<![CDATA[TODAY'S: SHORT STORIES]]>https://www.annaatsu.com/s/short-storieshttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jNgH!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffae8e1a4-2632-44cb-922b-2294f896e262_1280x1280.pngTODAY'S: SHORT STORIEShttps://www.annaatsu.com/s/short-storiesSubstackSun, 20 Sep 2026 18:59:55 GMT<![CDATA[Camera Manicure]]>https://www.annaatsu.com/p/camera-manicurehttps://www.annaatsu.com/p/camera-manicureSun, 01 Mar 2026 17:02:13 GMT‘Could you please shift the camera back a bit?’

‘All facial redness will be rectified in post-production.’

‘It’s not that.’

Photo by Redd Francisco on Unsplash

‘This is not a BAFTA nomination. Just relax. Remember, you’re not a Nobel nominee. This isn’t about you. People want to hear a story — an authentic, unpolished, raw, and most importantly, true story.…

Read more

]]><![CDATA[In the Sala de Estar]]>https://www.annaatsu.com/p/in-the-sala-de-estarhttps://www.annaatsu.com/p/in-the-sala-de-estarThu, 12 Feb 2026 17:02:32 GMT

The ceiling was painted after the last visit (whoever was visiting and whoever was truly living here), a brighter shade of white; the fluorescent tubes were replaced with pendant lamps; the stairs gained an anti-slip carpeted finish.

There is a pleasant aroma of bergamot from an air diffuser in the hall. It is raining outside.

Illustration by Thingsneverc…

Read more

]]><![CDATA[I Will Keep Myself to the Side]]>https://www.annaatsu.com/p/i-will-keep-myself-to-the-sidehttps://www.annaatsu.com/p/i-will-keep-myself-to-the-sideSun, 11 Jan 2026 18:00:43 GMT“So, what you are saying here is that you would sit with me here without a chronometer if you were old?”, I say.

“Of course I would. We all progress to return to a basic human connection. OK, I know you don’t appreciate that word”.

“What word?”

“Connection.”

“And why is that? You tell me…”

“Because you wouldn’t be here, if not me, if not the connections…”

I …

Read more

]]><![CDATA[Divided over the Subtleties]]>https://www.annaatsu.com/p/divided-over-the-subtletieshttps://www.annaatsu.com/p/divided-over-the-subtletiesFri, 26 Dec 2025 18:00:33 GMT
Photo by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash

“I don’t believe a word of your story,” you announced.

“Of course, it didn’t happen quite the way I told it, but I believe it really happened.” In that instance, I exactly knew what you thought and maybe what you would say, if given enough time: In your imagination. Regardless, I continued, “Worshipers are disarmed whe…

Read more

]]><![CDATA[Manum super te pone]]>https://www.annaatsu.com/p/manum-super-te-ponehttps://www.annaatsu.com/p/manum-super-te-poneSun, 14 Dec 2025 18:01:14 GMTPlace a hand on your body first.

On the kidneys — renes.

On the ovaria.

On the hips — coxae.

On the heart — cor.

Move the hand higher.

On the pulmones.

On the throat — larynx.

On the lingua.

Lower the hand again.

On the great absorber —liver — hepar.

On the stomach without much discipline of refusal — ventriculus.

On the intestine you feed so well.

Pause.

On the colu…

Read more

]]><![CDATA[The Thanks-Giving Scheme]]>https://www.annaatsu.com/p/the-thanks-giving-schemehttps://www.annaatsu.com/p/the-thanks-giving-schemeTue, 09 Dec 2025 19:36:29 GMTIt is a town of immigrants, immigrants even more in their absence. Those who could escape already did. The ones who arrived did not come by choice; they were simply placed here. Money paid for the journey — boat, truck — and money paid for a square metre where they would sleep. Money paid for silence, for unnoticing at one border first, then another. So…

Read more

]]><![CDATA[Back to The Hive]]>https://www.annaatsu.com/p/a-language-hungry-crossroadhttps://www.annaatsu.com/p/a-language-hungry-crossroadFri, 05 Dec 2025 21:36:58 GMT
Photo by Meggyn Pomerleau on Unsplash

It doesn’t happen, not in this town. Until it does. And the first time it happens, no one realises what they’re witnessing. Not even later, when the vanishings dominate the headlines, do the people in the park realise they were there — front row — when it began.

It takes place outside, on the kind of summer afternoon …

Read more

]]>