Matthew Dodd — home Read the stories

Short Stories

Short fiction — war, airships, a facility that keeps failing over, and a few things in between.

The shelf

Each spine is as wide as its story is long.

Contents

  1. Painting of Canadian soldiers resting among the tomb niches of an Italian cemetery, 1945
    Putting a Line Through to Headquarters, Bruno Bobak, 1945.
    Sun 3 min

    “I remember seven months ago. I remember the laughter, the joy, the hell. Since then, I have learned what it has meant to have no sun,” I began. I…

  2. Illustration of a balloon basket drifting above rows of moored airships, 1908
    Airships at their moorings, from The War in the Air, 1908.
    Arrive 11 min

    Seagulls. I hated the sound of seagulls cawing. This time, though, was very different. I had heard nothing but the creaking of the hull against its…

  3. Bar 6 min

    You push on the old wooden door but guess that it is much, much heavier than it appears. The door swings open too quickly, and it is obvious that the…

  4. Corpse 17 min

    It was a cold and rainy morning. The darkness of the pre-dawn seemed to be clutching at the corners of the world and desperately attempting to hold on…

  5. Death 10 min

    I was walking along the beach, just on that crappy wooden path that you know the city hasn’t spent a dime on in at least a decade and probably won’t…

  6. Drop 10 min

    Cold. The only feeling he could find to latch onto was the feeling of intense, extreme cold. He knew he wasn’t thinking straight and that knowledge…

  7. Operators at consoles and tape drives in an IBM 7090 computer room, early 1960s
    An IBM 7090 computer room at NASA, early 1960s.
    Facility 17 min

    Her alarm sounded at exactly 7am. Why they kept to the twenty-four-hour system still, no one had bothered to explain. It was probably just easier to…

  8. Field 13 min

    He opened his eyes. Being careful not to move, he listened to the sounds around him. The horrifying screech of metal grinding on metal that had never…

  9. Hand 7 min

    Mustering as much patience as I could, I slowly exhaled. This was not something I could rush. I had been preparing for so many months that being too…

  10. Legends 8 min

    With a loud sigh, Odin pushed his palm into his forehead and squeezed his one good eye tightly shut, as if willing away the crossed paths of two of…

  11. March 10 min

    The news had spread like wildfire. How could it not have? Anyone working out in the fields, no matter the job, had seen the riders coming and going at…

  12. Reception 6 min

    The bed felt nice. It was warm, with a cool breeze slowly wafting into the room. The smell of the autumn air carrying with it reminders of the best…

  13. Van 5 min

    The van trundled along down the road. Well, perhaps 'trundled' wasn't quite the correct term. It advanced at an urgent pace. Yes, that sounded more…