Author

A. Merc Rustad

Merc Rustad lives in Minnesota (USA) with her family and ferrets (none of whom are androids). She has always loved reading and writing speculative fiction, especially if there are explosions and cool hats involved. Merc has had fiction published or forthcoming in New Fables, M-Brane SF, Silver Blade, Thaumatrope, Dreams of Decadence, and others. She can be found at: http://mercwriter.livejournal.com.

http://mercwriter.livejournal.com/

Once I, Rose

Life/Death #7 The woman I'm given to is finished with her boyfriend, so she throws me and the other roses into the garbage disposal. Because memory lasts between life and death, I make lists as my new body grows on the stem. When I Am Human Again, I Will: * Eat a twelve-course…

The Sorcerer's Unattainable Gardens

Wrought iron fences loop around the gardens: six deep, the outer three progressively higher, more elaborate, and with more spikes atop, while the inner three create a mirror effect. Say you make it over all six fences without impaling yourself or falling or getting trapped…

Goodnight, Raptor

Benjamin sat on the sidewalk with his favorite dinosaur book, the one about Velociraptors. Up in the sky, the clouds of silver nanobots flew higher and higher until he couldn't see them anymore. It was very quiet now. Benjamin held his book tight so it wouldn't get lost or eaten…

Sheila

He walks into the brothel in a heavy black duster and a wide-brimmed hat and asks for Number 536289. I'm not allowed nervousness until ordered to show it, but I've seen it in instruction vids and wonder if it feels like this--a shivery, short of breath sensation with tightening…