From the moment he was born, Tutankhamun’s life was overshadowed by the choices of others. The son to Pharaoh Akhenaten, the most powerful man in Egypt, he was destined for greatness. Many of the rulers before him lived to keep life as stable as possible for their subjects. However, Akhenaten had upset this delicate balance of power, introducing new religious ways that threw the kingdom into turmoil. But Akhenaten’s love for his son was unquestionable. The great king shared his […]

The post SHORT STORIES: The Greatest Pharaoh from Charlie Ceates appeared first on Cultured Vultures, Cultured Vultures - .

The humid weather was kicking up a foul stench from the rotten forest floor. It was no longer that refreshing earthy scent that you would enjoy breathing in; instead it was the choking stink of decay as the fallen foliage on the floor had turned to soup in the recent heavy rainfall that now baked in the heat. There was once a time when walking in the woods, if you heard a rustle in the bushes you would look with […]

The post SHORT STORIES: Heaven Sent from Meg Pelliccio appeared first on Cultured Vultures, Cultured Vultures - .

On really bad days, she tried to remind herself at least her head didn’t hurt. The doctors said it could’ve only hurt for a second, that she must have passed out quickly enough to escape most of the pain. But she thought when her skull smashed open and pushed into her brain she was allowed to be over-dramatic. So, when ‘remade’ is written across was locker in lipstick, she reminded herself that at least her head didn’t hurt, and at […]

The post SHORT STORIES: Reborn from Kerenza Ryan appeared first on Cultured Vultures, Cultured Vultures - .

“Another nightmare?” “What gave it away?” I gasp, from the floor, where I’d landed as I tumbled out of bed. “Oh, you know. The flailing. Groaning. The fact you’re down there. I can read the signs.” Rafe’s face pops over the edge of the bed, his hair stuck up like dandelion fluff where he’s been sleeping on it. It’s dark but he’s so blonde that he basically shines, even in the middle of the night. Like an angel or something. […]

The post SHORT STORIES: In Your Dreams, Sunshine from Nat Wassell appeared first on Cultured Vultures, Cultured Vultures - .

This story contains warnings for body horror. It was 3.17 am, and he couldn’t stand it anymore. The sheets were rumpled round him in tangled, sweating snakes. He’d laid in bed for four hours and twenty-nine minutes, and nothing he had tried had made him sleep. The podcast had stopped ages ago, the soothing woman’s voice had abandoned him. He chose a different podcast every night, and by extension, a different woman. This was the kind of man he wanted […]

The post SHORT STORIES: New Man from Clare Bonner appeared first on Cultured Vultures, Cultured Vultures - .

“I don’t run, unless I’m being chased.” She used to say it when her colleagues discussed their marathon training and fitness classes. They would laugh, and she would see it as tacit compliance for her sedentary lifestyle. She didn’t like exercise, almost as much as she didn’t like being unfit and overweight. She knew that the laughs were only in part at the copycat wit that she had parroted from someone else’s Twitter account. She knew that they judged her, […]

The post SHORT STORIES: Nice Legs, Sugar from Clare Bonner appeared first on Cultured Vultures, Cultured Vultures - .

Daniel Ligotti was turning into a quiet avenue when a blur of pink flew across his windscreen with a dull thud, swiftly followed by a high-pitched squeak. Instinctively, Ligotti swerved, touched the brake and came to a surprisingly gentle stop just in time to see, in the rear-view mirror, a fluorescent pink ball roll across the bitumen before settling in a bloodied heap in the grass behind him. “Shit.” The car radio continued its hour of love song dedications. The […]

The post SHORT STORIES: A Moonless Night and a Blur of Pink from Guy Webster appeared first on Cultured Vultures, Cultured Vultures - .

Tyler Dupree’s boss Mr. DiCenzo tells him to keep his life to himself. No one wants sad stories, he says. He is there to serve the depressed, not to be depressed. Tyler works the bar at Crazy Charles’, a pizza joint by campus, with asylum-like white walls, but a fine array of pizzas (Thai Peanut is Tyler’s favourite) and beers. Fat Tire. 90 Shilling. Even good sours like New Belgium’s La Folie. He is twenty-nine and has worked here for […]

The post SHORT STORIES: The King of I from Mir-Yashar Seyedbagheri appeared first on Cultured Vultures, Cultured Vultures - .

The end of the world began on the 8th October. First came the rain, which was hardly unusual. Despite the heavy, thunderous music that battered every home and the desperate fingerprints spread across every available surface, nobody cared. This was Britain. It rained. * A week earlier, Erasmus Keep woke to find his girlfriend storming through his flat, throwing her possessions into an old plastic bag. She stopped only long enough to remind him that as of last night she […]

The post SHORT STORIES: Erasmus Keep from Alice Thomas appeared first on Cultured Vultures, Cultured Vultures - .

You wouldn’t believe the width of her smile. See it at her brother’s creepy wedding. Dyed hair. Green dress, black sleeves. Pendant. Her head tilting to the side as we stand outside the church smoking. And that smile. Expansive, like it’s about to break past her face and live a life of its own. Neither of us want to be there. The groom met the bride when she was sixteen and he, well into his twenties, dated her in secret […]

The post SHORT STORIES: Light Switch from Joel Fishbane appeared first on Cultured Vultures, Cultured Vultures - .

Delete. Delete. Ignore. Delete. Ignore. My desktop is my world. I live inside it. Your posts. Your images. Your videos. All of these make up my circadian reality. I’ve seen things you wouldn’t believe. And things you wouldn’t want to believe. There are thousands of drones just like me. All around the world. From San Francisco to Tampa to Kuala Lumpur to Manila. Crammed like sardines into damp, poorly air-conditioned offices. Forced to watch the most vile and abhorrent stuff […]

The post SHORT STORIES: Ignore or Delete from Daley Nixon appeared first on Cultured Vultures, Cultured Vultures - .

When Jay awoke in the middle of the empty street, he saw a beating heart at his side. Though his leaden gut told him that it wasn’t his, heavy air weighed down on the hole in his chest. The beating heart at his side didn’t seem to bleed, besides the occasional splutter from the exposed artery, and this terrified Jay. The closer he moved, the more his gut churned. So instead, he tried to walk away and keeled over, clutching […]

The post SHORT STORIES: Heartless from Léon Othenin-Girard appeared first on Cultured Vultures, Cultured Vultures - .

Nobody knew where the first vampire came from, but that didn’t stop them arguing about it anyway. Nowhere was off-limits, even places populated heavily with humans, and it wasn’t unusual to see a pair of vampires baring their fangs and hissing at one another at all hours of the day in pubs or cafes, each one loudly expostulating and daring the other to take the matter outside. To them, it was the closest thing to a religion, and it was […]

The post SHORT STORIES: Archfiends from Cassie Parkes appeared first on Cultured Vultures, Cultured Vultures - .

As a child I was fascinated by magic shows. One year a magician attended my birthday party. He, of course, pulled a little white rabbit from a big black hat. The following year I demanded a brilliantly bright white bunny of my own. My mother, disliking my tantrums provided a rabbit who would go by the name of Paul Daniels, or Snowy for short. Snowy became my best friend. As with many childhood pets, Snowy did not live a long […]

The post SHORT STORIES: Bunnies from Samantha Cullen appeared first on Cultured Vultures, Cultured Vultures - .

Dr. Jacob Walter had become used to the slight motion of the boat on the waves. The dips of the floor beneath his feet no longer induced nausea. He had grown accustomed to rising with dawn and retiring with nightfall. The sun was high in the clouds on this March day, the heat of the morning already rising. He could feel the sweat starting to blossom on his forearms as he dragged the lines in from the deep. He and […]

The post SHORT STORIES: It’s The Loneliness That Kills You from Colton Ray appeared first on Cultured Vultures, Cultured Vultures - .