As it was expounded in the previous article "The Inner Morality (Part 1)",  it can be clearly seen that there are no standards of behaviour as applied to our relationship with ourselves on the internal level, and that our inner treatment of ourselves is not subject to any moral code. We have no objective, external…

It is interesting to observe the disparity that exists between how we treat ourselves compared to how we treat others, and the contrasting attitudes society holds towards interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships.



We have laws, regulations and customs governing our conduct in society which advise, prescribe and instruct how…

It is interesting to observe the disparity that exists between how we treat ourselves compared to how we treat others, and the contrasting attitudes society holds towards interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships.



We have laws, regulations and customs governing our conduct in society which advise, prescribe and instruct how…

One day Wombat, who was known in the bush as a kindly but eccentric character, called for a meeting of all the animals. He had a wondrous new invention to share with them. Slowly and somewhat reluctantly, the forest creatures gathered to take a look at the gadget. Wombat pulled it out of his briefcase with a flourish and announced in his high-pitched voice that was overflowing with excitement, “Behold the mePhone! The…

By Boris Gilkma

A dream being came to Earth

in human guise

to give us a reminder of…

A young man, in the full flower of his youth, comes across very lengthy, complicated and intricate instructions on how to construct an apparatus of some kind. He becomes intrigued and then obsessed by these instructions and devotes all of his hours to the building of this machine, of whose function and purpose he is completely ignorant and wants desperately to find out.

Years go by, as he painstakingly follows each step of the seemingly endless instructions, but he is not…

Illustration by Andy Paciorek

                                     

It was widely known that Internet had been ailing for some time. Its poor health had made it rather slipshod in the execution of its duties. Some people had to endure days of frustration until an online connection was established, while for others the connection kept going on and off every second, like a flickering light globe.  



For a while Internet hovered in a…

When one thinks about an individual's place in the Universe, one is struck by how infinitesimal his life appears to be.



Compared to the immeasurably large spatial and temporal dimensions of the Universe, a person's life occupies the slightest span of time and his body takes up the tiniest speck of space. Even within the limited context of the Earth an individual is lost in the midst of a multitude of people, objects, events.



Such a perspective inevitably evokes…

What would our world be like if every one of us was to be granted supernatural faculties? 



A first glance at such a scenario comes up with a seemingly indisputable picture of an ideal society living in peace and harmony, with every person having boundless freedom in all aspects of their lives, being able to fully satisfy their every wish and desire, undo all of their mistakes and social faux pas, change the past and create a definite future.



At further…

It is close to midnight, February 28, 2012. Summer is coming to an end and autumn is just a few minutes away. I look back wistfully at all the things I could have done during the holidays.



Suddenly and completely unexpectedly, an extra day of summer falls out of the sky. Twenty four hours, fourteen hundred and forty minutes, eighty six thousand, four hundred seconds lie pristine, shiny-new on the ground, each moment pregnant with…

There once was a Caterpillar who was thoroughly sick of always being stuck near the bottom of the food chain. All the other animals -  birds, moles, lizards, frogs and spiders - would hunger for his soft, succulent sausage-like body, licking their lips avidly in anticipation of a delicious meal. Even the tiny ants posed a mortal danger to his life.



The only option open to the Caterpillar was to mimic some inedible object like, for example,…

When we look back, from our 21st century perspective, on the societies of the past, such as those of the Roman Empire or the Medieval Ages, we shudder at the things that were acceptable in those times.



Slavery, public torture and executions, gratuitous cruelty to animals done in the name of entertainment, exhibiting ill people as fun objects.



Incredulously, we ask, how could they have been so blind to such fundamental and obvious truths as that all…

How much smoother our progress through life would be if we had a full-scale orchestra accompanying us everywhere we went with a background soundtrack to our lives.



From the music that they are playing we would be able to recognise immediately when danger approaches and when danger recedes, know straight away whether the person we just met is a future friend or otherwise and, most important of all, perceive unmistakably if and when a romance is looming, thus sparing ourselves…

                 



I recall that day well. My friends and I were checking out an abandoned, run-down mansion on the outskirts of town and that’s when we noticed that strange, inexplicable things were beginning to happen…





Every time we open a door to some room, the room and the things in it have changed. The more adventurous amongst us explore the building more thoroughly, only to discover that it has an impossibly paradoxical structure. One girl gets spooked…

Some time ago, a woman with a gun in her hand demanded of me and my companions that we provide good reasons why life is worth living. Otherwise she was going to terminate us.



I thought to myself: This is the very question that I've struggled with for so long and now I am being forced to provide a definitive answer. Do I make up some fancy reason and perhaps escape with my life? But if I lie, then my life is not really worth pursuing.  How many times have I dreamed and read…

There once lived Kenny the Koala who was a really decent chap. He always walked around with a smile on his face and was at all times kind and considerate to everyone around him: to the old kangaroos and to the young kangaroos, to the full-grown kookaburras and to the young fledglings too. He never failed to take off his hat and say “G’day” to every animal he met, to inquire of their health and to ask them if they needed assistance with anything.



After a while, the other animals…

It is December 21, 2012.

The End of Days has come

and Apocalypse is upon us.



God is descending upon the Earth,

to pass judgement on mankind.



But He lands awkwardly

and now lies

mortally wounded

on the ground.



All humanity,

the dead from years past,

the living

and the unborn from years to come

encircle Him.



The dead wonder

what the Afterworld would become

without God’s presence,

the…

The world awoke one bright morning to find that the Sun was gone, replaced by a circular cardboard cut-out. The cut-out was roughly coloured in by a yellow pencil, with some of the colouring straying beyond the circumference of the disc and staining the blueness of the sky. Short cardboard rays were coming out of the rim and there was a smiley face sketched inside the circle. It looked just like a child’s drawing of the Sun.



After mankind had recovered from the shock of losing…

Hello Everyone,

Two of my stories ( "The mePhone" and "The Day Death Died" ) were read out recently on Australian radio program "Queensland Storyteller" by the host Kim Dodsworth.



I think his reading adds an extra dimension to the stories. It's always interesting to hear how other people interpret your work.



You can listen to it at the link below. It's a 10 minute recording. …

One day, the nebula in the constellation of Orion, already the brightest nebula in the night sky, started to shine even more intensely, emitting a piercing blue-green light. Its luminosity was now so brilliant that it cast shadows during the daylight hours too, something that had always been the sole prerogative of the Sun.



This caused great excitement, for never before had such a bright celestial body been observed in the day sky. Everybody rushed outside to see…