FIRED UP ANEW

(mostly) short fiction by samuel butchart

samuel butchart

Jun 30, 20218 min

Nature Strip

Herman X. was woken up again this morning by a squad of lawn mowers, leaf blowers, whipper snippers and vacuum cleaners, which came...

samuel butchart

May 12, 20214 min

Specificity

I have always had a problem with specificity. But you can’t be sure what I mean by that, can you? I haven’t been very specific. You’re...

samuel butchart

Mar 26, 20216 min

Harvest

I stood by the door listening for signs of higher intelligence, but the world was unspeaking, except for the crickets, invisible...

samuel butchart

Mar 25, 20212 min

The Discovery

The boy was bored. He drifted down the long white corridor and came across a small room; the door was wide open and inside was empty. The...

samuel butchart

Mar 23, 20213 min

Pillars of Heracles

One rainy summer afternoon in 1998, me and a boy who lived down the street were throwing mud at each other inside the skeleton of a...

samuel butchart

Mar 23, 20214 min

The Bell

For as long as I can remember, I have always been a worrier. The first time I really worried about something – the first Big Worry – was...

samuel butchart

Mar 23, 20211 min

Fired Up Anew

What is "fired up anew?" The coiner of this tantalising phrase was not me but the British novelist and journalist Will Self. A few years...