Matthew G. Rees lived in Moscow where he taught English at a school near Red Square. He is the author of a collection of short stories set in the city, The Snow Leopard of Moscow & Other Stories. He grew up in the border country between England and Wales known as the Marches. Wales and its borderland was the setting for his first book of short fiction, Keyhole, published in 2019. He received a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Swansea the same year. In his early career he was a journalist on newspapers in the UK. He has also written plays. He currently lives in Wales.
Damn. Sotto voce of the mistake he considers he’s made. Damn. Louder… as, once more, he scans the beach. Which is empty, utterly emp— Except now, with his curse and a slight pivot of his position, it isn’t… empty, at all. A figure… a guy… a youngish guy… is crossing, and coming down, the…
Helen wakes at night and complains that there is something in her hair. To begin with, my word that there is nothing there is sufficient to reassure her. But, over time, she has grown convinced. Typically, she wakes at 3 or 4 am. She pulls at her hair and scratches her scalp. ‘Helen, please…
‘Aren’t you getting a little old for this?’ said Elizaveta Entina as she walked past Tatyana Smekhova into Tatyana Smekhova’s flat. Smekhova looked out onto the landing for a moment. No one else was there and, despite her haughty demeanour, inside herself she was relieved. She closed the flat’s outer door and pushed the…
“Should we be here?” she asked. “Why not?” he said. “We’ve as much right as any.” “But they’re locking up,” she said. “I can hear them. I can hear their keys.” “Good!” he said. “What do you mean ‘Good’?” she said. “Let them!” he said. “But how will we get home?” she asked. “In…
