A death in the family takes Jim Cleary from Boston to Appalachia. There amid the grey and green Kentucky hills sits the Cottage his great-grandfather built. The rustic calm gives little hint of what lies beneath the stars that hang so silent, cold, and bright. If you prefer reading: https://thefractaljournal.com/2023/01/31/the-cottage-2019-story-excerpt/ Note: This narration contains music.…
Hey, everybody sorry for the huge lag in uploads. Life is life as the Laibach song goes. My schedule is all topsy turvy, night is day, day is night, and I’m still in a bloody hotel. Whinging aside I’m rather happy to bring you a story I wrote earlier this morning. Here’s the story via…
“You’d better get used to opening them ears.” An all too familiar voice chirped. Jim started violently. He ashed his jeans with spent tobacco and cursed aloud as hot coffee singed his hand. Clad in a dusty grey-green dress with her torso wrapped in flannel Lizzy Jennings was more scarecrow than grandame as she stood…
Appalachia spreads itself in grey and green a few hundred miles inland of the Atlantic. Its mountains, caves, lakes, and fields are a delight. It is a garden. It is a temple. It is where Jim found himself that summer. His uncle who went by the name of Hant had got a blood clot in…
Band stickers, college parking passes, crumpled bits of fast food wrappers… ‘Good.’ I was relieved. “One more minute and I woulda left without you.” The driver joked. “It’s not as bad as it seems…by the looks of the cars…they’re just students…who probably rented the place cause it was dirt cheap.” “Not a bad place to…
An original story I just made up as I sat here in front of the microphone. I was hoping to get some Halloween spooky stuff done (on or by Halloween) but life happened. This idea had been milling about in my head and it came out ok. I used the name Alan Rickman and…
“Well that there along the side…you see it…the sort of interlocking thing…yes…” I said running my finger along the edge. “That is the tree of life – the world tree…” “Like in the Bible.” “Somewhat..though this is a Yakut story likely given our guests origin…and the pearl atop really seals it as…
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