You really must start by reading the first part and the second part. The night they were supposed to trap Burt between two simultaneous dreams, Maggie discovered she’d never felt more awake in her life,

You really must start by reading the first part. ‘How… how did you know?’ The man ignored her question, looked her in the eye and asked in a low conspiratorial voice: ‘How long has it been?’ Since she

When Maggie Calhoun set out to find the man of her dreams all she had was a name, Burt, which she didn’t particularly like as she thought it sounded like a cross between burp and fart. And it wasn’t exactly

Three months. Who would have thought three months is such a long time? She’d promised Mark she’d be here today, even if he wouldn’t make it. That was in the early days when they still had hope and Mark

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 There were no boundaries left for the ghosts of Nekhuan who took to wailing and howling night and day, leaving the dejected human settlers all but prisoners in their compound. Those

Part 1 Part 2 It went by the name of dog, although it had no tail to wag and sort of whimpered instead of barking. But it was the first and, so far, only animal of Nekhuan they had managed to domesticate,

Excitement mixed with awe, like in the early days, when they first set out to explore Nekhuan and she could not help feeling out of place, for what business did they have to spoil the peace of a planet

The plains of Nekhuan are only bearable in broad daylight. Under the pale sun of its long summers, Nekhuan is the vision of paradise with its vibrant greens and the golden wheat crops, undisturbed but

Part 1 Friday was the day Mia stopped by the little market right outside Hampton Gardens to buy fresh fruit, enough to last her for a week. Apples and grapes, they were supposed to be good for her health.

The morning had a distinct feeling of Saturday, though she was sure it was not. Almost ten years into her retirement, Mia could not shake off the workweek-weekend rhythm that had shaped her life. Saturday

Part 1 Part 2 The mourners beat their chests in front of the palace, as tradition demands, for King Jolen was a good man and a great ruler, no wonder they called him ‘Keeper of Peace’. Maybe because he

Part 1 The woman was bent over the bed, almost lying atop the man, her hands cradling his head, as a lover searching for a kiss would. It was not a kiss she searched for and there was no love in her eyes.

‘I know who you are.’ The words he hoped he’d never hear. All the fears somehow forgotten in the quiet place he’d made a home long ago. Seventeen years, for God’s sake, he’d grown so well into his new

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5Part 6 The next day Frieda did not speak to any of them. She spent hours sitting on a small hill, verging dangerously close to the cliff that, on this part of the island,

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 After all the time spent resenting the creature from outer space that had stolen her life, the life of happiness she was owed, Helen was mentally prepared to find Frieda

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 ‘At first, the mutation was seen as a curiosity, nothing more. Many even said the flawed ones were sort of inspirational and entertaining. In a society that had little use for

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 There was no mysterious beauty to the island, the exotic backdrop of her daydreams was turning out to be a desolate pebbly beach, which seemed almost black under the gloomy sky. In

Part 1 Part 2 Most of the time Frieda simply ignored the presence of the humans. If she ever took an interest in their comings and goings, it was only with a mild curiosity that she watched them. Like

Part 1 Officially, the mission’s aim was to study the sea-turtles that nestled on the island. Green turtles, as the presentation brief mentioned in passing, and Jonathan pictured them as an army of multilegged

It came out of nowhere, which as a saying makes little sense, as nothing can ever be said to originate from a place that doesn’t exist. The call that left Helen wide-eyed and shaken to the core could just