Topic
Fantasy
Magic, myth, the impossible made vivid. From high fantasy to the modern uncanny.
A Wish
"A wish? I thought there were supposed to be three?" The genie breathed on his fingernails--apparently inlaid with diamonds--and polished them on his tuxedo-clad chest. Then he turned to me, shrugged, and grimaced in a way that was meant to suggest sympathy at my situation but…
Dragon Rising
Alex came from a good family--the kind that sits straight-backed in the front pew at church and makes it very clear that they are listening properly to the sermon. Their father was a banker, who was very fond of meetings. Their mother volunteered for a charity for disadvantaged…
Someone Call Shadow Control!
Culver hauled the sack of chittering shadows to the back of his truck. "Now, now," he said. "None of that. Y'all should know better than to nest in a Light lady's bird feeder." One of the shadows said something about the possibility of a dog in Culver's mother's ancestry. "Now,…
Cold Hands
Legere Lake was named for the Legere family, white settlers who came to Mi'kma'ki in the late 1800s. They built their house on the banks of what was then called 'Grand Lake' by the English, using local aspen trees for the walls and bird's-eye maple for the floors. In time other…
God of Inconsequential Things
"What are you afraid of?" she asked me one evening, untangling her limbs from mine, smooth skin gliding over calf and thigh. Her fingers lingered as she sat up, tracing slow, idle circles. With the other hand she reached for the clay bowl of tea that had been left on the stone…
The Message Behind the Words is the Voice of the Heart
Fortune found inside Gil Knowland's cookie at the end of the combination special for which he stopped on the way home from his wife's funeral: A loved one from the past will affect you in the near future. Soon they will all know what you've done. Graffiti spray-painted on the…
Wild and Deep, the Moon and Blood
"Menopausal lycanthropy," the doctor said. "What?" I asked, scratching at my armpit where my hair had grown nearly a centimeter since last night's shower. And let's not mention my legs. I had to change out of my favorite leggings this morning because it looked like I was walking…
The Third Kind of Prophecy
We rang in the new year at Jessie's, jam-packed with a dozen of our old crowd and two bar carts. I'd had a Manhattan and a gin martini by the time we flipped on the TV for the countdown. By that point, my social reserves were spent. I lingered by the snack table, staying quiet…
The Airbnb (g)Host
I'm a reasonable ghost, I think, but the Airbnb was the final straw. I've put up with quite a bit, in my time here. I'm not quite as old as the house, of course--I know the Wikipedia page says I'm the first owner's wife, but that's actually not true, you'd be surprised how often…
Moonlight's Call
Hooves and hounds. She runs alone. Low and fast, she bounds along farmer Davis's tractor road between corn and bean fields. She rounds the bend near the farm pond. She runs for the masking reek and covering shadows of the dump, where rats have run from her moonlit teeth to hide…
Harpies Call
His soft and doughy wit disturbed not the silent and still pond of Millicent's hard-won peace. She would not, could not, lose her own heart to such fools as he. Razor-sharp retorts served no purpose save raising rage to sword and claw, and from that naught but tears would come.…
Magic's Call
Across the gravel path to Marble Mooring Pier, the tideline marks the middle ground between the world of Men and Mare. In that space between ebb tide and king, stands an aging, red phone booth, an artifact of a bygone day when stories ruled the minds of all folk and the sea and…
Spellbones
Robert gives me a key to the workroom and tells me to keep the door locked. The book I usually copy from has been replaced by a single paper with a complicated spell that will take me days to ink. The bone is a human shoulder blade, and the spell is for death. I have inked…
Phoenix Fate
The woman in crimson phoenix robes stood barefoot on the frozen river, her long black hair streaming in the icy wind. Hairpins and bangles wrought of the finest mutton-fat jade traced a littered path back to the snowy shore. Barely visible against the crest of trees, the glow of…
Into The Forest
He needles their stepmother, echoes her words and mimics her walk, unravels her yarn and says the cat did it, even crumbles his thin shaving of the last bread into a mess on the table though his stomach gripes and yawns with hunger like everyone else's. Gretel sees her…
The Chosen One
"Are you sure this is the one?" asked Drummer, eyeing the spilt level brick ranch. It looked exactly the same as every other house on the street. "The Oracle said the hero will be found here. The records indicate that five boys live here and three of them are in the right age…
Mortal Enemies
Frydthorn waved her wand. The last drunken shrimp from her cocktail flew into her mouth. "Nice trick," said the knight in chainmail next to her. "Scooping up your shrimp with your chopstick." The dog on the barstool beside the knight coughed, a dog's cough, but somehow it…
Memories in the Kitchen
Ruthanne has gone down into the basement, but she can't remember what for. She glances around, but the cobweb over the storage bins and the dusty shelves don't jog her memories. There's wet laundry in the washer, anyway; she bends to haul it into the dryer. Her jeans, Ben's…
Don't Call Us--We'll Call You
I was waiting for the bus on the way to work when I saw the ad for Madame Grimaldi's Psychic Hotline. It was illegally pasted to the glass of the bus shelter, and as a marketing account manager, I had to admire the sheer amateurishness: the two different styles of clip art for a…
Fair Aliquant
In fair Aliquant, where the soils are rich and the brooks clear, where the woods are filled with game and the mountains silver-veined, where the laws are just and all citizens are treated as equals, the executioner stands beside her scarred block. Behind the executioner, the…
Dragons and Drabbles
They say dragons despise drabbles, deeming a hundred words a derisory allotment to tell any tale worth the telling. Hardly surprising. You have the advantage of time. Centuries upon centuries, coiled on the cold coin of your hoards. We dragonhunters don't have time to waste. You…
Apocalypse in Yellow
When the sun pops, we watch hand-in-hand from the wold. "So this is how it all ends," you say, as molten gold erupts through the blue. I try, as I always do, to find some silver lining: "Perhaps it's how something better begins--who knows?" Cosmic fire coruscates over your…
Soul Testing in Major League Baseball
Me and the rest of the Yankees sauntered into the room for the pre-game soul test, brought to you by STAB, the Soul Testing Administration for Baseball. This time they're showin' us the Pixar movie Up. Satan has us all prepped, so we knew the first ten minutes leave people with…
Are You Warm, My Daughter?
Was she a wicked stepmother? I've asked myself that question a thousand times, and the truth is that I just don't know. My memories of her are a child's memories, and to a child she seemed cruel and all-powerful. But she was neither. She was a young woman who grew up poor,…
Blackwater Sound
The sun was below the horizon and dusk quickly fading as Lee Cortez pulled his truck off the road into the gravel parking strip separating Highway 1 from the quiet depths of Blackwater Sound. He yanked a ratty camp chair from the truck bed then went back to the front. He…
Haunted
"Your infestation report, ma'am." The pimply young technician extended a manilla envelope. Phil, declared the embroidered name tag on his Supernatural Pest Control shirt. Mabel tossed her hair--a shade of red found nowhere in nature--and accepted it with a brittle laugh. "Please…
In Crimson, In Moonlight
It's mutual when the werewolf and the moon break up. They box up the cabin they shared together. Pack their separate cars together. Grey-haired with eyes gleaming silver, the moon is off to the city, because all light is welcome in the never-dark: she'll find a place among the…
Vs. The Giant
The Giant squats, like an unlovely boulder, in the barley-field by the village. The villagers have tried everything to get rid of him. They have run at the Giant in a mob, stuck hay-forks and scythe-points into his calves. They have set his rude tunic on fire. They have rigged a…
Zombie Elixir
The zombie apocalypse started and ended in Atlanta. Most people blamed the outbreak on the CDC--an experimental pandemic drug gone wrong. But no one could have anticipated that a beverage company would save the day. That's where I worked, as a food sciences chemist in product…
Five Visits to the Smallest Closet in the Imperial Capital
One You aren't told much, only that His Imperial Highness is cold and to grab a spare blanket from the nearby closet. They neglect to tell you the closet door is paneled identically to the rest of the wall, practically invisible. You search for several minutes before finally…
Thirst Trap
Cara sits in the hotel restaurant, laptop open and back to the wall so that no one will see she is photoshopping scantily clad pictures of herself. She looks hot in all of them, but they still need some polish before she uploads them to her dating profile. There is only one…
The Faces and the Masks
In every labyrinth in Vraszan stand the Faces and the Masks. They differ in their materials: some wood, some clay, some metal, some stone. They differ in their details, though the general appearance is the same: the abundant petals of the Face of Roses, the shattered pieces of…
Rocking Chair
Don't get up, little sister. Please. Please don't stop rocking. I can only talk by the creaks. That's part of the curse. What curse? The one from our nurserymaid, silly. The new one with funny pink hair. I could've been a frog, if I hadn't stomped my foot when she said she'd…
The Gang Assembles
I tried to sneak out of the attic under cover of the air raid sirens, but a cold little hand grabbed mine and wouldn't let go. I couldn't have Precious wake up the others, so we tiptoed downstairs. Precious was dressed in every layer she had and wore shoes. That meant she'd…
The Missionary
I was caught almost as soon as I arrived in Bavaa. I knew my eventual arrest was certain, but I had hoped to win a few converts first. But the Bavaas began mocking me as soon as I started singing the name of the One Musician. And when I declared that there were no other gods but…
Helpful Truths For the Chosen One Who Has Returned Home
* It's ok to mourn. You lost something very important. I'm not talking about your magic lantern, or your friends, or even access to that world. I'm talking about certainty. Destiny means guarantees, and there aren't a lot of those in this world. It's ok to grieve for what you…
How to Find Your Happily Ever After
Before you try on the slipper, think about what's really going on here. Do you honestly want to marry a man who can't even recognize your face? A man so desperate for a bride that he'd haul a shoe around the entire kingdom? That isn't romantic, and it really takes you out of the…
In the Enchanted Forest
Thick as Honey was the one who discovered the man in the glass coffin. She was on her way to the mines with her six dwarven sisters, but decided to cut through the forest to check on her clay pits She had a pottery project she wanted to work on, and she wondered if the pits were…
Prognostiqueso
Callie's grandmother had made a practice of reading the future in tea leaves. Callie did the same in leftover crumbs of cheese. Her careworn store, The Once and Future Cheese Shop, was intimate, with space for a few tables before broad windows that looked onto Main Street. That…
The Tempest in the Glasswork
Dr. Bell swept through the shop door in a huff. Winter winds swirled his coattails and scarf, and snowflakes danced all around him. His eyes darted over ships in bottles, glass-orb terrariums, and ant farms, before landing on the shopkeeper, Madame Delia. She squinted at him,…
In Pictures of Gunmetal Gray
*********Editor's Note: Disturbing, adult story follows********* Willa always told me that to get realistic sketches, you have to draw what you see, rather than what you think you see. Nowhere is that truer than in the courtroom. I'm shoved in the third row of the gallery, my…
The Alchemies of Time
When the new king was crowned, and the feast finished, his court gathered around him and asked him what he believed to be the largest threat the kingdom faced, and he told them: Time. Time, he said, will do more damage to us than any invader, than any war. Time will ruin us and…
The Truth about Storks
I wager you've heard a lot about storks. Because of course you have. Everyone loves a stork. If you're hoping for a baby but can't get pregnant, just keep the windows open wide. Wait for the night a stork flies in, carrying some moonlit surprise, swaddled in a blanket and held…
Future Tense
Mom starts haranguing me about the fight before I even start breakfast. "How is your first day of high school, John?" she says as she pushes a glass of water and some aspirin in my direction. I take the pills and rub bleary eyes. Breakfast complete. "Fine." "Nothing exciting or…
Excavation
Eyes aglow, you tell me where the dragon is buried; so early one morning, before the autumn has waned like the moon, we go to dig it up. You are more excited than I am, brightly singing as you walk, lamp already lit, shovel swinging in your hand, and your smile, your radiant…
The Ten Most Common Trickster Scams
We live in a time of Tricksters, both in our encounters with the fae, and in ill-advised deals with the devil. The wise should always guard against hidden terms and conditions. For a full and updated list of Trickster* Scams, follow the link to Witch? Below are the perennial…
Music for the End of Days
The End of Days has come. The flyers told us. They rained down on us, a paper blizzard that clogged waterways and oceans. END OF DAYS, or its equivalent in every language on Earth. And on the reverse side: It's happening. By now, of course, nothing techno worked except, clearly,…
Four Pieces of Advice on the Selection of a Familiar
Choose the Prettiest One "Oh, you simply must get a butterfly," Eudora says, bouncing a bit as she speaks, her dress swishing about her feet. "Or perhaps a bird. One of those ones with all the colorful feathers. Can they sing, do you suppose? They must." "Of course," I agree.…
To the Graduating Class of '22
Decorative sabers and top hats. It was not an internationally popular graduation dress, but Hans Gutenberg had seen a century's worth of pictures of boys like him getting ready to face the world dressed to the nines. "We're going out in style," Lillian Geissman whispered. It was…
Hungry
A cropped band concert t-shirt. Sleeves torn off. Cut in half. Hair spiked up. Fish nets and a jean skirt. She's hungry. The clap of heeled boots on the pavement. The puff of cold breath, short staccato bursts as she walks. The night smells metal and fried, the grease of French…
Almost Real
"My dog ate my homework!" Hiroshi blurts out, and his nose grows. Long enough for several birds to perch on it. Dr. Sakai examines his latest invention. Even up close, Hiroshi's synthetic skin looks real. "If you want to be a real, live boy, you'll have to do better than that,"…
Departure
I sat on the bed and watched my slender, curly-headed, seventeen-year-old brother Darwin pack a suitcase. He was leaving the farm. People under eighteen never did that unless they were cast out. Darwin had many gifts. He could gentle animals, find water, and coax plants to…
The Tyrant's Statue Is Still Falling
The tyrant's statue is still falling. It has such a long way to go. There are miles from the uppermost clouds of the gas giant to its core. It will topple for quite a while. It felt almost as long as the struggle to remove the tyrant from power. We had had to hide low in the…
The Decision
It was midday when the witchfinder arrived at the cottage of the woman who lived on the edge of the woods. As he and his men approached, walking up the short path that split off from the winding road to the village, they found her sitting at a spinning wheel outside on the…
Table For One
Amalda dodged heavy snowflakes as she flew towards the cafe. The cafe door was slowly closing behind a centaur and she managed to zip through before it shut. More places should have a fairy door, she thought as she shook the snow off her wings. Just her luck that, on the day she…
Number of Americans Swept into Oz Rises to Unprecedented Levels
An Oz News Network Report Concerns are growing among the community over dozens of recent arrivals in Munchkin Country. A local resident, who agreed to be interviewed on condition of anonymity, described the newcomers as "overwhelmingly overconfident, overweight, and…
Fairy Godmothers Deserve Love Too
The princess stared at me in horror. "You've been thirty for how long?" I tapped my magic wand against the layers of my fluffy gown, sending puffs of magic into the air. "I'm not sure. I lost count after a while. Probably about five hundred years." "I'm so sorry. What a curse!…
Deus X
You squirm on the altar, hands bound behind your back, lashed to a golden column topped by the Great One's fierce, fanged features. When your God arrives, His crimson wings beat like thunder, shaking the temple to its core. You gasp, braced for teeth and talons to sever meat…
The Ghastly Tale of Princess Lamia
"No," the princess scowls. "How about this one?" I flash her the picture that accompanies the story: a classic damsel, pale-faced and floaty-dressed, chained to rocks, twisting away from a dragon's flames as a Prince in shining armor-- "Definitely no." Her little arms crossed…
The Apples
It takes the servants several days to make their way to the storerooms. They blame it on the tragedy (not that the servants regard it as entirely a tragedy, but they know better than to say that out loud) and the resulting chaos: after all, they cannot enter the storerooms…
Paw and Prejudice
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single human in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a cat. However little known the feelings of views of such a human may be on their first entering a neighborhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the feline…
Under the Raging Sky
The storm clouds are gathering, the sky is glittering, and still Della bakes. The folding of the dough as she shapes each bread loaf is familiar, the stretch and spring of it a comfort against her hands. The roar of the wind means that the others are battening down the hatches;…
A Song for Looking Back, a Song for Looking Forward
Luis hid from the piano for nearly three weeks after Abuela's funeral. It was easy enough, at first. It was in her bedroom, and nobody had any reason to go in there--least of all him. Without her reminders, neither Mami nor Papi would notice if he didn't practice. But as the…
What We Know and What You Can Do about the Troubling Rise of Werepandaism
Darkness and uncertainty obscure the origin of the werepanda phenomenon. Another layer of confusion stems from the existence of certain trademarked gamer-world characters--the bi-pedal, flesh-eating, Chaucer-reciting monsters that first person shooters must defend the planet…
Random Acts of Magic
Sadie is playing in the sandbox at the park the day she casts her first spell. "Mommy, look!" she cries, her chubby five-year-old fingers sticky with crumbs of clumped sand. "I did magic!" Mommy looks at Sadie's castle: the moat, the ramparts, the pennants snapping in the wind.…
Never to Behold Again
Beauty is a consumable thing. We eat it with our eyes, wear it down with our gazes. A sunset or a flower may take our breath away because we see it for so short a time; the next day the flower has wilted, and the next evening's sunset is not the one we saw before. But everyone…
20 Signs Your Neighbor Might Be a Mummy
1. Their Instacart deliveries include unusual amounts of toilet paper. 2. All the stray cats in the neighborhood flock to their yard. 3. A low hum emanates from their house due to the amount of dehumidifiers constantly running. 4. Their garbage bin is full of used bandages. 5.…
The Dark Fairy's Confession
"Why did you do it? Were you really so angry?" "I wasn't angry." "Then why curse the girl?" "Because she asked me to." Magic is complicated. It exists in the same way the space between waking and sleeping does, when you're perched on a precipice of impossibility, and there is…
Junior Year
Two weeks into junior year, Caleb decided to confront Mary Cooper. Things had changed over the summer. School had always seemed like a tedious eternity stretched out before him. But now, it was basically over. When people asked what he was going to do next summer or after…
Master Carver Builds A Debtors' Prison
Itzak paid very precise attention to Master Carver's instructions. He had apprenticed for the man long enough to know that his master demanded particular detail. For all Carver's love of anarchy, he still loved order and harmony within his own work. The apprentice knew all the…
The Last Passenger
The skiff had almost forgotten its purpose. Crossing the Styx, back and forth. Or was it the Acheron? The skiff wasn't sure it mattered. The River of Pain and the River of Woe had no effect on wood that could feel neither. Once, souls had thronged the river's banks, leaving…
When It Pours
Kelly ventured out of her apartment only because the day's luck rating was extraordinarily high. The weatherman's baritone voice played in her head: "Folks, we're looking at record luck levels today, with a high of 92 and a low of 89. If you're feeling lucky, there's a reason!"…
Infinite Ripples In A Single Pool
Dragons are the most magical beings of all. Neither you nor the king consider what this means when you put a spear through the throat of the last dragon, and it chokes to death on its own hot fire and acid-tinged blood. In the last and therefore most perfect universe, you walk…
The Messenger
He knows he did the right thing. Knows it. The queen has told him. The king has told him. One look at the child--sobbing at first, but later playing with his toys--tells him that. The little man--hardly a man, really, some sort of demon--deserved it, after all he had done, and…
Smile More
Margaret Vine could make anyone do anything if she just looked into their eyes. The fear of her own power made her sick, so she only practiced in mirrors. It began with silly things that she thought couldn’t matter to anyone but her. Perhaps, Margaret believed, she could shape…
The Seven
Happy was happy, Grumpy was grumpy, and so on and on. These weren't their actual names, of course, but nicknames they gave to themselves depending on mood. More and more often now, for instance, the one once named Happy was known as Sadsack. And Grumpy, more and more often,…
What To Expect When Your Daughter Returns from Neverland
1. You will need to lie to the police. "She was camping with relatives," you'll mumble. "They thought she had permission. I'm so sorry for wasting your time." They'll never know how she's changed, how the sun has browned her and the baby fat has melted away. They won't need to…
Commuting
The 8.05 am train still had the sticky residue of its last victim plastered across the floor of the front carriage as it pulled into the station, exactly on time. Lucy stepped forward as the doors slid open, but hesitated as she detected a whiff of fresh brimstone. Pressure from…
Flesh of my Fin
After my father passed away my mom sat me down in her kitchen and told me she was going to go live in the ocean. She was a mermaid, she said, but she'd stayed in her human form all these years for mine and my father's sake. Now, with dad dead and me grown, she'd be returning to…
A Stirring of Wings
Occasionally, the castle shifts in the night. Not that anyone could perceive such a tiny motion, you understand, but I can hear it. The sound sits somewhere between a weary creak and a desperate sigh. Nestled high on its hill, Castle Adjura is dark and muted now, home to nary a…
The Devil You Don't Know
The devil showed up last night. Not in person. In a dream. I guess that's the way it's done these days. I'm sure it's a big time-saver. And it wasn't The Devil, it was a devil. Just a minor cog in a much bigger machine, putting in his hours before going off to do whatever devils…
Werewolf
I have a secret to tell. Normally, I run free with my pack, but I do not howl at the full moon like my brothers and sisters. Instead, I run deep into the forest, where no territory is marked. There, my coarse fur falls out, my teeth dull, and I am exposed as the soft, weak…
Evil Queen's Lament
It's no one's fault. It's mere biology. Men can sire children at a hundred, while women's fertility wanes with each passing year. So I do what I can to preserve any semblance of youth. I avoid the sun. I bathe in ass's milk. I would inject poison into the delicate creases of my…
The First Drowning
"Do the drownings get better?" I ask Amber. She weaves her fingers together, shakes her head down toward her hands. "It fades a little, you know? Becomes routine, just another part of everything." At sixteen, I'm old to be having my first drowning. I've been sheltered so far by…
I Mean, It's No Extra Parked Vehicle
Melanie is a ghost detective. She works for the HOA to catch undetectable violations of the rules. Today, for instance: the table rattles. The lights blast out. Who is it? It seems to be someone you lost? Maybe somebody whose name begins with J? They will tell you whose cat has…
Leaf Piles
At dusk, Anna went outside and grabbed a rake. The leaves weren't going to rake themselves. It was Halloween. She dreaded the annual influx of goblins and witches and ghosts demanding tribute. Maybe if she mounded the leaves up in a barrier wall, the monsters would skip her…
The Old Man and the Angel
The old man and the angel sit in silence, waiting for the sun to rise over the ocean. As the cloudless, indigo sky gives way to burning oranges and reds that spread across the horizon, the old man sighs and shakes his head. "So beautiful..." he murmurs. "It is," the angel…
How to Win a Dragon's Heart
"See you next visit," Rtl'en called to his customer. Rtl'en is a dragon, which, yeah, of course. No one but a dragon has a name like Rtl'en in Mineskeep, and no one but a shapeshifting dragon has the scaly pattern of dusky purple on their human-shaped cheeks, forehead, and…
Hero
I was still a young woman in my thirties. An expert at the sword; a dabbler in enchantments. Someone lucky or unlucky enough to be the one to dig the princess out of the rubble that day when the old world fell and the rest of the royal family was killed. Someone lucky or unlucky…
The Red Queen
"I've come to say goodbye, old friend," Princess Cardena said to the unicorn. The sunlight made the creature's white flank sparkle. Oh? The unicorn said. You are going away? "No. But I am to be married." Cardena blushed, not wishing to speak plainly of how she'd soon no longer…
Fairytale Speedrun Any, Wizardless
Any Rules: Reach the ever after (happiness not required), no wizard magic, no other rules. Note: Load times may vary by language of story Rapunzel Select point of view as father and jump roll from window straight into garden. Grab two fistfuls of rampion while making noise to…
The Doors in the Castle
All the doors in the castle were tired of being opened and closed, without so much as a by-your-leave, without even a thank you. From the grand portcullis to the lowliest privy door, they were tired of being taken for granted. They were tired, they were fed up, and they were…
And the Tale Unchanging
This is the tale, as it has been every year. The flowers, red and dark as blood and stinking of earth, swell up from the ground, trembling against the wind. I caress them, or seize them, or bend down to sniff the earth as the petals reach up for my face. At that touch, he…
The Frog Prince's Reluctant Bride
Sometimes, no matter what you do, you end up with a Prince. Even when you aren't looking for one. Sometimes the shoe fits. Sometimes the poisoned apple is dislodged at just the wrong moment and sometimes that frog; the nasty one that keeps creeping into your bedroom at night,…
The Mirror Merchant's Tales
By law and tradition, everyone in the city of Malshennes carried a mirror at all times. The inhabitants of the city handed their fancy mirrors down from generation to generation. Frequent traders to the city would carry extras in their mule trains to re-use each time they…
The Widow
Behind her, she heard the rear door splinter. "You're back," she said. "Back from the grave to console the widow?" There were only shuffling noises in the darkness. "I wish I could say it's good to see you," she said. "But I can't. I can't see anything. As you darn well know."…
On the Other Foot
So, it's quarter to closing at Royals Shoe Emporium, and this orange Mustang sweeps into the parking lot, scattering dead leaves and field mice. The car's subwoofers toss a bass line carelessly at our window, and our mannequins tremble with every slap and thump. I can't hear all…
Why I Threw an Apple
The simplistic answer is because I was, rightly, irritated that they didn't invite me to the wedding. Hence I threw the golden apple to cause trouble. And kindly note my superlative success. The resulting squabble between those three stuck-up bitches, Athena, Aphrodite, and…
Manna from Heaven
The overlords drop our food from the sky. We never know where the packets will land, or how they fall undamaged. Our daily activities include a search for our meals. If we raise our voices in hymns and chant our prayers loudly, we may even receive fresh fruit. Once we worshipped…
Hidden in Her Wild Red Eyes
At dawn on the first day of spring, I wake to the clamor of the gentlemen leaving the city on their horses, the morning sun glinting on the bright barbs of their hunting spears and the iron talons of their giant hawks. It is late afternoon by the time their triumphant bugles…
Seven Reasons your Blind Date is staring at the Mysterious Iron Ring on Your Hand
1. It marks you as a member of the ancient secret society which is sworn enemies with his. Soon the ground will open and drop you both into the ancient sacred dueling grounds, deep in the hollow chasms and catacombs beneath this city's false skin, and you will draw the enchanted…
Request Letter from Orpheus to Pluto
Date: VII Mensis Sextilis MMMXXI From: Orpheus Musician, Poet Employee No. 230125 To: Pluto Executive Manager Underworld, Tier 1 Subject: Request for Salary Increase Dear Master Pluto, I would like to request an increase in my salary. I understand that you rejected my first…
Knights and Knaves
It had been a busy day for the Guardian of the First Door; no fewer than three heroes had come his way. That was often how it happened, though. Centuries could pass with barely a tomb raider to break the monotony, then some king or other would set a quest and suddenly,…
Waking an Old God
The dark stretches in all directions, soft and silent and eternal. Then, uncurling, unfurling like a trembling first leaf of spring, not even tipped in green but translucent and pale and so delicate, something disturbs this peace. Peace like a crypt, lonely and vast. It tastes…
Just Try It
"I don't want to," I told my younger sisters. I punched my frustrations out on the bread dough, then folded it into itself on the floured board, and kneaded. "Come on, Lila. What would it hurt?" asked my sister Stray. She was sitting at the kitchen table, shelling peas into a…
How to Find Yourself in a Fairy Tale
Find yourself desperate for a child. Find yourself willing to do whatever it takes, including and especially, lie to your spouse. Know, in your heart, in the place where your heart will be once you hold your child in your arms for the first time, that achieving this desire will…
The Bravest Thing My Dad Did for Me
The bravest thing my dad ever did for me was wave to me from the kitchen window. As a child, I didn't realize the courage it took for that heavy brown curtain to be pulled back, for that pale hand to wave even though the sun was already in the sky. If anything, I was annoyed by…
There Are No Guards at the Borders of Faerie
There are no guards at the borders of Faerie. No one will ask for your passport, or if you have anything to declare. You won't have to take off your shoes, place your laptop in a separate container, and stand--arms raised--inside a scanner that bathes your whole body with…
With Grace
She is his cousin, as far as kinship is concerned. But for all other social purposes (and there are many of these), she is something, and he is nothing. It is striking, then, that the invitation to the Grande Ball gets delivered to him. No big deal, he knows she is thinking, it…
Blood Blister
I was in a social bubble with a vampire. His name was--is--William Sadler. No European Count, he. No ancestral castle lurking in the rain-shrouded mountains of Carpathia. Wills was an Essex vampire, though he'd moved away when the neighborhood got reputable, a century and a half…
Meat Off the Bone
There was a myth about mermaids: if you ate their flesh you would live forever. Whenever the men of the village caught a mermaid, they would cut out chunks of her tail and eat it raw as she flopped and screamed upon the deck. They'd carve enough for themselves and their family…
When the Moon Is Full
When there's a full moon, my girlfriend gets hairy, her teeth get longer, she grows a snout, and kissing is nearly impossible. Even though her hands haven't yet become paws, she drops to all fours and jumps around the apartment--sofa to coffee table to big padded chair to…
Feeding Hungers
Now that she'd won the dragon, Clara had no idea what to do with it. She hadn't wanted to win, really. She'd just wanted to make sure the duchess lost. The duchess had made a disparaging remark about Clara's shoes at the midwinter ball, and Clara had never forgotten the slight.…
The Surviving Twins
"They won't survive for long," the midwife said quietly after closing the door. Helmuth grew chalk-white: "Are... are you sure, good mother? I was certain they were such fine children... The eldest was so healthy-looking, plump and with red cheeks." "That's exactly what I'm…
Monster under the Bed
The hairy creature under Kevin's bed did not consider himself to be impatient. He knew how to lie in wait as well as the next monster. But, he grumbled to himself, this kid would not go to sleep! It was after ten o'clock, for crying out loud! The dust balls under Kevin's bed…
Halfers
Dear Anna, This is the first letter I've ever written you, and it'll be my last. There's no other way of telling you what I have to say without endangering myself and my family. And anyway, I couldn't bear your look of revulsion if I told you in person. You probably won't…
Lamplighted
The genie appeared in a plume of ethereal smoke, as genies often do. I wished for riches--and piles of money appeared, along with precious gems. I wished for love--and a foxy harem winked into existence. I wished for world peace. My phone bleeped with an alert blared: "World…
The Old Woman and the Tea
When the soldiers arrive, the old woman is waiting. "Sit down, sit down," she urges them, gesturing with her free hand. There are cushions spread on the floor, one for each soldier. "The tea will be ready soon." The soldiers grip their rifles. Their leader says, "Old Lady Meng,…
Ten Years In
My Dearest Lahar, I'm afraid I must confess, I've done something irreversible. Before you make assumptions, let me just explain. There was a time, which barely seems like yesterday, when I could hardly take my eyes off you. You barely knew that I was there, but from behind the…
A Garden of Snakes and Stone
The men who tried to kill her were content to see her as a trophy, yet objected to their materialization under her stony gaze. History was carved by those permitted the tools, and so the stories painted a heinous monster. Lost was the truth that her gaze didn't turn all to…
When You Came Back
***Editor's Note: Adult story, includes reference to domestic violence*** When you came back, they said it was a miracle. Dead three days like Jesus in the tomb, like Lazarus you rose and walked again among the living. Where you had been and what you had seen, that was between…
Three Truths and Three Lies About Jack
******************Editor's Note: Adult Language******************** Jack's mother always told the same story when Jack asked about his dad. She wove a tale about a hero who marched through a poppy-strewn field with a sword of silver. He fought valiantly, a real hero-knight…
Cavesong
The sound echoed through the cavern. Lisa stood in the entrance, hearing it. Entrance. Entranced. Not the same word, but in some ways they might as well be. Because she was going in and she wasn't. She couldn't. But the music called to her, it called to her and even when she…
Friendship Is Magic
After a long night of vampire slaying, Helen was looking forward to some team-building with her TV. She showered and changed into her comfy home clothes, pink sweats with cute animals on them. What should she binge-watch to settle herself down and get ready to sleep the day…
Preface to "Monster Hunter"
I was five years old when I met the monster under my bed. First I heard a muffled shuffling, like the noise the neighbor's dog made turning in a tight tail-chasing circle before he settled down for a nap. But we didn't have a dog. I clutched my stuffed rabbit, Sister Resistance,…
Portrait of a Lady Vampire
As the artist gave the canvas its final brush strokes, Lady Isabella sat frozen in the regal pose she wanted immortalized. She'd held that position since the Moon had risen into the night. Any discomfort would be worth it, though, if Genevieve could capture her essence. She…
The Princess Gets to Choose
You first notice the spots when you take off your glasses and stare at your nose closely in the mirror. They're not very big or very dark, but there they are--indisputable proof of the fact that you're aging, and that perhaps you've spent too much time in the sun. If you were an…
So We Did
The gods told us to wake, so we did. Eyes open. Fists unfurling. We looked up to see these powerful creatures beaming down at their new creations, ready to show us the world. The gods told us to speak, so we did. The invention of languages, such a bizarre thing. Tongues…
In My Tower
Don't believe the songs you've heard. Don't think I'm languishing in this stone tower, combing my golden tresses, waiting for a prince to come. They came. Three princes in all. The first prince rode up when I was twelve years old, young enough that I still yearned for the world…
Ali Knows the Future
Their four-year-old daughter came home from school saying, "Ali knows the future." Her father, Bruce Palimani, busy forming meatballs for dinner, said, "No one knows the future, my heart." The next day, or a few days later, Sandy let her hands drop to her lap while practicing…
Final Warnings in Open Fields
1. Plants want you dead. Don't waste time wondering why they turned against us. It is what it is. 2. There are no more herbicides. Fire has failed us against living plants. You are gardeners now, our first and only line of defense. 3. Make certain your suits are fastened and…
Pining For My Demons
*****Editor's Note: Disturbing Story, Mature Issues***** I miss my demons. Devin says he likes the new me, the warmest L-word he's willing to employ these days. He dares to take me out now, to sit next to me in the opera house, where the merest cough is frowned upon; to treat me…
What's in a Name
The name collection started as insurance. The elder witch got by on dribbles of her power. She played the part of the doddery old healer, the minor magician. She peddled tinctures and told her neighbors to call her Granny Burdock, or just Granny, please. The villagers introduced…
The Day Before the Wall Street Inferno
"Dragons are more dangerous than they used to be. Unpredictable," Kline says. "We need to upgrade our fire-resistant windows." "Fire resistant windows." I check another box on my clipboard. "Yes, sir." "And double steel doors," Kline says, pacing the length of his office. The…
Safe as Houses
Our bed isn't ours tonight. Two people who are not us occupy it. When they reach out, their touch sinks right into us. They might as well have run us through with a sword as we gasp and howl to rival the wind. The couple in our bed sit bolt upright. "Honey, did you hear that?"…
Things Remembered At Thirty Thousand Feet Above Sea Level
1. A pair of hand-knit red gloves. 2. My mother's face. 3. Posing for a commemorative photo on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, with windburned cheeks and a smile that was already wearing thin with grief. Saving the photo and printing what felt like a thousand copies. 4. A…
The Day After the Rapture
Well, it didn't quite happen the way they thought it would. I mean, there were no bodies of the faithful wafting up to heaven in a golden light. No, it was much more subtle. Here and there, one by one, or sometimes in threes, the bodies were taken down, actually; to be laid into…
The Plowshare
O gather, youth of my master, and hear my tale. That's how these stories always start, as I recall from the bards. Yes, many a bard sang songs of me, for I was once the mightiest blade in the land. No, 'tis true! I look like a humble farming implement now, but I was forged into…
Philosophy 101
Charles was a philosophy professor at a small liberal arts college. He prepped for the afternoon lecture on the problem of evil. This was always a fun topic, especially considering that he was an atheist. "Now why is there evil in the world, if God is all-powerful, all-knowing,…
Shadows on a brick wall
"They are very new, you know," he said. "Like those butterflies that sat on black trees. Because of the coaldust and smoke. Moths. Whatever. So they turned dark themselves." He was trying to charm me, calling me "love" and touching my elbow at every third word. He was also…
Stepsister
She finds a husband for me within the month. Not a prince, of course. One such misalliance is bad enough; two would be unthinkable. But a baron--more than I might have been expected to wed on my own. A moneyed baron, I am assured, even if at this court the word moneyed is so…
Selection
It has been a while since my wife was Raptured. Happened right there in the grocery store lot. One minute, we were deciding whether the cola should go in the trunk or on the back seat, and the next she was ten feet in the air and gaining momentum. We always buy too much when we…
Magic Rules Zero Through Four
Rule 0. Magic works. But few people believe in it. A half-dozen students awaited their teacher in a secluded garden. The sorcerer, they thought, would be an elderly man with a long white beard and wise, sad eyes. Instead, a carefree young woman strolled in, wearing a fashionable…
That Boy in the Picture
"We talked about you in class today grandpa," I said. The colored parts of his eyes widened like a submerged marble surfacing in a cup of milk. Interested, maybe annoyed. "We got to the chapter in our history book about the Great Wizard War." I didn't mention that his name only…
Magical Companion Applicant #2251, or "Maggie"
"Sir, is this place a joke to you?" The young man was not chuckling. The corgi tucked under his arm looked even less amused than Magical Animal Control Officer Adelaide Wilson felt. "I'm just trying to get my magical companion registered," said the man. Adelaide looked at the…
The Telepath's Reading Material
As a skill, reading is interesting. It takes a while to learn, and at the beginning it requires focus, repetition, and preferably a teacher. Once you do get the basics down, it's hard to forget--so long as you practice now and then, you can read just about anything. But with…
Damnation
**********warning: Disturbing, ambiguous, adult story. violence.*********** I am a monster. The thought hits me as my fist hits her face. Skin to skin, bone to bone. She stumbles to the floor. She cowers and tries to disappear in a corner. But I still see it, beneath the bruises…
Hunted
"My loyal huntsman," the Queen purred. The Huntsman began to sweat beneath his uniform. He stood straight, then bowed low. "Your Majesty." "So skilled at your trade. You've brought me everything I've asked for. Even the heart of my stepdaughter." The Huntsman knelt to the cold…
The Gaze
The thing about being a girl is this: you are far, far more likely to be chosen. Darius says the fates decide. But no one can ignore the fear in our leader's eyes on the day of choosing. No one can ignore his rabid relief when a girl's name is drawn for the yearly sacrifice. On…
The Wealth of Dragons
From where he hid behind the boulder, Sir Karl already saw the dragon in slumber. He imagined such vast wealth beneath that bulk. And soon he'd liberate it from the dragon's greed. He rose, sword at ready, and he crept closer to the recumbent beast. He halted, though, as soon as…
Economic Principles of the Zombie Apocalypse
People Face Trade-offs I face the PizzaPlace manager, Bennigan, who's pointing his instrument at my head. He pulls the trigger. It beeps. "98.6." Normal, non-zomb range. We make the trade: one timecard for one pizza. One hour when I should be studying for my Econ exam in…
The Shepherd
There is one problem about being an immortal vampire that you never read about... you can't feed off your own descendants. I was turned when I was the father of seven healthy children, five of whom lived to marry and have children of their own. Back in the middle ages, people…
The Mirrors of Her Eyes
Mine is not the face of evil. It is more of a rotten toadstool of a face, after fifteen years of my twin's hard living. Too much jowl, teeth decayed to stinking pulp, lips cracked with venereal sores. His face, naturally, is still a fresh sheet of paper. I am a servant, of a…
One Man's Trash
"Got any tax-deductible donations for the Visit, Mr. Smith?" asked Elvis. "You know the drill. Perishables, recyclables, anything you don't need." Smith craned his neck back into the house. "Son, go to the attic and bring down all those unopened electronics." He returned his…
An Ever After Diverged
I met you at the edge of the yellow woods, while you were speaking sweetly to the robins and squirrels. You weren't handsome, but your smile was kind, and kindness was a novelty so rarely encountered. My whole life I'd been seen as contagious, a bad luck seer who brought only…
Three Wishes
"And this is the room in which the Cantor Gregory invented the hat...." Elizabeth had suspected for most of the morning that their tour guide was making it up as she went along. This latest one-step-too-far factoid seemed to confirm it. She glanced around the rest of the tour…
The Modern Witch's Recipe for Enemy Pie
For the crust: 1 sleeve Graham crackers, crumbled 3/4 stick (6 tbsp) butter, melted 1/4 cup ashes, sifted to remove any fragments of bone For the filling: 4 eggs, separated 1 14-oz can sweetened, condensed milk 1/3 cup sheer bile, distilled 1/4 tsp cinnamon 1 word, THE word, the…
On The Measurement Of Existential Truth
The story has, I fear, been much mangled in translation. But I will try. First, Gepetto was a physicist, not a carpenter. I have noticed that your culture often attributes the job of "carpenter" to visionaries it does not understand. My second point has to do with the nature of…
Last Laugh
I have heard no tales about who sealed the gods, or how, or why. No tales about how it happened, how each member of the pantheon, from the greatest to the smallest, was sealed away in a bead of gray stone threaded on a braided leather cord. The tales all begin later, after the…
Murky Waters
As the ruined ship settled on the ocean floor it sent eddies of silt swirling, creating a grimy underwater mist. The anglerfish swam through the cloud, curious as to what caused such a mighty ship to sink so deep. It found the answer when it spotted a siren watching from a…
Visitation Rites
She pretended to brush the doll's hair. What once had a synthetic blonde luster was now wiry and faded. The girl, by contrast, did not even look all of her seven years. She was small for her age. She always would be. "I could get you a new one," he suggested, sitting…
Onboarding Practices for the Ravaging Horde
Well met! In the following new employee rune book you will find everything you need to transition into your new role as a productive team-member of Grundar's Ravaging Horde. Welcome to your new and glorious purpose! While Grundar alone is destined to rule, the bloodstone diadem…
Sisyphus and Jane Austen
Out of nowhere, the gods altered my punishment. A woman replaced my boulder, and I watched her roll. "Why are you here?" I said. "For a laugh." Her hair was the color of honey and almonds. I felt so hungry. My boulder had been altered a number of times. The gods had made it…
The Monsters Which Must Be Slain To Save The Kingdom And Set Things Right
The farmgirl creeps deep into the cave, so far below ground she must've passed into the nether worlds long ago. She doesn't turn back even when she can no longer see her fingers in the darkness in front of her or the pitchfork they're clenching. She doesn't tremble even when her…
Black Snow
Black snow, the same black as the night sky. Lilly shivers, not because of the cold, not because dagger blades are seeking shelter inside her bare feet. It is just the drug withdrawal, much less poetic. "Not to worry," she thinks. "He will provide." Father Christmas will deliver…
Second Chances
Hunched over her cane, hidden behind people, she stared ahead at the girl, happily jotting her name down in books. Plagued by memories of failed attempts, and drunken stupor, she stepped forward in line, pushing the book she'd burned six years after publishing it, over. "What…
Spin
Fairy tales hardly ever come true for quiet girls! That's the slogan of Happily Ever After Inc., a PR firm for all of your fairy tale needs! Bring us your straw and we will spin it into gold! Want testimonials? Consider some of our most famous clients and their success stories.…
A Thousand Bites. And One
A feast loomed on the sagging oak table, but Manda's mind was on her impending doom. Her mouth watered at the rising steam off the verdaki carcass, the aroma of fresh-baked pila fluff. Jewels of fresh kharma root beckoned, swift-melting mousses tempted, her childhood…
Talorian the Fair
Talia was ten and two when she sheared her hair with a kitchen knife, bound her budding breasts with rags until her ribs ached, and stuffed a sock in the crotch of her father's borrowed breeches. She was the same age when her father beat her bloody with a switch and told her she…
Boughs of Holly
She hovered over the deep green leaves before deftly pricking her finger on a spiked edge. Turning it over, she found only emptiness where blood once welled. Sighing, she lifted the heavy sack and continued her ordeal. She had known, before, why the leaves were so important,…
Naughty List 4 Lyfe
The first time I caught Santa, I was ten years old. The trap was simple--you'd think someone with Santa's reputation would have seen it coming a mile away, but nope. Hook, line, and sinker; or should I say, milk, cookies, and an unsophisticated small game snare. It was never…
Naughty Children
There, I've put the final touches on you, my boy. Round ears, smiling mouth, perfect button nose. Let's hope that this time, appearances are not deceiving, and the twisted log I carved you from hasn't given me another wicked, ungrateful son. You see, Pinocchio, I made your older…
Old Age Wrestles Thor Again
Elli had been on every circuit, in various costumes. Always a heel. She was never above choking, taking people's eyes out, anything. She'd do it for free outside the ring if you were patient. She'd brought down most of the biggest faces there'd ever been, although a few…
Necronomiromcom
The Necronomiromcom: the book of dead romances, is, of course, a myth. It doesn't exist and, even if it did, you certainly wouldn't find the ancient tome buried three feet below a locked filing cabinet in the basement of a Soho antiquarian. If you did happen to stumble across…
Things to Know Before You Mount Your Dragon
Many young adventurers treasure their first flight on a dragon as a rite of passage. However, it is important to remember that flying is a privilege rather than a right. Dragons are not mere tools like swords or even wands; they are powerful magical creatures who have lives of…
Blessings for a New Age
The night had fallen quiet, the guests having long since danced and feasted and celebrated their way out of the party and into their beds. The rest of the hall was dark and still, the moonlight streaming through the windows the only source of illumination. A trio of shadowy…
Little Remarked Upon Vanishings and Disappearances
Once upon a time I was the elder sister of a girl enchanted by a ring. And I, the elder of a girl wed to a wolf or a hunter, one and the same. My mother took off her clothes and skin and ran away with a fairy king. I was lost beneath the wave of a parenthesis detailing a sea…
No Man's Neverland
The rumors spread through the German trenches: the British had deployed a new weapon after the losses in Arras. Survivors of each attack were counted in the single digits, boys who had been drafted despite not being of legal age. Most were incoherent. They spoke of a battalion…
Faust, Redux
All five candles lining the pentagram went out at once as a sulfurous odor filled the room. A tall, cloaked figure slunk out from a corner where it hadn't previously been. "Well," said the demon, "you've got me. What do you want?" The magician was stunned. He hadn't expected…
Enchanted Objects: Buy-Sell-Trade Group, YOU MUST BE APPROVED TO JOIN
NotSoEvilQueen: Magic Mirror for sale, $200 OBO Pros: Identifies potential supermodels, could be useful to someone operating a business. Cons: Beauty is a construct, reinforces the problematic status quo (PATRIARCHY). I'll definitely say I've had enough therapy by now that I…
The Apple
I knew the apple was poisoned. Foolish girl, the people whisper as I walk through the market, head high, refusing to hide inside my castle. So innocent, so trusting, so silly to take that apple and bite down. I ignore their looks of pity. They don't know what it was like. She…
How to be a Hero
Find yourself a sword. Or, if you are a farmer, you are probably a farmer, find a stick. Whack things. Like trees, not your siblings. You can whack your siblings if you want, just make sure they have sticks too--you want to be a hero. Start this young, like ten or eleven. The…
How to be a Hero
Find yourself a sword. Or, if you are a farmer, you are probably a farmer, find a stick. Whack things. Like trees, not your siblings. You can whack your siblings if you want, just make sure they have sticks too--you want to be a hero. Start this young, like ten or eleven. The…
By the Power of My Swipe
Rain battered the walls of the castle above the ancient lake, and its pointed towers shot into the night sky aiming to pierce the heavy, bulging clouds. The stronghold stood quiet and dark, except for one window, high up in the northern turret, burning with pale amber light.…
Useful Guinevere and the Bio-Mechanical Dragons of Neptunias
Guinevere deNeptunias scratched her blonde wig against the boulder she was chained to, watched the dragon approaching, and wished that she had taken up any other career in the universe. The trick handcuffs seemed tighter than usual. Her girlfriend Io had designed them to break…
Ever Since The Rapture
Ever since the Rapture, we have all become far kinder to one another. I haven't seen a trace of judgment for petty differences. Not one gay slur. No Muslim has been beaten in a long while. My trans friends are walking without fear. And I haven't been slut-shamed once. It's a…
Choices
"Choose," she says, her beauty breathtaking in the starlight. "Say that I shall be beautiful in the day, and all shall envy you for the loveliness of your wife, and a monster in the night. A monster--" her voice trembles--"that you may not even be able to touch. Or hear yourself…
Ten Secret Things You Don't Know About Closet Monster
1. You are not Closet Monster's first victim. Closet Monster has terrorized scores of other children before you. And will frighten many more after you. You are not special; Closet Monster will scare you too. 2. Closet Monster is acclaimed in the monster community. They are a…
After the Guessing
Shadows flickered in the nursery's dim light. Fiona kissed her daughter on the forehead. "Once upon a time, my father lied." The baby cooed and kicked. "He told the king I could spin straw into gold. It didn't matter that it was impossible, the king commanded that I do so, or…
All Our Secrets Thus Revealed
He phased into view in the middle of the stage, punctiliously dressed in a top hat and tails, his translucence diminishing nothing of his inscrutability. When I asked for his name, he gave only the Magnificent Benvolio, but after I untethered him from that tumbledown theatre,…
Paper Horn
The paper cone I'd taped together from an old piece of algebra homework slipped off the pony's forehead and landed in the clover at her hooved feet. Mallory laughed derisively and said, "What were you trying to do? Play unicorn?" The pony, Tulip, turned her head away, abashed,…
The Modern Woman's Guide to Navigating Your Transformation Into an Eldritch Horror of the Deep
Ah, the Transformation. It's a different journey for every woman, but make no mistake, it's a journey we all must embark on, whether we're ready or not. One minute, you're fretting about the mundane trials of middle-age, trying to soften the marionette lines turning your smile…
After the Monster
This is a story where all the crazies live. The strange, edge of town crazies, they all live. The friend who is dark and down all the time and not sure if she wants to go on, she thinks about it hard and she does dangerous things and she flirts with lines farther than pain, but…
Incarnate
Once there was a god. And that god was you. Yes, you, sweetie! It was and is and will be reborn eternally, this god. You are given form and walk among us again and again. For we have chained you. We chained you in this adorable body, we chained you with these ten itty bitty…
The Language of Wolves
Sometime around midnight, the collies started barking like war-dogs in the pasture. Daddy'd left me alone for the night and the rule was always the same: if I so much as thought I needed the gun, I'd get the gun. Pulling on my red coat and readying the shotgun, I barged into the…
Customer Feedback (Secondhand Alchemical Goods)
Dear Sir or Madam, I write to express my sternest dissatisfaction with your SoHo, Manhattan location. I stopped by to ask after a Philosopher's Stone. A stone that turns lead into gold. Simple. No questions asked. What your man gave me was a Psychologist's Stone. "This also…
Quoth The Dragon
"You have slaughtered my entire species, except for me," said the ancient dragon, leaning its head on taloned forelegs, "and now you've come to finish your genocide, and twist the tale for your so-called histories." "'I am the last of my kind,' quoth the glittering…
How to Host a Dragon in Your Castle or Lair
If you are brave enough to invite a dragon to tea, be warned: she might say yes. And now, instead of slicing cucumbers and cutting the crusts off bread, I'm roasting three sheep in an open pit and steeping nuggets of pure gold with the tea. I made a separate pot of Earl Grey for…
The Were-Raptor and the Seamstress Robot
Angie and Tyler's hands touched the green-gold brass of the magic lamp at the same time. The metal was slick with creek water and they had to dig away the mud and wet moss that had half buried the lamp using their bare hands. Their fingers smeared the mud, leaving their hands…
The Dragon Queen of the Suffix County Public Library
Dara the Library Director sprouted the first scale during our weekly staff meeting, after I suggested a change to the Staff Favorites book display. We all tried not to notice, the way you try not to notice a pimple on the tip of someone's nose--you force your gaze away, but the…