The Abstract Art Gallery
A writing gallery created by writers from around the world. From poetry to song lyrics, from essays to entire novels and short stories.
A late-night attempt at short story writing
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…dreamed, flowing through the aether, lost, unsure and then… I found myself standing at the end of a corridor, and there before me sat a wizened old woman in a wide brimmed straw hat, and shabby clothes. She was smoking a long stem pipe watching me from underneath the brim. I stood there for a moment or maybe it…
By Wil McCarthy
Read MoreWith winter setting in, and Julia Hill up in the tree for a month, Earth First leaders instructed her to…
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…Julia Hill arrived at the Earth First camp, the focal point of the protest was a 1,000-year-old redwood tree, which Earth First had named “Luna.” The 200-foot giant sat high on the peak of a clear-cut hill where it was visible for…
By Pete Black
Read More…stared in disgust at the arrivals board on the station platform. He had watched the display for the past forty minutes, as the arrival time of his train home was delayed further and further. Now the bright green letters declared Cancelled. Everyone on the rush-hour platform grumbled and swore to themselves and to each other. People shuffled towards the exit. Some reached for mobile phones, dialling for taxis or…
By Chris Platt
Read MoreThe flea infestation was so severe the prison guards refused to enter the building giving Betsie and Corrie the opportunity to conduct their secret Bible studies…
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…they had miraculously smuggled into the prison. After rising at 4:30 a.m. that morning, they had worked for 11 hours at a Siemens factory loading steel, before returning to the barracks to find hope…
By Pete Black
Read MoreHis father thought he should be a policeman. After all, he was a policeman. But at age 14, Arnold saw a…
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…tossed and turned in his military bunk. It was going to be another sleepless night for the 18-year-old serving his one-year of mandatory service in the Austrian army. The Junior Mr. Europe bodybuilding championship was a week away in Stuttgart, Germany. But how could he…
By Pete Black
Read MoreThis flash-fiction and the upcoming short pieces are a small intro to my upcoming novel 'The Man in the Tux'.
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…another same day when Charlie was being scolded by Daniel. A quiet cold war was about to start between the two. Both of them were glaring at each other to…
By Soare Stapanire
Read More…was lost. He swore under his breath and kept walking. He never could find his way around Manchester city centre. And so, yet again, on a night out with friends he had got separated and was now lost. He found himself on a narrow side…
By Chris Platt
Read More…continued to pet the cow's cheek. Cate stroked the other, looking for signs of impatience in the otherwise stoic animal, searching its blank yet somehow knowing eyes for knowledge of her charade. What made her want to release the scream that had been lodged in her throat for inconceivable minutes was how Millie, sitting comfortably in her numb arms, was so far away from screaming; Millie, who had…
By Alfredo Salvatore Arcilesi
Read More…dressed for work in his usual white shirt and dark tie. He checked his tie in the mirror. He straightened his tie. Perfect. He patted his slicked back hair. That was exactly the look he was going for. His eyes wandered to the paperback book on the coffee table. It was the latest book on the notorious Manchester gangster, Ronald Morrissey. On the cover the black and white photo showed the gangland boss in his…
By Chris Platt
Read MoreIn the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Wilma Rudolph became the first American woman to win three Gold Medals…
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…pre-maturely, Wilma Rudolph weighed four pounds at birth. As a baby, she survived scarlet fever, then double pneumonia before being diagnosed with polio at age four. The…
By Pete Black
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