’t wait to return the favour. 

No, no, I don’t need any—

Water? Sure. 

Hold on, wait. She’s dead? I must not’ve heard you right.

Uh-huh. Okay. I’m all ears.

You already told me, I get it. You’re just saying the same words over. I’m…

What the fuck. What’s happening here? 

Are you for real? Are you for fucking real?

What? What? 

Seriously, what?

Of course, yes, I’m sorry, yes. I’ll calm down. 

This is our home. You know that. Behind all this yellow tape and drama. 

Where is my wife?

No, no, no, no, no…

Why do you keep telling me this? Are you lying to me?

Let me go inside. I’ll find Emily. She’s in bed. Asleep. It’s late.

All these lights and all this shit outside my home is starting to—

Okay, everyone leave now. Now, I said. Get the fuck away from my house.

No, I won’t calm down. I won’t turn around. This is invasive, and you should be asham—

What the actual fuck is this? Not sure why you’re up in my face. I said no, I won’t turn around. 

Wait. Are you trying to cuff me? 

Not funny, dude. Not subtle. Is this a bad movie?

Okay, I’m chill. Don’t freak out. Give me a sec.

I’m freaked out. We’re the victims here. Me and Emily and baby Grace. What about that don’t you get? 

There’s a whole life happening inside that home if you’d just leave me alone and let me go inside and pretend this night never happened. 

None of it happened. That’s it. Never. I goddamned pinky swear.

You might not even be real. I might not even be real. A woman’s bad dream about her husband and her daughter.

If not, please tell me what I left for her still dripping on the kitchen counter.

D’you have any idea? Know the things we shared? Made together? Fought over?

Anyone here felt what it is to be clutched by a passing nebula with madness in its blackhole core? To be ripped from bliss and blasted into nothingness?

Thought not.

Do any of you even know how hard all this is?

Huh. Surprise me, bro. Asswipe. Come at me, dipshit. 

If I grabbed your gun right now, I’d fucking show you, fucking show everyone.

No, that’s absolutely not a threat. You’re hurting me, stop, don’t make me do this, just let—

________

Image of Smimm's infinite eye © Rebecca Loranger