Close To The Bone

05/09/2025

“You’ve brought bikers down on us! We’ll all be killed.” And then his paranoia really ramps up sand he looked around for something he could use to protect himself when the bikers arrived. As luck had it, there was this old shotgun in the storage shed, though I doubted it was even in good condition to fire.

'Setting the record straight', by Albert Katz is the latest short story, available to read here at Close To The Bone.

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Artie looked like holy hell when I visited him at St. Joes. He had tubes coming out of him in every direction. You could see the veins in his arms, throbbing, pushing his blood in a tired battle to…

29/07/2025

So much for my modeling career, Billy-girl thought as she looked through the photos Jason had taken of her. Well, she just wasn't photogenic. She looked much better in person. Why did her hair have that bluish cast in the photos? Her hair, which was definitely red, reached the small of her back. It is a mess. Ugh, I look like my mother....

22/07/2025

Bodies block the way on all sides as I push through, and then, bang, I’m in his face. He stares me down, chest puffed. “What do you want?” he goes. But I’m not here for a friendly chinwag. I jab him hard, fingers digging through the fat to reach his breastbone. He stumbles back, shocked, leaving just enough room to clock him square on the nose. His head snaps back in time to the beat, hands flying to check for blood—typical cardboard hardman. A right hook to the temple folds him like a plastic pint.

'What Went Down', by Alex Costello is the latest short story, available to read here at Close To The Bone.

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One minute, they’re dancing side by side—the pixie-cut girl in her vintage threads and the greasy-looking auld fella. Next thing, his hand’s up her skirt. She yells, “Woah!” and jerks back like she…

14/03/2025

Alan Caldwell's 'The Only Verse' is only 24 days from release. 'My Daddy's Waltz' is a nod to Theodore Roethke. Get it on pre-order here : https://bookgoodies.com/a/B0DZNG2SD5

14/03/2025

“Thank you,” I had to say, uncertain of this feeling I was carrying inside of me as my mother ushered me into my car. And her eyes stared at me through the window again just as they had the first day while my mother backed out the car. She was still in the window as the pale-yellow house faded into the distance, and she could still be standing there with that same spiteful look in her eyes for all I know.

'Colic : Part 3', by Marlene Brasco is the latest short story, available to read here at Close To The Bone.

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[Read Part 1 here : [Read Part 2 here : By this time, I was hungry, hot, and exhausted. Every second in the house left me more depleted. After foraging in the pantry and finding some crackers to st…