Kzine Issue 10

by Graeme Hurry et al.

  Plastic creaked as Ben sank into a chair.

  He pulled a newspaper clipping from his pocket, unfolded it for the thousandth time.

  Like the world, it had transformed in a year and a half; yellowed, faded.. deteriorated. Bleached out sentence fragments reached off the page; …will strike off the East Coast…nothing the government can do…shelters already overrun…escalating civil unrest expected from now until collision…riots…loss of life-

  Ben’s thumb found the gold band around his finger, caressed it softly.

  -projected date of impact-

  Today.

  -outlook for survival bleak…make the best of the time left-

  Ben looked at his boys.

  The paper fell to the carpet.

  He sprung from the chair and down the lane, falling to his knees and stopping himself with an arm around each boy. Playfully, affectionately, he squeezed them tight.

  “Now spin Dad,” Rick said.

  Josh grabbed Ben’s arms, Rick grabbed his feet. They ran in a circle, spinning their father through the fallen pins and up and down the lane.

  Their laughter, all three of them, filled the abandon bowling alley. The sounds of the ending world outside weren’t loud enough, or terrible enough, to overcome it.

  Contributor Notes

  Paul Finch is a former policeman and journalist who turned to writing with scripts for The Bill before writing horror and lately crime thrillers with Stalkers, Sacrifice and Hunted starring DS Heck Heckenberg. He is also editor of the Terror Tales series of horror anthologies each covering a different regional part of the UK. He has also written four Dr Who audio dramas as well as the novelisation Hunter’s Moon.

  Colin Heintzehas been published previously in Lore, Kaleidotrope, Sci Fi Short Story, Aphelion, and Plots with Guns. Along with William Minor, he authored the epic space opera Demon’s Bounty, which is now available through the Kindle store.

  Graeme Hurry edited Kimota magazine in the 90s and a horror anthology called Northern Chills in 1994. Now he has branched out by editing this kindle only magazine, Kzine. He received an honourable mention in Year’s Best Horror 2001 for a story he collaborated on with Willie Meikle called The Blue Hag.

  Jon Arthur Kitson has had stories published in Geek Force Five, Mad Scientist Journal and The Flashing Type.

  Dawn Lloyd has had stories published in a variety of magazines including Space and Time, Triangulation: Last Contact and OG’s Speculative Fiction Magazine.

  Tim McDaniel has had storiess published in a number of F/SF magazines, including F&SF and Asimov’s.

  Mark Morris has been writing horror since 1989 and currently has 14 novels published in this genre (including Toady, Stitch, The Immaculate, Mr Bad Face, It Sustains, The Black, The Woles of London and Horror Hospital). He also writes sf and video game novelisations including Dr Who, Torchwood and Hellboy. As if that was not enough he edited a collextion of essays about horror films called Cinema Macabre and an anthology of Horror stories in The Spectral Book of Horror Stories.

  Ryan Priest is an aspiring screenwriter in Los Angeles.

  Philip Roberts has had stories published in Midnight Echo, “Beneath the Surface” Anthology and “Torn Realities” Anthology.

  Dave Windett is a professional illustrator and comics artist, his work has been published in Britain, Europe and America. He has drawn comics featuring licenced characters including Inspector Gadget, Eek the Cat, Ace Ventura, Daffy Duck and Korky the Cat. For the Scandinavian market he has illustrated educational books, business manuals and comics. He has also designed original characters for a variety of publications and provided illustrations for everything from magazines and websites to mobile phones, games and children’s shoes. Samples of his work can be seen on his website at www.davewindett.com and on his blog.

  D. L. Young is a Texas-based speculative fiction writer. His stories often take place in near-future dystopias where robots sell narcotics on street corners, packs of wild dogs control entire cities, and advanced technologies amplify both the best and worst of human nature. To find out more about his writing, visit his website at www.dlyoungfiction.com.