Author

John M Shade

John M. Shade is a fantasy and science fiction writer living in Texas. His work has appeared in Everyday Weirdness and other places, and he is a recent graduate of the Viable Paradise writer's workshop. He is currently at work on his first novel. You can follow him online at twitter.com/dystopiandream.

http://www.twitter.com/dystopiandream

The Best Trick

The lights were strung and the music played soft in the night, the town dancing close. Everyone had come out. The mayor and his wife. Small Joseph and Maralene, the boy's crush. Families and strangers. Daughters and sons. Light bloomed against the dancing square like a…

The Colors

The trucks roll into town like a fog, muted colors and brands dotting their sides like worn heraldry. Soon the spikes are down and Sluggoth is pouring the sand. Rime lifts the tents with cool, arctic winds from his fingertips. Panoply's clones hammer nails and put up boards. And…

Selecting

This was a small thing. In the midst of empires and grand armies and armadas it was something you could have easily overlooked if you weren't careful. I stood in the tower basement with the weapons arrayed around me. It was a gray afternoon like the one before it. The village…