Hammersmith: Trenches Manned (chapter thirty)

Posted by ractrose on 17 Oct 2021 in Fiction, Novels |No Comments

Hammersmith Chapter Thirty Trenches Manned           Mossbunker having secured his contract to supply cabling to the American Expeditionary Force, in theory the works might be targeted by spies. To the outside eye, he had not altered arrangements. Aimee, with Curach, lay flat against the slope of a ditch, at the factory’s […]

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The Big Pants (conclusion)

Posted by ractrose on 15 Oct 2021 in Fiction, Short Stories |No Comments

Short Stories The Big Pants  (part seven)         He reconsidered. Maybe, in some ways, Perry wasn’t. He had his own place. He worked in customer service, sitting home taking help desk calls for three or four companies. I gotta ask Perry, Tom counselled himself, how much he’s making. He saw Luisa was […]

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Drownings (part four)

Posted by ractrose on 14 Oct 2021 in Fiction, Short Stories |No Comments

      Drownings (part four)     Three stacked windows bloomed onscreen. “I confess, I’m not in Herbertson’s department. I’ve got Carmadge down…” McAlley patted pockets. “Dustin is one of my own lads, so the name comes to mind. Here.” He laid the ID under her eyes. “Young,” she said. “I think it isn’t […]

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Marjorie Bowen: The Sword Decides! (part forty)

Posted by ractrose on 13 Oct 2021 in Fiction, Novels |No Comments

Marjorie Bowen The Sword Decides! (part forty)                   “You have seen the body. Your eyes are witness, Lord. Shall such witness be gainsaid? But allow…though I insult you to suggest it… For how a man might bring himself to suspect these good women…! No, ignore me. But […]

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Beware of Fours (poem)

Posted by ractrose on 12 Oct 2021 in Art, Poems |No Comments

      Beware of Fours   Magic threes no more, beware of fours A fear inducer without weight, absenting light, a shadow A sense of shadow One morning the character walks in the rain The after-rain, the water in yellowing Beds of flowers beaded And closing skies of short fall days And knows the […]

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The Totem-Maker: The Citadel (part nine)

Posted by ractrose on 11 Oct 2021 in Fiction, Novels |No Comments

The Totem-Maker Chapter Ten The Citadel (part nine)           “Adzja, you may labor at your studies today. I am going down to the city.” I looked at her, saying this, because I suspected her of being my watcher as well as my servant. But she finished cornering a cloth on my […]

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My Blog Week: October 3 to October 9

Posted by ractrose on 11 Oct 2021 in The Latest |No Comments

All the Latest from Torsade!                               A Word on the Week     What Comes After Awareness?         Somehow the warning we’ve been given, long past, and several times, is eluding us. The Mueller Report (2019) detailed how […]

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The Big Pants (part six)

Posted by ractrose on 9 Oct 2021 in Fiction, Short Stories |No Comments

Short Stories The Big Pants  (part six)         She had come to Toby Messerman thinking that a thirty-six-year-old fat woman, who had never had a job outside her husband’s studio, needed to get sleek. Not that Jackie wasn’t encouraged seeing people of size sass back…but she thought in real life the competition […]

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Drownings (part three)

Posted by ractrose on 8 Oct 2021 in Fiction, Short Stories |No Comments

      Drownings (part three)     Faia strode next to him, both aware of the woman’s yelling. They descended to the water, cleared a gap baffled by rolls of grey rubber—and they were afloat. Half of the walkway seemed forbidden; allowed parts doglegged segment to segment, cordoned with moveable fences painted yellow. The […]

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Mathilde Alanic: Shine! (part fifty-three)

Posted by ractrose on 8 Oct 2021 in Fiction, Novels, Translation |No Comments

Mathilde Alanic Shine! (part fifty-three)                               Epilogue   Extract from Annie’s notebook     It has been two years today. Two years, since I arrived at the house, to find the shutters closed. Between the slats, rays of a pale yellow […]

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