London torn. Night and day. Sinners and angels. Debut novel by Mark A. King, available now
The Sirens of Europa …and so I find myself with a difficult choice to make. Nestled between the hulking cookies ‘n’ cream swirling skies of the Jovian overlord and the fragile crackle-glaze ice-moon of Europa, I watch, monitor and wait. Despite the rewards, NASA couldn’t afford the mission. It was paid for by the 1% …
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St. Valentine’s Day Massacre Always the same. I should’ve prepared. It’s not like they didn’t tell me. As soon as the turkey curry repeated on me, they were festooning the shops with the gaudy red, the hearts and the semi-naked cupids. Get ready, Clive, they shouted. Yet, I waited. Maybe I’m a visionary. A modern-day …
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In the Blink of an Eye Blink| Slushy darkness punctured by brutal light. Blurs. Muffled sounds. Swaddling. Mamma’s warm milk |Blink Blink| The circling bird above the spire. The rejoicing sound of Sunday bells callin’ ‘cross stubble-fields. My Sunday-best fabric twirls in the playful glow of stained-glass light |Blink Blink| Christmas. A glittering present box …
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FAQs We are near the end now. I once harboured you – in roughened houses, in biblical arks, behind strengthened doors and the curled razor barricades of Flanders. You cut me with sharpened metals from the earth. Peeled my skin. Pulped my flesh. Yet, you nurtured and respected me. We once were …
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Mirror | Mirror Her paddleboat is a glorified bicycle on water. Yet it skims the mirrored surface, on dreams of tranquillity. She is leaving the shores of eroded memories, of this long and prosperous life. She envisions the sunsets of Monet. How she has lived. How she has loved. How she has taken everything, from …
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A Woman Needs a Man like a Fish Needs a Bicycle Ariel was the pretty one. The one the sailors died for. The one the crustaceans sang to. Ariel was lured to the stagnant lands, the desolate dunes and the harsh dryness of air and sun. By…by…a man. A man! She’d seen his type before. …
Wall Art Berlin. China. Hadrian. Pink Floyd. Forget them all. The wall behind Greggs Bakers on the periphery of the M1 service station is the most famous and valuable wall of them all. But it wasn’t always that way… “Oi, watch wot ya doin’,” the man with the scruffy hair and spray-paint jeans …
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Angel of Death She walks wards of clinical hinterland and navigates paths of life and death. Her uniform is always clean, crisp and blindingly white. She looks like the model professional and her smile is that of cherubim. She gleams brightly at the visitors. But they infest the hospital. They are like parasites around their …
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Construction Spat from the heavens. Wherever she worked in her life she felt alone – she felt different. Today would be the worst day. Under an incendiary morning sky, the skeletal frameworks of scaffolding impaled the horizon. She knew they’d be up there. In the heavens, they’d be judging her. A construction site is no …
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The White Tail of the Metal Dragon The little boy plays in the field outside the city. He tenderly touches his father’s hand, looking for respite from the gathering of the crops. It has been so long since he rested. “These are times of war, son. You know we have to gather the crops to …
Metropolitan Dreams 