A flash fiction set on a porch in Illinois

“LAPIS LAZULI,” HE SAID. “That my name.” He was not of this world, never from Earth. Not with those eyes, no. --------------------- This is a work of collaboration by Eugen Bacon and E. Don Harpe.

David wants to give his wife Kate everything she didn't have before meeting him: security, a nice home, another baby. He wants to be a good step-dad to Josh and erase the memories of Tom, Kate's first love and Josh's father. But none of this seems enough for Kate and after the birth of their daughter she slips into depression, her only solace the run-down summerhouse at the bottom of their garden. When David discovers what he thinks is her betrayal he sets out on a path of destruction. (The Summerhouse, a novella, was shortlisted for Gateway's New Fictions prize in late 2014)

An ambitious artist seeks to reconnect with influential figures from his past.

Laxmi, a girl from the lowest caste of a village in the remote west of Nepal, is told that she is the unlucky kind. But, resourceful and fiercely protective of her sister and niece, she is determined that low birth will not ruin their lives. All profits from this story go to aid work in Nepal.

A gun fires in the dark, but who is it? And what is she aiming at?

Morning walks, an irrational fear, and a story of past, lethal transgression revealed.

Henry Swail went missing years ago in peculiar circumstances. No one knows why he left or where he is now. Officially, he’s presumed dead. But who is this strange man asking about him?