The Witches’ Sabbath

Written by Gordon Reece on August 21, 2022. Posted in Short Stories

Province of Aragon, Spain, 1774

The Huesca stagecoach was three hours late leaving Zaragoza. First, the military guard failed to show up and a boy had to be sent round the taverns to find him, then an elderly passenger decided not to make the journey and his box was damaged while being taken down. By far the most serious delay, however, was caused by the deplorable state of the horses. They were emaciated, knock-kneed nags that inspired little confidence in the passengers. After much deliberation the driver decided that one was in fact lame and it had to be unharnessed and a replacement found. This proved no easy task on a Sunday and the animal they eventually procured, a sickly, sunken-backed bay, was small improvement. The lights in the Plaza del Pilar had long been ablaze by the time the carriage finally crossed the wooden bridge over the Ebro.

Betrayal

Written by Gordon Reece on June 17, 2022. Posted in Short Stories

I killed my mother in August 1944 not long after I’d turned sixteen. For forty years I was little troubled by guilt. Guilt is something that many pretend to feel but few actually do, or, like Judas, they’d run to the nearest tree and hang themselves. Most of us find a way to justify the evil that we do so that we can carry on with our lives untroubled by spectres from our past. If the sound of my mother’s screams ever floated into my head as I bathed Beatrice or got Claude ready for school, then I drowned them out by singing the Marseillaise at the top of my voice. If I ever saw her outstretched arm in the filthy straw, I picked up baby Henri and whirled him round and round in the air until I saw it no more. When I looked at my husband and my three beautiful children how could I wish undone what was done when the fruits it had borne had brought me so much joy? I knew that if I had to relive that time I’d kill my mother all over again. And that’s how I felt until the day the letter came and I saw the photograph.

THE CROSSING

Written by Gordon Reece on June 17, 2022. Posted in Short Stories

Mary sat in the Land Cruiser in the station car park and stared out into the darkness. Even though the very word ‘art’ made her guts turn over, she couldn’t help seeing Caspar David Friedrich in the occluded moon, Jeffrey Smart in the black tarmac and colorbond fencing. Nervously she bit at fingernails already bitten to the quick. In a little while, in just a little while, she’d learn her fate. Robert had gone to Sydney the previous day for a radio interview and he’d arranged to see Amanda in the evening. After weeks of misery and torment he was finally going to make his decision. He was going to choose between them. Mary, of course, was to have no say in the matter.

Ho, Ho, Ho!

Written by Gordon Reece on June 17, 2022. Posted in Short Stories

It was the night before Christmas and Danny Coyle was too excited to sleep. He squeezed his eyes shut and lay very still, but the oblivion he yearned for just wouldn’t come. He tried his best not to think about the miraculous visit that was fast approaching but his mind kept returning to it like a wiggly tooth your tongue just can’t leave alone. Danny was feverish with anticipation and his heart was pounding so hard he could actually feel it thumping in his chest as if it had a life of its own. He wondered if a seven-year-old boy had ever got so worked-up on Christmas Eve that he’d actually died.

My Top 20 Short Stories

Written by Gordon Reece on June 25, 2017. Posted in Uncategorized

Having spent so long working on short stories I thought I’d draw up a list of my top twenty. My main criterion for choosing these was that they’re stories that have anchored themselves in my mind after one reading and have stayed there for decades. I think that says something about the power of the well-executed short story, an art form that seems to be less and less in demand these days. They’re not in any order of preference, just the order they came to mind. 1.The Monkey’s Paw – WW Jacobs. The classic ‘be careful what you wish for’ story. The climax, with the horribly mutilated son, risen from his grave, knocking at his parents’ door to be let in – unforgettable. 2. Green Fingers – RC Cook I read this in a cheap anthology when I was young and it’s stayed with me ever since. 3. The Innocent – Graham Greene Hugely profound and a brilliant double twist ending. 4. A Circle in the Fire – Flannery O’Connor A great example of O’Connor’s tense, bleak Southern Gothic. 5. Bonobo Momma – JC Oates The first JCO story I ever read. I didn’t need to read any more to know I was in the presence of greatness… 6. A Small, Good Thing – Raymond Carver I resisted Carver’s ugly prose for a long time and then read ‘Short Cuts’ and was mesmerized. Read the longer version of this story – all of human life is in it. 7. The Grasshopper – Anton Chekhov A heartbreaker from the master. ‘He did not spare himself, and others did not spare him…’ 8. Misery – Anton Chekhov A story that packs an enormous punch in its handful of pages. Who said, ‘No man is an island unto himself…?’ 9. Don’t Look Now – Daphne du Maurier Incredibly original story that was adapted into Nicolas Roeg’s unforgettable film. John’s premonition of his own funeral is a spine-tingling touch. 10. Battleground – Stephen King For those who still don’t take SK seriously they should read this pitch perfect little gem. 11. The Jaunt – Stephen King Again, SK at his best. I always think of this story on the flight from Australia to Europe… 12. A Sound of Thunder – Ray Bradbury A legend among short stories. The ending leaves you with an almost claustrophobic sense of panic – is it too late to go back and change the past? 13. Man Overboard – Sir Winston Churchill There wasn’t much Winnie couldn’t do. The horror of this scenario makes the blood run cold and the ending is wonderfully ambiguous. 14. A Windmill in the West – Peter Carey The desert setting and the absurdity of the Camus-style ending lodged this story deep in my psyche. 15. An Affair of Honour – Vladimir Nabokov The greatest of prose stylists was never really at home with the short story, but this one works brilliantly, and like so much of Nabokov, is LOL funny. 16. The Forged Coupon – Leo Tolstoy Earnest and fanciful I know, but sometimes it’s good to think there’s some hope out there. 17. Vendetta – Guy de Maupassant A classic tale of the underdog’s revenge (no pun intended). Sic him, Semillante! 18. The Hand – Guy de Maupassant I loved this story so much I wrote a radio adaptation of it. I also liked the Michael Caine movie version. 19. Weekend – Fay Weldon A feminist tour-de-force and excoriating social satire. 20. The Killers – Charles Bukowski Brutally, unflinchingly honest. A hard read but once read never forgotten. This is CB saying, ‘This is how it is. This is what we are. This is what we do.’