Several of my stories for adults are available to read free in online magazines. Follow the links below:
“The Broken Village” (Gather all your bits and pieces and come on down.)
“It’s your fan belt,” the mechanic says. He has dirty hands and clean hair, a lopsided smile and good teeth….
Published in Agnes and True (direct link)
“Down the Drain” (A nightmare case of writer’s block.)
Seven days alone in the house. Laura had booked off the time to visit her mother-in-law, but then she thought, Why do I have to go? Why can’t Henry take Sean while I stay home and write my book? …
Published in The Dalhousie Review (download the story pdf)
“Everything Goes Wrong” (Rivals, tourists, and one more murder to mess up.)
It’s not that you loved her or felt she saw the best in you. It’s not that you’re sad she’s gone. It’s that she’s gone to Scott McConnell, who plays guitar and is a crack shot…
Published in DarkWinter Literary Magazine (direct link)
“Night Life” (Pain relief for the recently bereaved.)
There’s a toaster on the coffee table. Janice is on her phone, smiling at a text, when the toast pops. And Maria wakes. The bedroom crisps into focus….
Published in The /tEmz/ Review (direct link)
“November” (We’re not responsible for the illusions other people have of us.)
“They let me go,” Ethan says when I open the door. He’s barely recognizable but for his eyes, pale blue and heavy-lidded, almost bulging from their sockets….
Published in chouette (direct link to Issue 3)
“Obsolete” (The heaviness in your heart is not just a metaphor.)
The office is dreary but the nurse is kind. “You’ll be wearing the loop for fourteen days,” he says, his voice a singsong. “How often do you get palpitations?” …
Published in the Prairie Journal (link in sidebar list)
“Sadistic Romance Writers” (The writer is the villain of every story.)
You have to make the cute ones suffer or their egos get out of hand. Tall, dark, and handsome is hard to manipulate unless he’s convinced he’s unlovable….
Published in Carousel Magazine (direct link)
“Social Animals” (Fear, hatred, and betrayal of the most common sort.)
Hammy was not in his cage. Denise looked everywhere—in the plastic cave, under the lettuce leaves, behind the pile of sticks. No Hammy. “Mom!” In the kitchen, Wade was frying meat….
Published in DarkWinter Literary Magazine (direct link)
“Welcome to the Margins” (So judgy, those old people who can’t keep up.)
What an ass, the book said—not the text, but a scribble in the margin beside the author’s defence of the pronoun “he” used to represent “all mankind.” What an ass….
Published in The Humber Literary Review (link to Issue #20)
More Stories
A few of my stories are available by purchasing the magazine they first appeared in:
“Everything Hangs by a Thread” (Vibrant artist, dull couple, and the parasites that pass between them.)
“You should have turned at Quyon,” Heather says. / “It’s past Quyon,” Brent says. “Don’t bother googling. I know where I’m going.” …
Published in The Fiddlehead (Buy Issue #301)
“Lighting Fires in Memoir Class” (Moms, memories, and blinding flashes)
Is something burning? We were laughing, quoting ridiculous things our mother used to say…
Published in filling Station (Buy Issue 85)
“On Sulphur Mountain” (What’s a few decades when you’re standing on an 80-million-year-old mountain?)
“It’s like being in the bottom of a bowl,” Faith complains. They park at the foot of Sulphur Mountain, surrounded by rising rock….
Published in The New Quarterly (Subscribe to read Issue #147)
“The Squabbit” (You can identify us by our missing parts.)
“I need more to do,” Jo-Beth says. She peels the cotton gauze from her arm and drops it on the coffee table beside her purse….
Published in The Fiddlehead (Buy Issue #278)
Stories in Development
I have several new stories in the works:
“Get Away” (Secret meetings, young love, and gunfire)
The road lay behind him in the darkness. Parents, little brother, neighbours, classmates all asleep....
Forthcoming in DarkWinter Literary Magazine
“In the Back of the Closet” (Old women, young heirs, and things we hide in closets.)
Bonnie climbs the stairs to bed, leaning on the banister to ease her arthritic hip….
Forthcoming in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
“New Tricks” (Old dogs and oblivious owners)
The vet makes himself small. He smells like chemicals and cats but it’s overlaid with dog drool, so at least he’s trying….
Forthcoming in the Queen’s Quarterly
“Victim Impact Statement” (Perpetrators, parole officers, and unorthodox methods of rehabilitation)
The phone buzzed inside his skull for the sixth time today and it was barely 9am….
Forthcoming in On Spec
Plus I have a dozen or so older stories, difficult to find, and many stories yet to be published. I hope to have a collection soon. 🙂
To read one of my stories for children, visit my Stories for Young Readers page (and, if you like scary stories, listen to my Cabin Tales Podcast).
Most of the thumbnail images on this page were AI-generated. (Apologies — the easier photography becomes, the less often I take photos.) Only the “November” trees, the “Get Away” road, and the “On Sulphur Mountain” landscape are my own photographs. The picture for “Lighting Fires in Memoir Class” is of me, in one of the brown kitchens of my childhood, probably taken by a sister.
Catherine Austen 