Submissions by VeronikaB

A brief history of the English word assassin, including its legendary connections with cannabis and writers

Assassination is “one of the oldest tools of power politics.” It’s been around for thousands of years. In the year 336 B.C. the King of Macedonia, and father of Alexander the Great, was assassinated by one of his own bodyguards.

Around 650 years earlier, Absalom, a Judaic prince and son of King David, was assassinated by one of his own cousins. And the perhaps most famous assassin in the history of Ancient Rome is Brutus, one of three men who killed Julius...

Franz Hohler, Der Andere, Luchterhand, 1988
translator Veronika Bond, literary translator,
editor Joshua Bond, poet


And suddenly
after many years
he stands there
the other man
looks at her
the one who belongs to you
he draws her towards him
and she waves to you
from the distance
and calls
I’ll be back
and you wish her luck
because she deserves him
the other man
and the feeling
you know so well
the feeling of trembling
that first touch with a stranger
the...

Deep in the Dark Woods, Bonnie Rouge stumbles across a dead body. Having heard the stories, she recognises it instantly as the Bad Wolf.
Thank goodness, he’s dead. She races back to the path.

What if he’s not dead? What if it’s fake? What if he follows my tracks in the snow? The puffs of her panting breath fly into the naked branches of a copper beech. Should she go back and check? She pulls the collar of her red hoodie over the numb tip of her nose. So the snuffle won’t make icicles on my love potion.

Heart pounding, armpits sweaty despite the wintery frost, B.R....