'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'.

Geographies of the Heart by Caitlin Hamilton Summie

The night our grandfather died was a night without stars, the snow falling in endless repeat, first veiling the moon, the constellations, then the sharp edges of buildings – our whole world. Toward the end, when my grandfather seemed only to be lingering of his own will, I stood outside the main entrance of the hospital, looking for headlights; stunned by the deep and unsettling quiet of St Paul under snow and then by the long keening wail of a siren inching toward Emergency, the neon lights there obscured by snow and ice and hope.

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January 2017's wintry offering is Caitlin Hamilton Summie's beautifully composed 'Geographies of the Heart'. Readers will find themselves within snowstorms, observing not only grief and loss, but also a thawing of what was once frozen, with the promise of new growth. READ 'GEOGRAPHIES OF THE HEART'. Story selected by guest editor Madeleine D'Arcy.

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'.

Woman Driving, Man Sleeping by Alan McMonagle

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Photo © Jason Cameron

Cathy has an amazing scream and when she sticks her head out of the driver window and issues her command, the way ahead parts like a miracle sea. 'That's my girl,' Dominic mutters, leaning his head against the passenger window and closing his eyes.       

The September 2014 offering of Long Story, Short Journal is new work by Alan McMonagle, author of 'Psychotic Episodes' (Arlen House). 'Woman Driving, Man Sleeping' puts readers behind the driver's seat on a couple's driving holiday in Africa, moving at a clip where it becomes clear we cannot know what is coming around the corner. CLICK HERE TO READ 'WOMAN DRIVING, MAN SLEEPING'.

Axman

Photo © Mitch Weiss

“It was the guitar that made us stop for him, that and the unmistakable silhouette, in black, of Castle Bran painted on the white guitar case. The black suit and black and white striped shirt also helped. His hair was long and grey – once black? – and he was as tall and skinny as a lamppost. The only incongruous thing about him was the pair of tiny John Lennon glasses perched on his somewhat long nose.”

'Axman'​ is a wonderfully weird offering from renowned poet and writer Matthew Sweeney, co-author with John Hartley Williams of the novel 'Death Comes for the Poets'. In 'Axman', Sweeney draws on his years in both Germany and Romania to create a unique tale of a guitar-wielding hitchhiker one couple will forever regret picking up, but will also never forget. Sean O'Brien describes Sweeney's approach at the British Literature Council website: "Disliking the term 'Magic Realism', he [Sweeney] has proposed the name 'Alternative Realism'. In this realm, the mundane world lies open to the proverbial, to the peremptory logic of folktale and to the possibility of nightmare derived from what Sweeney calls 'European darkness'." The darkness, humour and lingering mystery in 'Axman' make it a story well worth reading. CLICK HERE TO READ 'AXMAN'.