[Cue happiness]

‘In the hours and days after seeing Eugene, I was particularly bad: sobbing uncontrollably, vomiting, roaring into the hell’s bells of night. I prayed for typhus, Asiatic cholera, plain old consumption, anything that would do the job for me. I had no way to impart how terrible and terrified I felt except to write it down.’

June Caldwell Fiction 5th October 2022

Chemistry Read

‘Her husband was asleep beside her, snoring gently, and she lay, breathing shallowly, planning her next move.’ 

Lisa Owens Fiction 7th September 2022

Fetishes 

‘Marcello's not a guy who likes used underwear, old shoes or bare feet. He’s a perfectionist, or maybe just a hypocrite.’

Gianluca Nativo Fiction 10th August 2022

Sleep Watchers

‘Over Zoom one night, a therapist tucks her dark hair behind her ears and introduces herself as Maeve. They are about the same age, in their late thirties. She doesn’t ask about Orla’s childhood, or root around for scars. She says, Tell me what’s happening.’

Roisín O’Donnell Fiction 17th June 2022

Plaster

‘I couldn’t get out of bed, I couldn’t shower, I couldn’t call my friends. Everyone has had a time like this—when they look in the mirror and, sure enough, an unknown animal stares back.’

Nicole Flattery Fiction 7th April 2022

Harlow

"His mother had a choice between keeping the monkey or having the baby. She told the story often, in company, with a roll of her eyes and a helpless grin, as if this was the sore spot, the branching crossroads where her life had gone wrong. "

Sheila Armstrong Fiction 4th November 2021

Respawn

'You talk and talk until you run out of breath and still when you get home there are things you wish you had said. Just once I would like to wake before myself and see what I am with my eyes closed.'

John Christopher Fiction 6th October 2021

St Alban’s Drive

‘Your mother’s on the radio,’ she said, ‘being racist.’ This had surprised me; the radio bit. My mother had an aversion to talk radio.

Danielle McLaughlin Fiction 1st September 2021

Any Holidays?

"They wore travel outfits, comfy and subtle. Tiny shorts and big hoodies in creamy colours. Shorts said: actual holiday. Hoodies said: chill, not like the other young ones going away, flashing bikinis at baggage claim."

Katie Curran Fiction 12th August 2021

Peter and Jane

'Sometimes I long for home, but not home as it is now, home back then. Back when it was nice. When the sun was always out, and we could play all day out of doors. Before I had to be a woman.'

Niamh Prior Fiction 7th July 2021

Graceland

A story from Philip Ó Ceallaigh's upcoming collection.

Philip Ó Ceallaigh Fiction 5th May 2021

Responsibilities

"She felt both important and embarrassed, now, in the street. The afternoon was ageing amiably. The all-year plastic Santa bracketed to a chimney on Attracta Road was dusty in soft sun."

Niamh Campbell Fiction 7th April 2021

Gloria and Max

'Gloria! he said, not loud enough. Gloria! he shouted again. It sounded ridiculous, like some kind of dreadful Van Morrison tribute act. Gloria!'

Wendy Erskine Fiction 3rd March 2021

Words for Things

"What do you think of, I said to my husband that evening, when you think of Monica Lewinsky?"

Lucy Caldwell Fiction 3rd February 2021