Ferne Merrylees

The Four Winds began as a short story called Icarus (also posted on this website), which was part of a portfolio of works for Uni. Then in October 2008, I entered NaNoWriMo which is a novel writing competition where you have to write over 50 000 words in one month. And so this story is [...]

Prologue
“Once Upon A Time…in a land far, far away, the earth shook and the sky flickered as a child was born. A magical child with hair the colour of the earth, skin as pale as snow and eyes as dark as pitch. It is said that if one looked into her eyes, one would hear [...]

Prologue
“Once Upon A Time…in a land far, far away, the earth shook and the sky flickered as a child was born. A magical child with hair the colour of the earth, skin as pale as snow and eyes as dark as pitch. It is said that if one looked into her eyes, one would hear [...]

Ovid’s Metamorphoses is dark, brutal and disturbing with the reader often shocked by not only the graphic nature of events but also the grotesque form of comedy used within the terrible tales. One such story is the tale of the tragically “fated” sisters, Philomela and Procne. In this essay I will explore the ways in [...]

The cool sea wind brushed against his face like a mother’s bedtime kiss, his hair wafting behind him, a banner of feathers, ribbons and beads.
“I’m an eagle.” The boy whispered, his words snatched away by the lonely clouds that treasured his words like precious pearls. The warmth of the sun’s smile against his cheeks and [...]

“What do we do when we enter the dojo?”
“Bow!” a dozen voices piped up and I stepped back to allow the herd of white uniformed midgets to swarm pass. I gathered their name cards, checked that all my students were accounted for and hadn’t yet escaped, and strolled to the front of the class. There [...]

If your tastes run more along the lines of Disney then The Bloody Chamber is definitely not for you. Turn back now. You have been warned and you continue at your own peril. A collection of ten short stories, The Bloody Chamber, written by Angela Carter, takes the classic fairytale and twists it out of [...]

“Hey Mum.”
“Sweetie! How are you guys doing? What time is it over there?”
“It’s about 4:30. I don’t know quite how to say this Mum but we were just pick pocketed.”
“Oh no! Are you guys okay? What happened?”
“Well we were just spending the afternoon at the beach, going swimming and people watching. Can’t quite get over [...]

My knees won’t stop shaking. Short gulps of air enter my lungs at far too fast a pace.
“I’m not going to faint,” I chant to myself with eyes glued to the second hand as it counts down the last 5 minutes.
In 5 minutes time the rocket will be launched and 8 bulls each weighing up [...]

kangaroo- n. a large Australian marsupial with a long powerful tail and strong hind legs that enable it to travel by leaping. (Pocket Oxford English Dictionary 9th ed).
Although as a child I lived on a property where it wasn’t uncommon to see the odd kangaroo in the garden, kangaroos do not bounce and leap down [...]