Gloomy Sunday (1/8) By Joe Hakim

(1/8), (2/8), (3/8), (4/8), (5/8), (6/8), (7/8), (8/8).

As we got closer I could see it framed against the horizon. From this distance it just looked like a huge black shape, like a giant lump of coal or something. "Jeezus, it's huge," I said. "Yeah, I'm guessing it's a male," Mike said. "Could be about fifty tonnes of whale washed up down there." Mike was a marine biologist. He'd been given the task of studying the bodies of all the sperm whales that had been appearing on the shores of the Humber for the past few weeks. I was tagging along so I could get photos for my paper.

We pulled up and Mike got out and retrieved some equipment from the boot. I checked my camera. The sky was grey and thick, threatening to chuck it down at any minute. As I stepped out of the jeep a gust of wind hit me, almost knocking me over. I took a couple of photos from where I was stood. It was an awesome sight, but it didn't look real; it looked like a prop or a special effect from a film. The pebbles crunched under our feet as we made our way towards it. We were a few feet away before the stench hit. The pints I'd been supping the night before decided to make their presence felt, and I started to retch.

"You ok?" Mike asked, unable to hide a grin. "He's starting to stink a bit isn't he?" I coughed up some bile, and then said: "How the fuck do you put up with this?" "You get used to it," he replied, before setting off again. I lit a cigarette, which helped to eliminate some of the smell from my nostrils. I've lived in Hull all my life, but I've never felt any affinity with the sea. All I have to look at a body of water in order to feel seasick. The stench of a fifty-tonne whale's rotting corpse was just too much. Mike set about measuring it, and I began taking photos in between bouts of gagging.

"Wow, he's about fifty-five feet long. It's about as big as these guys get," Mike said. "What's the hell's happening here Mike?" I asked. "This is the fifth one in as many weeks. I've never seen anything like this." Mike walked up and down stroking his chin like a doctor about to deliver some bad news to a patient. "To be honest... I don't know. I've assisted in the autopsies of the last four and there's no sign of infection or disease. We're at a bit of a loss, actually." "What about those marks?" I asked, pointing to a series of circular scars on the creature's head.

"Those? They're nothing, they're scars left from the suckers of a giant squid." "So they're being killed by giant squids?" Mike laughed and shook his head. "No, no, nothing like that. They feed on squid, so they pick up a few battle scars in their lifetime. I don't think you need to issue Wanted posters with the face of a kraken on them just yet." "What about the noise generated by the oil rigs and deep-sea mining? When that whale got stuck in the Thames I remember seeing something on the news about that."

"It's unlikely. The simple truth is that there's no real physical reason for them to be doing this. They're killing themselves...that's the only explanation I can come up with." We both stood there. There seemed to be something terribly undignified and sad about the whole thing. I took a few more photos, but it felt as though I was invading something. I felt like a tabloid hack trying to get a glimpse of a celebrity's body in their casket. I stepped away from the whale and sat on the beach, looked out across the murky brown water of the Humber and lit another cigarette.

Continued...Next Page (2/8)

Fiction - Kat Out of the Bag Chapter Thirteen By Steve Rudd
	I remembered the ring simply because it wasn't the type of ring that a man would usually choose to include in his pro-macho jewellery box. The rare stone at its heart shone like a bewildering beacon demanding attention in the pits of hell, while its subtly alluring design was elaborately detailed yet delicate. To all intents and purposes it looked like a lady's bridal ring, and thus the plot thickened. Read more...

Fiction - Complicity Part 4 By Nick Quantrill
	Complicity is the new crime-fiction novella set in Hull featuring Detective Sergeant Coleman and Detective Constable Maynard. The thisisull.com serialisation is accompanied by the stunning black and white photography of Roland Standaert, which illustrates the story and takes a unique look at the city. Complicity and other stories are available for free. Read more...

Fiction - Welcome To Hellville - Part 16 By Rich Mills
	"What music are you into, man?" The American exchange student who had earlier introduced himself, without any regard for Alan's need to be alone, suddenly threw a curve-ball of a question like this in his direction. "Well I listen to..." What followed was a definitive list of bands from Alan's wide-ranging rare vinyl and CD collection, he even Read more...

Fiction - Two Extracts from The Shintae - a Novel by Brian R Hill
	The Shintae is a new fantasy novel by Yorkshire writer Brian Hill. The novel is due to be published by Publish America sometime around the Christmas period but is currently available online at www.amazon.com , www.publishamerica.com , www.barnesandnoble.com and www.whsmith.com. The ISBN number is 1-4137-8322-4. For more information Read more...

Fiction - Zero and the Neighbours Part 1 - Demo version 0.1 By Joe Hakim
	Frank was one of the regulars. From the first day I started dealing poker on the tables, Frank was there. To look at, he was your typical moody old man - old in the Father Christmas sense - white hair, a huge white beard and a round gut that hung out of his shirt and over his belt. You could imagine him sat in a grotto in the bottom of Princes Quay with some mewling Read more...

Fiction - Just like Eddie by Bob Spence
	I don't know exactly when I got into it but there you are. Like most lads, I suppose it was the thought of being Bristol's answer to Elvis that was some kind of inspiration. Yes that was always there in the back of my mind, but the accent never sounded quite right to be fair. Anyway. The South Deans Village Youth Club was a right place back then and we used Read more...

Fiction - Off To See The Wild West Show Part 15 (1886: Hull, Yorkshire) By Frank Beill
	An echoing boom was coming from down deep in the bowels of the ship. Something somewhere was being repaired. The cabin was too warm and I couldn't get to sleep. I took a look through what had become my personal window on the world: the porthole above my bunk. The lights of a town twinkled like pale stars on the shimmering mirror of the narrow waters Read more...

Fiction - The Wall by Darren Sant
	Sometimes your best is just not enough. Panic stricken and panting I arrive. There it is, a fucking huge wall. An obstacle blocking my progress. A visible representation of all that I can't achieve. Nervously I look behind me. I lash out at it, kicking and punching but to no avail. It is rock solid. I jump but find it too high. I take a running jump Read more...

Fiction - Divine by Blair Ashworth
	"Mein Führer? Mein Führer?" The old man in the long grey coat was bent over the body slumped in the chair. "Give it a few more seconds, Henry," said the doctor. "Do you speak any German? It might lessen the shock." No, Henry didn't speak any German and he didn't much care about any shocks he might deliver. Behind the heavy oak chair, Read more...

Fiction - Scissors, Paper, Stone! By Bob Spence
	The Lord Nelson was your typical run-down seventies pub. The decor was in disarray, with half a mind to venerate the Royal Navy's biggest hero or to catch the eye of the potential clientele with the latest fashion. In this manner it achieved neither. Mickey was the prototype glass collector for every Read more...

Fiction - Drowning, Swimming By Joe Hakim
	Keith sat and stared at his wife, who was holding his daughter and staring at the 28" Philips Widescreen TV situated in the corner of his house, on his laminate floor, flanked at either side by his Sony sound system and his X-Box. He was sweating and his head was throbbing - the general effects of the weekend Read more...

Fiction - Any Instructions? By Denis Price
	It wasn't the first time he'd missed the bus. From the Mess to the monitoring hangar was only a quarter of a mile walk, something he relished during the central European summer as the airbase had been carved out of heavily wooded countryside teeming with wildlife. Read more...

Fiction - Second Chances by Nick Quantrill
	Available now, Second Chances is a crime fiction novella set in Hull that is already attracting praise from readers. Influenced by crime fiction heavyweights Ian Rankin and Hull's Robert Edric, Second Chances is set to be a great success. For a taster, see the extract reproduced below, only available Read more...

Fiction - Invasion By Bob Spence
	Moody just couldn't stop scratching. His shirt was far too stiff at the edge of the collar and the coarse material was driving him to distraction. You could also say that Moody was distracted anyway. He was waiting for a letter from his fiancee and there was none. Read more...

Fiction - The Death and Birth and Death of a Legend By Bob Spence
	Goober liked to be busy. Some people could handle doing nothing, not Goober Walton. Running the tidy but ancient gasoline concession suited. Suited well. It was orderly and everything clearly had its place. Some would say it looked almost military in its order and for that it Read more...

Fiction - Feller's in Cut By Maurice Fairfield
	Well that's her gone. You don't remember me do you? I'll have a pint while you're thinking about it. It's me Jack, Harry Fergus's son. Here for the funeral. Thought I'd see her get put under. Not sure why. It's always a laugh though, watching a parson doing a Read more...

Fiction - Firm but Fair By Mark Pollard
	Cry-Baby Jim Breaks. He pioneered it, they say. And the hushed, almost ecclesiastical tones of Ken Walton had heralded it's entry into Saturday afternoon folklore: the bright lights of Blackpool and Great Yarmouth, down to the lesser reputes of Ilfracombe and Skegness had all borne witness Read more...

Fiction - Puzzles By Denis Price
	I've got a really nice room, when the door's closed I feel ever so safe and warm. It's quiet as well, just the swish of the wind in the trees outside. I like the trees; they hide the big tall fence. My watchers say the fence is there to keep me safe, and that's their job too, they're always there Read more...