short story

The scream in Eric’s neck started Bronx cheering at a higher volume than it had been for a whole week. 'You're scum. You're scum. You're scum.'         Lying on his bed like a steel ruler, he wasn't long home from a sweaty night shift at…

A Map Under the House by David O'Neill A cat bowl, all matted hair and dried food, is against the wall in a corner of her kitchen. If the cat had any sense it would have started looking for food somewhere else but it waits, wide eyed,…

News International Dublin Literary Award 2018 7 Irish novels are among 150 titles that have been nominated by libraries worldwide for the €100K International DUBLIN Literary Award 2018 (formerly known as the International IMPAC Dublin…

I preened myself blue in front of the mirror and after a swift forage around my masculinity I determined I was ready to emerge. The bum blusters had come thick and fast (tuna melt) so I was overjoyed to have made it to the bog browned bowl…

September, 1997 The Estuary, Enniscrone Beach, Co. Sligo. ‘We’ll stop and go back now.’ ‘Can we just wait here for a minute; there’s no rush?’ ‘Sure, of course.’ ‘I don’t want to go in, Mam. I can stick it out.’ ‘It’s just…

Aishvarrya had never field serviced a nun before. Mother Ximena Macrina Massa Tigre was one of the last of the New Desert Mothers, perched high in her mountain niche on the face of Mount Roots, two thousand kilometers east of Cape Horn. The…

For those who saw them the day after the murder, trying to remember them was like trying to remember a dream. 6.37 AM They came down from the mountains with the fog and out of the fog in a stolen car and like the fog they added mystery…

The statue stands on the bank of the first discovered subterranean canal. Its monumental mass and design has withstood the entire history of the settlement. The face is expressive, depicting quiet joy – for the system of canals that Sen…

As the year comes to a close, it's a good time to reflect on the year in Space. I’ve put together some of my favourite moments and ground-breaking events that took place in the past 12 months globally and closer to home. And there were many…

During Space Week in October we launched a HeadStuff Science Mars Short Story Competition calling for science fiction stories based on the red planet. We are delighted to announce that our panel of judges, HeadStuff Literature Editor Conor,…