American Journal of Russian History Volume XXI Issue 3 Dead Letters: Imperial Russian Army Correspondence from the Eastern Front in World War I Written and Translated by Oksana Volkov, PhD As soon as Imperial Russia entered World War I, the “Provisional regulations on military censorship” law was imposed on...
1 Shad Hankins pushed the tavern’s shutters open, and stepped through, leaving them swinging behind, as he stopped just inside. His dirty off-white canvas riding coat hung nearly to the floor, dripping rainwater from the cold wet storm he’d been riding in. While his eyes adjusted...
The meteorite that hit Southdale wasn't especially spectacular. In the middle of one spring evening, it lit up the sky for a brief moment. It didn't turn night into day by any means. It merely streaked across the horizon and settled with a distant popping...
There’s a story that you won’t read in history books. It’s a truth that you only hear in my village. The Pendle witches were innocent, but there is a real witch in the Forest of Bowland. My name’s Thomas, and I grew up in Barley, which is...
Excluding some tropical species, such as coconut and banana trees, no tree can survive long without branches. And yet, defying all explanation, I saw a pair of branchless oak trees in the summer of 2015. When I use the word “branchless”, I’m not referring to a...
For context, I am a middle-aged man who lives on the outskirts of Parbold, a small English village. My house is the only one on a long, winding country road, but it does have a bus stop. From my bedroom window, I can see it...
Nearly three years ago, when the pandemic began, I moved my family to a small hamlet in the Scottish Highlands. I won’t give you its name. I wouldn’t want you to find this place. That being said, I can no longer keep this secret to myself. Before...
Craving attention, sharply and peremptorily acting out. I have been disengaged from reality. I am in my own utopia, absorbed in thought, insanely agitated even with the least little distraction. A fan blowing the edges of my paper in a waving fashion makes me want...
No other couple on the planet had a larger dragon to slay than Henry and Anne. Maybe it was no dragon at all. Nothing was as sinister as what the couple had allowed to crawl in between them and separate them. First, this succubus came...
Manny “Rico” Esparragoza was a petty thief with big dreams and aspirations. He had never amounted to much. He was unable to hold down a steady job or otherwise. His luck with the women was the same. He had a tendency toward anger and violence. ...
As I wipe the mirror clean of the settled dust, the chaff, the ash, I, in fact, am erasing the last fingerprints known to exist of the one who only ever existed in my mind. It was real for me, though I am told, unconvincingly,...
1 Corinthians 13:12 – Young’s Literal Translation 1898 “..for we see now through a mirror obscurely, and then face to face; now I know in part, and then I shall fully know, as also I was known..” We see through a glass darkly. Irresolvable shadows from immemorial...
A man named Harmonious True stood at his upstairs apartment window, staring out at the city confronting him. He wiped the grime from around the frame of the window, flipped the handkerchief over to the clean white side and wiped the glass in a circular...
“Devilish dolls, haunted houses, ghoulish ghosts, freaky frights, dreadful demons, bloodsucking bats, peculiar pumpkins, bizarre bridges, fiendish phantoms, atrocious apparitions, maleficent monsters, wicked witches, and all things that go bump in the night! Welcome to Untold Tales Of Horror Now Told. I am your host,...
Edward MacAllister enjoyed reading. He was avid about it. He was a borderline bibliophile. He read books, newspapers and magazines. Ever since he was a child he read. He could not remember a time when he could not read, nor could he remember who taught...
The man entered his front door to the melody of groaning hinges and his weary footsteps. He shut the door and set his keys on the kitchen table, the weight of his nine-to-five responsibilities melting away as he did. The front door of his home...
Bo woke to something wet dragging across his face. It took him a moment to realize where he was. “Duke, cut it out!” he mumbled, trying to shield himself from his dog’s slurpy affection. His muscles screamed in protest. “Pee on him, Duke,” his Mam-maw groused. “Maybe...
Chapter 1. Ronny *ring ring ring* BILLIE: Welcome to ‘shopNshare’, this is Billie speaking, how may I be of assistance? RONNY: Yeah, uh, the microwave I got from you guys is broken. I want a refund. BILLIE: Alright sir, can I please have your customer ID? RONNY: Nah. Forgot what...
The Fool Stepping off the gravel path onto the grass, I stop to let my eyes take in the trees draped in vines all around me. Pedro, my youngest grandchild, takes my hand and helps me hobble over to a small stone bench, almost hidden under...
Shorty Small, a man neither short nor small, sat in the far corner of the coffee shop, his back to a wall. He was, for a change, the first one to arrive for a hastily arranged meeting with Homer LaCroix. With a half empty mug...
