WordPunk

On the day Death came calling for her, Antonia Priver had already left. Clothes shopping, as usual. Unfortunately, given the ever-increasing weight of his workload, Death had barely had time to skim through her case notes that morning, let alone analyse her spending habits. He’d clocked her age and address and committed her photo to memory (there’d be hell to pay if he took the wrong client by mistake) but the detailed lists of likes and dislikes had rather fallen by the wayside.

WELL, NOW.

There’s a hostelry in Port Royal, or there was; little to no point in going there these days, unless you’ve a fondness for charred things. Were you to go there yourself you’d see some old posts and a plaque but once, oh once, once there were people and games and frolics and what fun we had — until there wasn’t any more fun to be had, if you understand me, you pretty thing. The little cherubs you see pouting away in the corners of the map, they were free to fly and they are still, if they want to; our wings though, they were clipped one night, clipped good and proper. I’m to tell you how it came to pass. Can you picture a tavern? A bustling one. A hubbub of excesses, picture it for me now. With barrels and spillages and pistols cocked on whims and a violently low tolerance for lack of payment, whatever you’re buying. Do you have it? No, no you can’t quite picture it, not correctly, not yet. Mucky it about a bit. Add more dirt. This wasn’t a high-end place, and it would never pretend to be one. And for Port Royal at this time, ‘twas a piece of pride to be able to boast so. Vicars used to run away from Port Royal, hankies over their mouths. Fair enough. But this place? Some of the saltiest knave dogs that ever sailed the South Seas avoided this place.

The Drifter's Tale by Hal Duncan

Narrated by Del Lakin-Smith

We have all heard of the drifter myth, but where does it come from? Maybe this one side of a conversation can help us understand.

First published in disLocations anthology and reproduced with kind permission from Newcon Press.

Available to buy from SpaceWitch. Enter coupon code DarkFic16 at checkout to get a 10% discount.

Tits Up in Wonderland by Chloe Yates

Narrated by Kim Lakin-Smith

The King has been kidnapped, Queenie's on the rampage. Life's a 'drag' in this twisted Wonderland.

All is Dust by Den Patrick

Narrated by Darren Goldsmith

First published in Book of the Dead anthology and reproduced with kind permission from Jurassic London.

Available to buy from SpaceWitch.