A World War II bomber crew veteran goes to the neighbors’ Guy Fawkes celebration the week after the Cuban Missile Crisis and his daughter’s wedding. He is reminded of his wartime experiences…
Author: Michael Hartford
“Hostile Architecture” by M. Lopes da Silva
A homeless person, their sanity destroyed by sleep deprivation due in no small part to efforts to make rest in public places impossible, succumbs to madness or possession (it’s a little ambiguous…
“The Hellhole” by Annie Proulx
While arresting a poacher, a Wyoming game warden discovers a secret spot that will save him a lot of paperwork. Alas, its popularity among other game wardens leads to its loss. This…
“Our Town’s Talent” by Simon Strantzas
Disappointed that the town’s children’s talent show was not competitive, and so did not crown her son the winner, Mrs. Parker holds her own talent show with a trio of judges. The…
“The Frame Between Us” by Ethan Luk
A young man reflects on moments of friendship with two other boys; there is both an intimacy and a distance in their relationships. An air of melancholy suffuses the story. This story…
“Crawlspace Oracle” by Richard Gavin
A woman has dinner with an old acquaintance who has gained a reputation for financial wizardry, hoping to get some advice for how to invest some money her husband has recently acquired….
“One of the Good Ones, or: It’s a Gas!” by Gordon B. White
During a hot summer of protests, a young cop participates, somewhat reluctantly, in an unauthorized experiment with an old psychoactive substance that some of his fellow cops intend to use on the…
“In This Twilight” by Simon Strantzas
A young woman meets an itinerant young man in a deserted bus station and tries to avoid conversation with him. When he gets on the same bus as her, and waxes rhapsodic…
“Napier’s Constant” by ArLynn Leiber Presser
This is a fun and lighthearted take on the theory of multiverses and the end of the universe, set at a wedding where a “virtuous but not sober uncle” has fallen asleep…
“Scold’s Bridle: A Cruelty” by Richard Gavin
Well, this is a grim little story to read with my morning coffee … A down-on-his-luck blacksmith is approached to create a medieval torture device; the requester is a teacher, who claims…