'Gordon' by Jennifer Smith

Lifting a fork of jellied flesh to his nose, he closed his eyes like a wine connoisseur and inhaled. The pink and brown chunks looked moist enough to complement biscuits. There wasn't too much gelatine though. That was a sign of quality. The tin looked very professional too. A royal blue label showed a cartoon Dalmatian wearing a red collar and a sailor's hat. It had a fish in its mouth. The pooch hung its legs over the buoyancy ring that surrounded it. The words 'Sea Bass and Asparagus' were written in the red and white sections of the ring. The young hopefuls watched him eagerly, willing him to love their product. He opened his mouth, and slid the sample in. He ate quietly, revealing nothing. He closed his eyes as he chewed, focussing on the necessary senses. The entrepeneurs waited, awestruck; their mouths dry. He was a genius.

'Crossed Wires' by Katharine Seymour

She looks out onto the garden scene, enclosed by a box-hedge, tall against an overcast off-white sky, but does not see it. Instead, she sees a chin of images that constantly change. She tries to hold onto one, to grab it forcefully between the imaginary forceps of her mind, and hold it there, so she can examine it, see it more clearly - but she can't, and this upsets her.

'Another Quiet Morn' by Terry Murphy

After he came to he was lay on the floor next to his chair. He could feel the strangest sensation around his stomach and groin. It was a lovely warm and wet feeling. It covered him, and he was thankful for this moment of pleasure during an insane period of his morning. When he opened his shirt he saw blood. The blip of bliss he felt was completely washed away now. Following the blood flow up his chest he came across a deep well leading to where his heart used to reside. He began to cry, because although there was no pain from the wound, he realised that he would have to replace his heart. His happy smiling, cheery pink heart, who was polite and respectful, with the shrivelled and cracked, angry black heart, who was obnoxious and repulsive.

'Getting Through to Natalie' by Catherine Mills

It took him until the third week to notice the girl with dark red hair and scarlet framed glasses sitting in the second row.
They clashed, but she pulled it off; far more interesting than the bottle blonde to her right or the plain mouse to her left. He looked up her name in the register. Natalie Black. She often put up her hand to answer questions. He liked her; she felt like an ally.

'Double-Crossed' by Katy Jones

Thus I cogitated. Many greenfingered hours grew. And it lumed a smite. Musted I hop in, hop in and shackle fore the lume grew full. Ungreened I then my fingers. Made food - custardcake and jellies. Ate. Must needs grind in murkhouse, even this Jemima day. Washed clothes cups forks floor.

'The Christmas We Walked On The Ice' by Sarah Jasmon

Ice forms in stages on the canal. The first ice is thin and delicate, clean and brittle. It stretches across the surface like a membrane, moving with the water below. If you listen carefully, you can hear when it snaps. If you throw a stone, this first ice explodes into glittering rhomboids, and it gives itself up at the first hint of sun. But, though it doesn't last, it prepares the way. If the following night is clear, the air cold enough to leave breath hanging on the air and crystals forming on each blade of grass, the ice will form in a solid plate, lined imperceptibly by the diagonal ripples caught in freeze frame beneath. In the morning this ice has a deceptive steadiness. A thrown stone will bounce, reverberating from the surface, the aural equivalent of the expanding circles of a stone in water. Another such night and there is strength enough to hold a dog's weight.

'Jessyka Hoop: An A-Z' by Laura Marsden

Anthony Winter was the first person I mad e love to. We did it above a newspaper shop in Burnley , England. I was 14. It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. Afterwards, we played Nintendo, ate Monster Munch and smoked Berkeley Reds. It was remarkably unremarkable. I thought he was exp er ienced , but a few mo nths later , his brother told me that Ant hony had been a virgin too.