“Far Off Unhappy Things” By “Far Off Unhappy Things” So that those things which have been shall all be againUnder the same bank in the same landA sudden glare of sunlight on the same spring dayShall bring the same daffodil to bloom once moreThe same child shall pick itAnd not regretted shall be the billion years that fell betweenThe same old faces shall be seen again, yet not bereaved of their familiar hauntsAnd you and…
By Renko Rodenburg It was dark and quiet in the hallways of the Saliëry. With most of the crew asleep, the ship cruised on autopilot. Space was cold and empty, and nothing ever happened. Unable to sleep, a girl by the name of Trail peeked a head out of her quarter. No one around, the deck dark and empty. Good. Carefully she snuck through the hallway, to the hatch that led to the engineering deck.…
By Renko Rodenburg (on cocaine) “Hast Sie es gesehen?” was the whisper that went through the obsidian academy. The rumor was that Man walked the jet black halls of the Palace of Wisdom. How it could have ended up here, no one could answer. An unsubstantiated rumor, Ea decided. Like the tales of haunted candles or speaking mirrors, a spinneret’s product of fae imagination. With the North Wind beside her, she hurried to her class.…
By Renko Doremi Rodenburg Places could not only be haunted by things but also by the absence of things, Cassie thought to herself as she opened and closed another cupboard in the kitchen. Everything was the way she remembered it being twenty years ago, even the peculiar smell that seemed to only hang in the kitchen of one’s grandparents their cupboards was still there. Of course, the grandparents themselves were gone now, the house now…
By Renko Chazakiel Rodenburg “Who are you?” The figure had entered the confined space somehow. It was impossible to make out how. It was impossible to think of why. “That’s a very difficult question right now,” the figure answered. “I- don’t know where I am?” “Yeah, it does that to people.” “Can you explain?” she asked. “I can sit and talk with you for a bit.” “I think I would like that.” The figure sat…
Argentum Chapter 1 of ? By Renko Chazakiel Rodenburg It was dawn on Juncea farm and slowly-creeping sunlight awoke Zerstrammilia. She would get out of bed immediately- she used to, really- but didn’t. Dozing off again and again, snoozing and waking when there was nothing that needed immediate doing felt like the best thing in the whole wide world. Her snoozing was rudely interrupted by someone banging on the door and yelling her name, though.…
By Renko Doremi Rodenburg I have a sister. My mother cannot see my sister, or at least pretends she cannot. It hurts her. Sometimes at night, I am somewhere else. I try to tell her, but she pretends not to listen. Later she brings it up in public. They laugh. The child is sick. It’s funny. At night, I am like a painting. I am watched from afar, a blot of colours on a canvas…