Kzine Issue 4
Page 11
He stepped with his left foot and dragged his right. Brick by brick down the road with Oko supporting most of his weight for him. The whole while Kaj’s voice chanted in his mind, one syllable with each step. Water. Glinda. Water. Glinda. Left. Right. Left. Right.
The city glistened in front of him, a myriad of shades of green, but Kaj was in no shape to admire it. All he wanted now was to get to the city, to help and water.
His leg hurt with every step. Not a dull throbbing pain, but a sharp ache that reverberated through his entire body and made him cry out more than once.
Still, he kept going. Wa. Left. Ter. Right. Glin. Left. Da. Right.
‘You can do this,’ Oko said. All Kaj could do was nod.
Finally they reached the gate. He’d expected it to be guarded but it wasn’t. In fact, he didn’t see anyone anywhere. He heard them though.
Voices lifted in celebration came to him from down the street. He heard cheering, laughter and several different songs being sung simultaneously and moved, toward the sound.
A flash of color overhead caught Kaj’s eye, and he stopped to gaze up at the odd thing. A giant balloon with the words ‘OMAHA STATE FAIR’ emblazoned on it soared overhead. A big wooden basket containing a man hung beneath it.
Certain his fever had overcome him, Kaj shook his head to clear the bizarre vision, but it persisted and he watched as the silent balloon lifted further up into the air, growing smaller and smaller.
A terrible pain clutched his chest, like a fist grabbing him around his ribs and squeezing with all its might. Kaj gasped, struggling to suck in air and stay on his feet as the pain pulsed there and refused to let go. He stumbled and would have fallen to his knees if not for Oko’s strong arm around him. Waves of heat washed through him, as they pushed through noisy crowd. Glinda would help him, he thought. He was hurt and thirsty.
Turning a corner he saw a forest of bodies. Munchkins and Quadlings and Gilikins all standing together, shoulder to shoulder in front of him. The crowd had stopped cheering, but a low murmuring sound emanated from it, and over the hum, a familiar voice. Wait, Kaj thought through the fog of pain enveloping him. Two familiar voices.
‘Then close your eyes,’ he heard Glinda say, her voice dripping with honey, ‘and tap your heels together three times. And think to yourself, there’s no place like home.’
‘There she is!’ Oko shouted, and began to use push people out of his way as he rushed toward the stage, with Kaj in tow.
Dorothy’s voice came to him, soft as a whisper, or a dream. ‘There’s no place like home,’ she said. He felt the grip on his chest tighten once more and moaned in pain. In front of him he saw Glinda’s face, then his gaze dropped to her throat, to the pulse beating there. He imagined all the wet blood beneath her skin. Just there, so close. So wet.
‘There’s no place like home,’ Dorothy repeated, and Kaj, filled with a burst of strength, wrenched himself from Oko’s grip and lunged for Glinda’s throat. If he could only have a little drink. Just a little. Enough to ease his parched throat, to soothe his pain…
‘There’s no place like home,’ Dorothy said one last time, just as Kaj bit down.
That’s when the screaming began.
EDITORIAL
by Graeme Hurry
Stories are thoughts, transferred from author to reader. So presumably, one day neural transfer could be accomplished in order for the author to transmit his refined work into his readers consciousness. But hold on! This might lose the reader’s ownership of the images and feelings for a character or landscape. How many times has the reader got more enjoyment because they take ownership of the unwritten parts and fill in with their own experience - making the story live, but also unique.
Most readers accept this, and some encourage it. Is it not what makes the reading of a book better, sometimes, than a movie? More is trusted to the reader.
So when you debate the merits of paper books over electronic, think of the possible alternatives. In the future a film-like narrative could be imposed on you negating the need to think at all while reading. No, I agree, that’s not reading. At least with electronic books you retain the integrity of the written word and trust in the reader. Even though, the editing and production method may be slipshod and impose typos to make the reading slightly more of a chore. However, that failing is not limited to eBooks.
So lets put aside the love/hate debate until the next version of plug-in thoughts comes along to be loved by the unthinking masses and bemoaned by the distinguishing reader.
MALTA COMIC CON
CONTRIBUTOR NOTES
Joyce Carpenter is a non-practicing attorney and freelance writer based in Alexandria, Virginia. Her articles, essays, and short stories have appeared in many publications, including Writer’s Journal, BackHome, GreenPrints, Sonar4 and Semaphore.
Holly Day is a housewife and mother of two living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her poetry and fiction has recently appeared in Hawai’i Pacific Review, The Oxford American, and Slipstream. Her book publications include Music Composition for Dummies, Guitar-All-in-One for Dummies, and Music Theory for Dummies, which has recently been translated into French, Dutch, Spanish, Russian, and Portuguese.
Ciro Faienza has published book reviews and essays on craft and genre criticism at Reflection’s Edge, as well as fiction at Daily Science Fiction. His work as a filmmaker has been shown at the London National Gallery, the Dallas Museum of Art, and the Dallas Hub Theater. Find him on Google+, his Facebook author page, @cirofaienza, and freneticlicense.blogspot.com.
Shane M. Gavin hails from a rainy little border town in the North East of Ireland. He’s a Linux enthusiast who doesn’t necessarily hate Windows, an Irishman who doesn’t drink and a know-it-all who doesn’t mind admitting when he’s wrong. He’s also a so-called “mature” student and an aspiring speculative fiction writer. On the odd occasion, he can be found “blogging” at shanemgavin.wordpress.com, and doing “the other thing” at twitter.com/nodehead
Elizabeth Hersh is a playwright and writer living in San Francisco.
Steve Jordan is a writer of fantasy, science fiction and horror and comedy plays (A Hero’s Journey and Dead Static). He is a co-founder of ManMoth Productions (www.manmoth.co.uk) and lives in London.
Jamie Mason is a Canadian writer whose stories have appeared in On Spec, Abyss & Apex and the Canadian Science Fiction Review. His young-adult sci-fi novel ECHO was published by Drollerie Press in June 2011. www.jamiescrbbles.com
Rhonda Parrish is a poet and writer. She also founded and edits Niteblade Fantasy and Horror magazine. www.rhondaparrish.com
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.
Graeme Hurry edited Kimota magazine in the 90s and an anthology called Northern Chills in 1994. And is branching out into the ether with Kzine
Table of Contents
Contents
MINUS FIFTEEN by Holly Day
BRAIN-BUDDY by Shane M. Gavin
SHEEP by Steve Jordan
RED INK by Joyce Carpenter
COYOTES by Jamie Mason
THE SLEEPERS by Ciro Faienza
WEIGHT by Elizabeth Hersh
…OH MY! by Rhonda Parrish
Editorial by Graeme Hurry
Contributor Notes