Published here as a stand-alone chapbook, Briar Day is a short, slipstream story about masculinity, fairy tales, and the narratives we tell ourselves. Also available in the collection The Birdcage Heart & Other Strange Tales.

Everyone remembers where they were when the briars first choked the city. Everyone celebrates the anniversary of their rescue from the rampaging dragon and the mysterious curse that afflicted Brisbane.

But not everybody is in the mood to celebrate the anniversary of Briar Day, and for two old friends with terrible memories of the day, the annual celebrations are nothing but a source of heartbreak.

Peter M Ball is the author of more than fifty short stories and six novellas, along with essays, RPG material, articles, and poetry. His short stories and non-fiction have appeared in venues such as Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons, Shimmer, Dragon Magazine, Writing Queensland, and Apex Magazine, and has been included in several Year's Best anthologies. He's previously taught creative writing at Griffith University and the Queensland Writers Centre, spent five years as the manager of the Australian Writers Marketplace, and convenes the biennial GenreCon writing conference in Brisbane, Australia.