11.27.09
Posted by mazzz in Leeds | 34 Comments »
I have only been dead for a week and already I’ve been summoned to see the Beast. Woodhouse shakes his head in that despairing way of his.
“I’ve been here for two years and he’s not asked to see me once”, he says, in his best underdog voice. Woodhouse is such a likeable fellow that no one can figure out why he hasn’t been moved up a long time ago, let alone why he was sent to a hub as low as Hub 12 in the first instance. We can’t ask him what he did to be brought here, of course – it is not the done thing. In prison, everyone may be innocent, but here we all know better. Nevertheless, in Woodhouse’s case one cannot help but think that he might be an anomaly. Even the Beast himself is perplexed by the chap’s presence, as I am about to find out.
Read the rest of this entry »
Related Posts:
11.25.09
Posted by mazzz in Leeds | 10 Comments »
I will never forget how she looked when I saw her, on that morning as I was jogging in the woods: the dappled light dancing on her face, dark hair caressing her shoulders in the gentle breeze, full lips slightly parted, eyes bulging and feet still twitching a little as she hung from the tree.
Related Posts:
11.20.09
Posted by mazzz in Leeds | 30 Comments »
The combination of 4 inch stiletto heels, cobblestone pavement and an attempt to fish out a cigarette packet from an overflowing handbag proved too much for her inner ear; she toppled over and felt the sharp pain of a twisted ankle. When she looked up and saw Death standing over her with his hand outstretched, she nearly had a heart attack.
Read the rest of this entry »
Related Posts:
11.13.09
Posted by mazzz in Leeds | 25 Comments »
Rothbert Spires, current Scholar of the Court, put on his ceremonial robes and strode to the workroom. After ten years of believing those cursed birds had become extinct, he now found himself having to perfom a Tallid reading; if the reading turned out to be a bad one, it was very likely he would be beheaded before the day was out. He wanted to make sure everything was set up properly. He would be presenting his findings in front of the most exalted of audiences for the first time. He had prepared for it as much as was possible, but some things were after all out of his control, and science alone could not be relied upon; he prayed for a little luck.
Read the rest of this entry »
Related Posts:
11.05.09
Posted by mazzz in Leeds | 27 Comments »
I have been preparing for this day for a year, but it feels like a lifetime. Ever since the prize for first place was announced, I knew I would have to not only enter the race, but also win it; all year I have been training for it, to the exclusion of almost all other activity. I whisper a prayer to the Great Lady of the Eastern Plains and look into my beast’s eyes.
“We can do it, Squibs.” She flaps her ears and smiles at me as only an elephant can, and I feel bolstered. We make a strong team – the bookmakers have declared our odds to be astronomical, but I believe we can prove them wrong. Squibs knows what is at stake: the prize is a dance with the Princess Alita, the brightest jewel in the kingdom’s crown. I am only a cobbler’s son, but tonight I have the chance of holding in my arms the most beautiful girl in the land.
Read the rest of this entry »
Related Posts:
10.29.09
Posted by mazzz in Leeds | 32 Comments »
The soul-searching is over. I have been through all the stages: anger, then denial; from there to doubt; eventually to acceptance, and finally beyond that to conviction. I now know what I must do, and that I must act fast. I set off, stopping only to collect the one weapon I will need on my quest. I pass the fires still burning from last night, the broken glass from shop windows, the assortment of charred items strewn across the pavement. This is not a night to be crossing the city, but cross it I must. I am frightened, but I am also bolstered by determination and the hope of redemption.
Read the rest of this entry »
Related Posts:
10.23.09
Posted by mazzz in Leeds | 35 Comments »
The Laurentian warrior lords sit around the banquet table, enjoying what has for the past few weeks been a nightly event. The atmosphere is as usual one of unbridled raucousness, and of an uncouthness that only noblemen can manage. The Campagnard Elder is shackled to the wall behind the lord Daubert, the cuts and bruises on the old man’s face a map of his tormentors’ character. He ignores their jeers and keeps his gaze set on a point in the distance; his back is straight, his chin high, his face impassive.
Read the rest of this entry »
Related Posts:
10.15.09
Posted by mazzz in Leeds | 33 Comments »
Captain Drew boarded the transfer vessel to the Lauk-Parthians’ ship with excitement. He had given up hope of humanity ever making contact with a peaceful extra-colonial race in his lifetime – he had certainly never expected to be the guest of honour at a banquet held by such a people. He nervously patted the front pocket of his dress uniform to check his speech tablet was there; he had practised delivering the speech for so long during the previous evening unit that he didn’t really need the prompt, but he didn’t like to take chances. It was such a momentous event after all – and indeed one that the First Minister of the Colonies herself would be attending instead of him, had she not been 12 parsecs away, orbiting Jupiter on Satellite A. Read the rest of this entry »
Related Posts:
10.08.09
Posted by mazzz in Leeds | 36 Comments »
Gods do not always beget gods. It is rare, but sometimes it happens that the union of two perfectly ordinary gods can result in a mortal child. I fear I might be such a child. I am 14 – not far from 15, in fact – but my back is still bare. A few months ago there was another in my group of peers who had not sprouted yet either, so no one was worried. Late bloomers, they called us. It will come, they said. You will sprout when you least expect it, they promised. But my back is still bare.
Read the rest of this entry »
Related Posts:
10.02.09
Posted by mazzz in Leeds | 34 Comments »
Rushka, Galactic Overlord of the Kharsh Group, Commander of the Luarrh Nebulae, Honorary High Pontiff of the Moons of Aramis and would-be conqueror of Planet Earth, stood cornered with a small armoury of laser guns pointed at his chest and head. He hadn’t expected this insignificant, isolated planet to produce any resistance worth worrying about. Earth’s technology was inferior – humans had not even managed to get as far as the edge of their own solar system, for Marrh’s sake! He observed his nemeses in disbelief: not an army, not a battalion, not even a platoon. Two Earthlings – two!
Read the rest of this entry »
Related Posts:
