Liars' League

Dragon Blood, Pig Heart by Junyi Chew

Dragon Blood Pig Heart MP3 

Read by Rebecca Yeo

“I’ve ordered char siu pao,” Mum said. “Your favourite.”

We were sat at a table upstairs in a busy restaurant in London’s Chinatown. The ‘pao’ she'd ordered were white steamed buns with a filling of pork in salty-sweet red sauce. They were a food from my childhood, when I would eagerly devour the fluffy outsides to get to the treasure within, at some point reaching the perfect ratio of meat to dough. I hadn’t stopped then to consider possible spellings of the word, which could shapeshift all three letters, sliding from pau to pao to bao. For me, the buns would arrive with a ‘POW!’ like a hearty blow in a Batman comic.

Saturday Nights Have Changed by Soraya Berry

Saturday Nights Have Changed MP3

Read by Aren Devlin

Outside, the weather’s turning. The air is fecund with possibility. The sky has rinsed itself clean, and the certainty of new life hangs around in gardens and parks where the soil is busy nurturing millions of tiny seeds and bulbs. They’ll burst open soon, in an orgy of very slow and satisfying activity.

Inside, he sits. And waits. And watches. There’s not much more he can do. Ironic, really, that their own slow and satisfying activity has led them to this room. It hums with the buzz of unidentifiable machines, tubes attached to walls and the swish of the curtain rails which flick back and forth as midwives pop in periodically to stick two fingers in and assess dilation.

It’s all quite fascinating, he thinks, although he wisely doesn’t tell his wife that.

How to Keep them Away by Nora Nadjarian

How To Keep them Away MP3

Read by Jasmine Raymond

My mother warned me. If you ever see them, she said, you must cross yourself to make them disappear. They will steal your voice if you don’t.

The fear of coming face to face with a Kalikandjaro and losing my voice made my heart beat in my throat. My thoughts trembled during the twelve coldest nights of the year leading to Christmas.  I placed my hands above the crackling fire in our fireplace and reminded myself that I lived in a safe, warm world. I had to look after my baby sister when my parents were busy or away. When she fell asleep in her cot, her rosy face lost in dreams as sweet and soft as candy floss, I envied her bliss. I couldn’t move in the house without seeing their shadows on the living room curtains, without hearing their hooves on the stone kitchen floor or their high-pitched voices in the creak of kitchen cupboards opening and closing.

Odd Numbers by James Odunsi

Odd Numbers MP3

Read by Sophie Cartman

“Two oat milk vanilla iced lattes, please. Double shots.”

“Two iced lattes … anything else I can get for you today?” The barista looked around – presumably for the recipient of the second coffee.

“Nope, just those, thanks.”

“And the name?”

“Olivia, thanks…” she looked at his name tag, “Evan.” A good name, nice and even. She looked down again, and a packet of cookies caught her eye: ‘JUST 80 CALORIES’ they claimed, and there were two of them. “Actually, I’ll have these as well.” she said, sliding them onto the counter.

Tethered Crowns by Kariny Vee

Tethered Crowns MP3

Read by DK Ugonna

The capital of the Mainland was changing. Something was amiss.

The wooden sign carved with 'Rika’s Salts' loomed over Saphyre’s head with an unnerving stillness. Where was the wind? She dabbed at the sweat trickling down her neck and tugged the hood of her cloak down, one of the ends snagging painfully on her left horn.

The months of summer would start to fade in the coming weeks, but the heat would cling to the streets in puffs for another fortnight. She eyed the frilled dress of a sorceress scuttling through the streets, the material light enough to sway with every whisper of a phantom breeze. It was a luxury she could not afford; no, she was safer with her frayed cloak and ash-coated fingernails.