Dust. Dust finer than flour. Dust caked in the soles of my boots and in the creases of my suit. Dust coating my visor with a thin layer that makes everything shimmer. Dust in the threads of all the screws holding the panels of the ship together. Dust in the mechanics of the engine. Dust …
Author Archives: Ekaterina Tretiakova
Fiction: ‘Little Lives’
She flutters above the flowers, her wings shimmering in the golden light. The gentle scent of daisies rises from the ground. She settles onto the pure white petals of a cheerful little flower, and drinks from its yellow centre. The light changes to a cool silver. Large clear drops begin to shake the blades of …
Fiction: ‘Body and Soul’
It used to be spectacular. It was the sort of instrument that was given pride of place in the music shop. The display lights in the store crowned it with a halo as passers-by stopped to admire its well-made form. The polished body gleamed under the lights. And anyone who saw it could swear they …
Fiction: ‘Time Machine’
If you think about it, we are nothing more and nothing less than living, breathing time machines. The past only exists in our minds, rooted down in our collective memories. As a result, we can go back whenever we want. We can travel through time to relive any moment from our past in the blink …
Fiction: ‘Eden’
Deep beneath a land that no-one dares to cross, in a country few have heard of, on a continent many have never seen, is a series of caves no human has ever committed to a map. They run for many miles below a barren stretch of desert. This hollow maze twists and turns and doubles …
Fiction: ‘The Starlight Princess and the Lightning Prince’
Once upon a time, a beautiful star fell in love with a flash of lightning. She was twinkling merrily in the sky, watching over the world from her position in the constellations, when a brilliant flash lit up the darkness. He was brighter than any star she had ever seen. The electricity in the air …
The Writer and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Blank Page…
Every writer dreams of being that prodigy who pours their heart and soul into a novel and, against all odds, it sweeps across the nation and becomes the next bestseller. Not only a bestseller; it’s a beautifully crafted piece of literature. A life-changing tome. You know, one of those titles that all good bookstores keep …
Fiction: ‘Through the Wall’
Last night I could hear them through the wall again. Our walls are very thin. You can hear everything, even when you don’t want to. The voices were angry and started yelling all those words that mum made me promise never to say.
Laney started crying. She’s my baby sister. She’s only one year old …
Fiction: ‘The Gardener’
Golden rays of sunlight drip from the sky and wash over her golden petals in a flood of light. She stretches her large green leaves towards it. The warmth is so sweet after the freezing night. Endless blue skies have replaced the cool twinkling stars and the morning dew quickly evaporates into the air. Even …
Fiction: ‘The Tales That Bind’
Her mother used to read her the same story over and over again, night after night. The pages of the book had turned yellow. Its cover was faded and the paper had grown brittle with age. But no matter how many times she heard those familiar words, her heart would always race as her mother’s …
Writing on Tangents 