Author: Carol B. Niskala

  • Edge of the World – The Tavern

    Edge of the World Part One: The Tavern Roses Are Red… and Then They Are Dead The air was heavy with the smell of old wood and damp stone. I found myself sitting in a dimly lit cave that resembled a medieval tavern. The shadows were long, and the atmosphere felt thick, dark, and undeniably…

  • anxiety.

    Anxiety. We grow up thinking that we have to be the very best version of ourselves;that we must strive to “have it all.” We feel the need to be successful andgoal-oriented. We must be healthy, the “looking good” kind of healthy.Strong. Well-read and well-travelled. Talented. Good-spirited. Fun to bearound. Positive. An amazing person with an…

  • Estallinn Part 2

    EsTallinn: Part Two By Carol B. Niskala     Based on true events and public records, interviews and investigation files retrieved by an unnamed source from Tallinn PD. Crime locations were located in the city of Tallinn throughout the last weekend of November and Christmas Day 2025. Names are fictional in order to preserve the victims’ identities…

  • Abracadabra

    Abracadabra  Carol B.Niskala “Without Contraries is no progression. Attraction and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to Human existence. From these contraries spring what the religious call Good & Evil. Good is the passive that obeys Reason. Evil is the active springing from Energy. Good is Heaven. Evil is Hell.” William Blake…

  • Lenny

        The rental market in Dublin has been out of control for years, as many people come and go to work in countless international companies and new places don’t seem to be ever built. Some say life is getting out of control there. That did not deter Aimee and Rob when the opportunity of moving to…

  • Haunted

    Characters Part 1 September 20th, 2025    Kacie and her boyfriend Cav are in the last leg of their long Euro trip. After passing through Amsterdam, Brugge, Liverpool and Edinburgh, their vacation ends in Helsinki. Most people don´t really think of visiting Finland, to be honest, but Kacie is not like most people. A strong willed…

  • Night Shift

       Night Shift  pareidolia [ pair-ahy-doh-lee-uh ] noun the illusory perception of meaningful patterns or images of familiar things in random or amorphous data, as a face seen on the moon.  dictionary.com        Night shift working from home tonight. As a human collective, we haven’t learned nor improved much as people during the pandemic of Covid-19.…

  • Deliverance

    Deliverance   Nora    It was still there. I could feel it coiling in my throat, sticking to my flesh, and bonding to my soul. Like hot taffy being stretched in a candy shop, getting bigger and tougher every time. I tried grabbing it, wrapping it around tightly on my hand, and pulling it with all my…

  • The Brain and The Time

    The brain is a funny thing. It reminds you of things that happened 25 years ago and yet, you cannot remember what the hell you got up for when you went to the kitchen. Beats me. And hey, before anyone is out there saying it: no, it is not old age. I have always been…

  • Lux Sanctuarium (BRA)

    LUX SANCTUARIUM   Stella e seu marido Ben moravam em uma comunidade meio hippie num futuro não muito distante de agora.      Nessa comunidade, eles viviam com uma líder espiritual, Lux, que comandava a vida deles com seus ensinamentos em cultos diários e uma alimentação balanceada, com chás e suplementos naturais apenas.       Todos viviam felizes e saudáveis,…