Matthew Batham
Bio
My stories have been published in numerous magazines and on websites in both the UK and the US. My novels and short story collection, Terrifying Tales to Read on a Dark Night, are available on Amazon. I also love horror movies.
Stories (39)
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So, when Did You First Realise You Were Gay?
“So, when did you first realise you were gay?” It’s the inevitable question that really shouldn’t be inevitable anymore. The woman asking this time is sincere. It’s just her way of getting to know me — the man she’s been sat next to at a dinner party.
By Matthew Batham5 days ago in Pride
The Prince and the Pizza
‘You could at least look at me while you’re dumping me!’ Jason leaned across the table in the spacious pizzeria where Sarah had suggested they eat that evening. She’d thought it would be a big and impersonal enough venue for her to tell Jason she thought they should go their separate ways after six months of dating. Now she wished she’d just called him and done the deed over the phone, or at least somewhere private. She’d hoped doing it in public might lessen the chance of him creating a drama, but the plan seemed to have failed. Jason, a would-be actor, loved a drama.
By Matthew Batham6 days ago in Fiction
Dedicated to Finn
When she was eight years old, Alice Henderson briefly held the world record for filling her mouth with marbles. Sadly, only she was witness to the fete, so it was an unofficial record and one that did not impress her parents. Her hysterical mother, on finding Alice with her cheeks bulging, hamster-like, had screamed about the dangers of choking as she’d slapped Alice’s back to dislodge each glass orb from her mouth.
By Matthew Batham6 days ago in Fiction
A New Leaf. Content Warning.
Jake was five the first time his father hit his mother. He didn’t actually witness the attack; he was sitting on the floor of his bedroom surrounded by multi-coloured bricks and a menagerie of plastic animals. It was a game he called The Animal Kingdom, and all the animals had names, and some had special titles like Lord Alligator and King Alfred, a lion with a missing leg.
By Matthew Batham12 days ago in Fiction
Life After Julie
“No, I’ve not heard from her, Cynthia,” said John, hoping his impatience wasn’t detectable. He pictured his mother-in-law sitting in her hallway, telephone receiver clutched in her arthritic hand. She still had an old-fashioned phone with a cable that got so twisted she had to sit right next to it in the draughty hall of her council flat in Peckham.
By Matthew Batham12 days ago in Fiction
Turquoise Clouds in a Green Sky. Top Story - March 2026.
“I always remember the first time I saw the green sky and the turquoise clouds skating across it.” These words had stayed with Alice Barrett for two years. She’d been six- years-old and snuggled next to her great-grandmother, known to nearly all the family as Granny Rose, on a large, rather uncomfortable armchair. Granny Rose had been telling her a story, at least that’s what Alice believed, but it was a strange memory, blurry apart from those few words.
By Matthew Batham13 days ago in Fiction
The Boy Who Cried Blood
For a hideous, elongated moment, she thought one of the estate kids had broken in and cut off his face. He wore a dry mask of blood and his white pillows were drenched in sticky red. It was only when he moaned and his sealed eyelids began to undulate like boiling pasta parcels, that she screamed with relief and ran to his bedside.
By Matthew Batham18 days ago in Fiction
