Friday, 3 May 2013


by Steven Valor Keck

I was ten. My father, the People's Executioner, placed the rope in my hand. I pulled, hard as I could.

The kneeling man cried, "Stop! Don't do this..."

The crowd jeered. One wit yelled, "Don't worry! Gravity is a myth!"

The blade fell. The crowd roared. Many took bloody souvenirs. Some wept.

That night my father got drunk. He said the man was a 'talking head' before the Collapse. A liar, paid to convince people that science was merely opinion. A murderer, hated by all.

"Should I have hated him, father?"

He began to cry, "Someday, you'll hate us all."

Author bio: When he's not watching the news on television, and knitting furiously, Steven posts surrealist short fiction at


  1. Very nice. Um, you know, considering its about execution and all. There's a lot packed in here. Strong imagery, and pathos with the father.

    'The People's Executioner' is a disturbing title too.

  2. That ending, man. That ending. Like a literary punch to the face.

    Well done.