Vestigial by Aideen Henry

The cows drift over when there’s a shower, it’s like they’re tethered together by invisible ropes. Once one makes the move they all tug along, squelching in and out of each other’s muddy hoof prints, breathing misty air over each other’s flanks. Flock memory, Niamh calls it.

Photo by Marcino via Pixabay.com

'Vestigial', by Irish writer Aideen Henry, is a story of innocence and experience, looking at the lives of teenagers as they fumble towards connection, growth, lust and love. A selection by guest editor Madeleine D'Arcy. READ 'VESTIGIAL'.

'Lamu' by Noel O'Regan

“ As Aisling drives, Noah struggles to match the abandoned streets that now stream past his window with the city he has experienced the past few days – gone is the feeble crawl of traffic, the strangling smell of diesel, the stutter through roundabouts where knuckles harried closed car windows, and hands offered roasted corn on a stick, fresh mangoes, pineapple, and, one time, a kitten.”

Photo by Miville Tremblay, via Flickr.

The August 2017 Long Story, Short offering, 'Lamu', is by Irish writer and Sean Dunne Young Writer winner Noel O'Regan. Join hopeful but uncertain Noah on a road trip with a former flame through Kenya, as they skirt the boundaries of reconnection and dissolution. READ 'LAMU'.

Mandy Taggart's 'Pride'

“Across the road, Laverty’s shop lies shuttered behind steel. Closed two years now, the neighbour told her, after Laverty retired and the sons weren’t interested. Some resourceful vandal has covered the spray-painted obscenities across the shutters with neat squares of white, each one topped with a smiling face in acid yellow. A van swishes past, and Laura feels something in the air shoot free, like the blockage in a straw. When she looks again at the opposite pavement, Laverty’s lion is waiting for her.”

What do you do when a lion follows you home? February 2016's edition of Long Story, Short Journal unique short story, 'Pride', answers the question. Author Mandy Taggart, previous winner of the Michael McLaverty Short Story Award, gives readers a window on a life marked in equal measures by vulnerability and strength. Accompanying photo by American photographer Austin Granger. READ 'PRIDE'. 

Interstate by Patrick Chapman

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Photo © Patrick Warner.

“Now there was the road. Now there was the desert road flashing by, and Michio’s car, a Chevy Impala, which Oliver had borrowed without asking. Rufus the dog was present in the aftermath of her fur. She was a bitch collie but Michio had decided to give her a male name. He had thought it funny to do so. It was a political statement too. Oliver was not quite sure what he’d meant by that.”

The September 2015 edition of Long Story, Short Journal is 'Interstate' by Irish writer / poet / screenwriter, Patrick Chapman. 'Interstate' is a fractured David-Lynchian fairytale which explores how trauma can trigger an inescapable loop of regret and rumination, rendering even time powerless to heal. This month's edition also features a photo by American photographer Patrick Warner. READ 'INTERSTATE'.