Author Archives: john-houlihan

#23 Animals

“We’re animals man, nothing more than fucking animals, smart ones sure, but the beast’s skin tight cage can get stretched awfully thin. “Don’t you ever want to go on the hunt? Run rampant, run with the pack, stalk through the shadowed night, howling at that moon, embracing the beast within? “On the prowl, senses primed, […]

June 12, 2013 – 9:57 am | By john-houlihan | Posted in Very Short Stories | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on #23 Animals

#22 You have a new message…

“It is you who create our heart of darkness. You with your unquenchable thirst for the new black gold. You with your LOLs, your Facebook updates, your petty Twitterings, the empty all-consuming social media addiction which passes for your lives. “There is no connected world here, no network, just the tears of our brutalised women […]

June 12, 2013 – 9:56 am | By john-houlihan | Posted in Very Short Stories | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on #22 You have a new message…

#21 Light

“What do I know? Perhaps much, probably little. Human relationships? Ah yes, them. So complex, so fragile, each swinging precariously on a silken pendulum, translucent, almost invisible, in a world of sharp edges. One cannot truly find oneself in another, but we must become a slave to be set free, be able to look each […]

June 12, 2013 – 9:55 am | By john-houlihan | Posted in Very Short Stories | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on #21 Light

#20 Lifescore

Wake (+5) bolt breakfast (+5 indigestion), delays into Euston (+20 frustration +10 rage) but make office in nick of time (+5 work kudos). Light flirting with canteen girl (+10 self image), chug five cups of strong coffee (+4 motivation +4 gibbering +2 paranoia). Plough through latest round of witless emails and dull memos (-20 motivation) […]

June 12, 2013 – 9:55 am | By john-houlihan | Posted in Very Short Stories | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on #20 Lifescore

#19 Acts of War

They go from house to house, rounding up the innocents, while we stand, safety catches locked, doing nothing. It’s orders, policy. Doors are kicked in, wailing villagers extracted, herded like cattle into a corral by the market. Even up wind we can smell their sweat, their fear. Peacekeeper, I spit and the word seems to […]

June 12, 2013 – 9:54 am | By john-houlihan | Posted in Very Short Stories | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on #19 Acts of War

#18 Tripping on trains

Some people enjoy drinking in parks, I like tripping on trains. An off peak ticket, a mild(-ish) psychedelic and a window seat and the trip begins. Beyond the verges of the city, we hurtle through the veins and arteries of the land, spectators in the midst of a moving feast, yet I’m the only one […]

June 12, 2013 – 9:53 am | By john-houlihan | Posted in Very Short Stories | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on #18 Tripping on trains

#17 NPCs

“Here e’ comes, make ready.” “Alright I know. It’s only a line, it’s not like we actually have anything else to do except stand here and look rustic.” “Sush! e’s here!” “Noble peasants hail! I am Vortigen the Revenger. The land groans under the yoke of the evil Vortigrax, quick can’st tell me the hidden […]

June 12, 2013 – 9:52 am | By john-houlihan | Posted in Very Short Stories | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on #17 NPCs

#16 Night Sky

The mysteries of the heart are like the deeps of space, untold and fathomless. Love explodes like the birth pangs of a star, or blinks out in a moment, leaving only the void. Yet most just decay slowly, until, like the light from a distant sun, we glimpse only a remnant from a thousand years […]

June 12, 2013 – 9:52 am | By john-houlihan | Posted in Very Short Stories | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on #16 Night Sky

#15 Long Service Award

Face wizened, seamed, like rivulets cutting their way through a cragged mountain pass, your dark button eyes regard a world of shopping centres, sales and Starbucks. Khaki has given way to Surawal, parade ground to waste ground, Kukri has been long sheathed. You are present but almost forgotten, your reward for a life-time’s devotion, a […]

June 12, 2013 – 9:51 am | By john-houlihan | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on #15 Long Service Award

#14 Empire of the six gardens

I rule the empire of the six gardens, three roofs and two sheds and all therein unto the boundary of the great wall. Five wives are my harem, twelve fat neuters my courtier-slaves and here my dominion is absolute, unquestioned and unchallenged. The providers, in their great wisdom, left me intactus to rule this domain […]

June 12, 2013 – 9:50 am | By john-houlihan | Posted in Very Short Stories | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on #14 Empire of the six gardens