Archive for Fantasy
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FIRE AND BRIMSTONE • by Heather Kuehl
11 Comments
Daniel notices me long before I notice him; he lusts after me. Wants me. I follow him, my hunger rising. I used to enjoy feeding off the desires of men, but now I do it to survive.
Fantasy, Stories
I can feel eyes on me. Looking over my shoulder as I walk, I see a woman watching me. [...]
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THE HERO AND THE HORROR • by Kevin Shamel 32 Comments
The day came lilac and hazy. Trees whispered sluggish, cotton greetings. A crow, from its high cedar perch, blasted a call to its mate three trees down.
Fantasy, Stories
I sat on the porch and watched the birds fly over–smudges reflected in my black morning mug.
Crows in my coffee. Not the best of signs.
The coming night promised a [...]
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EDWARD’S SONG • by Travis King 16 Comments
Five years of searching had paid off; finally, Edward had found his father’s killer. Now, here in this field, in a duel to the death, he would take revenge.
Fantasy, Stories
Ten minutes had passed, and Edward had been wounded twice, while his opponent remained untouched. No matter; he would press on, avenge his father’s death or die [...]
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SETTING UP SHOP IN DEVIL’S GULCH • by Robert J. Santa 16 Comments
“Good evening, sir.”
Fantasy, Stories
“Um, yesh. Are you sheeing cushtomers?”
“Yes, sir. Please come in and have a seat.”
“Thank you.”
“Haircut and a shave tonight?”
“Yesh, please.”
“And will I be doing your hands as well.”
“If you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. It’s not an uncommon request hereabouts. Are you comfortable?”
“Yesh, very.”
“Nice night for a walk, what with the full moon and [...]
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AN IMPERFECT SWORDSMAN • by Bill Ward 21 Comments
He sat rigidly, impassively, upon the cold stone of the mountain plaza–ice wind in his hair, a naked blade in his lap. He wore white silks of spotless hue. He had seen a thousand battles, had killed at least as many men, and yet his skin bore no mark for no blade had ever touched [...]
Fantasy, Stories
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HEIR TO THE THRONE • by Robert J Santa 15 Comments
The doors to the great hall crashed open, and King Bowen leapt from the throne. His fingers found Skull Splitter’s handle and slid the monstrous sword from its sheath.
Fantasy, Stories
He first saw the invader’s boot as it pounded one of his guards in the chest. The guard lost his spear and flew six–no, eight!–paces, cracking his [...]
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WING MENDING • by David Macpherson 27 Comments
Every year on VE day, it is my task to take my grandfather down to Atlantic City to blow his veteran’s pension on blackjack and the craps tables. It doesn’t take long. The cocktail waitresses flirt with his slow-moving hands and generous tips.
Fantasy, Stories
He tells them that he flew for the RAF, that’s the Royal Air [...]
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WEIGHT LOSS • by James Hartley 13 Comments
I don’t know why I should take all the grief for this. I, in common with about half of American women, just wanted to lose a few pounds–well, maybe ten or fifteen–okay, maybe twenty.
Fantasy, Stories
I’ve tried all the popular diets, Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig and South Beach and so on, ad infinitum. I’ve also bought [...]
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ONE DARK NIGHT • by Michael D. Turner 18 Comments
“Tonight,” the motley fool declared, “the King will die!”
Fantasy, Stories
“Are you sure, Farago?” Gesphas had a merchant’s caution, a merchant’s waistline and a merchant’s gold. Only his heart was that of an assassin.
“He is.” Miklos spoke with the surety of the tested general he was. “My men will secure the royal guard’s barracks a half-hour before [...]
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SMALL THINGS COME IN BIG PACKAGES • by Alice Sabo 15 Comments
Harold pulled out a bowl for his morning cereal. The edge felt lumpy. “This bowl is dirty,” he said, inspecting the crusty smear.
Fantasy, Stories
Elaine’s blood pressure started to climb. “That’s from the bottom of the stack,” she said loudly, her eyes darting to the corners of the room. “That’s from when we were using the dishwasher.” [...]
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THE WEALD MAIDEN’S WILL • by Nicholas Ian Hawkins 52 Comments
The man who carried forests in his heart stood where the trees gave way to grass and sunlight. From out of the failing shadows, he peered at the cottages in the glade. A mist of memories swirled about him, whispering that this place was once his home.
Fantasy, Stories
He could not remember what the hamlet was called; [...]
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THE JOURNEY, ARCHETYPE IN A POP SONG STRUCTURE • by Daniel Ausema 7 Comments
The family’s frightened glances wandered the spaces behind them, until a crash woke them to the danger ahead. A terror bird stalked among the shadows, its curved beak pointed their way. Irenné picked up two children and ran while Taidge grabbed their third child under one arm, his wood-ax worthless in his other hand. Claws [...]
Fantasy, Stories
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INVINCIBLE • by Steve Goble 20 Comments
Swords clashed, shields broke, bodies fell… and over it all an unholy screech pummeled warriors like a battering ram.
Fantasy, Stories
Ulf stumbled as yet another undead thing rose from the mud and clutched his ankle. Ulf’s axe swept downward, lopped through a bony arm and part of the skull, and he leapt away. He knew the thing [...]
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WAR IS OVER • by DJ Barber 8 Comments
Grimp stared at the stone walls and sighed. He scratched the itch on his long nose and looked back at the dark forest behind. No going back–that bleak wood was full of goblins and wolves and how he had ever come through undetected was quite beyond luck to Grimp’s mind. This old keep appeared deserted, [...]
Fantasy, Stories
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HAVEN • by Kevin Shamel 12 Comments
Spears of sunlight pierced the high canopy and plunged themselves into the forest floor. The floating things of the forest shone in the twisting rays of light–seedpods, and dust, and bugs flashing into the shadows.
Fantasy, Romance, Stories
Lylee tried to ignore the slow beauty of the deep grove. Blanketed by a thousand years of cedar needles, the floor [...]
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THE GORDIAN STONE • by James Enge 18 Comments
A dark crooked man was limping down a narrow twisting track when a stone said to him, “Stop.”
Fantasy, Stories
The crooked man stopped. “Why?” he asked.
“I have to be here. Why shouldn’t you be here? You know it has to be dull for me if you look interesting. Do you have any idea how many people come [...]
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THE WHEEL OF CURSES • by R. L. Copple 7 Comments
I mumbled a spell as the aged woman spun the wheel. Most avoided the wheel at the carnival, but I could use magic to make the wheel stop where I wanted. I had learned much from an old wizard before he retired.
Fantasy, Stories
I had my eye on a prize: a magic wand. Other slots on the [...]
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FAIR MET AT TWILIGHT • by Alice Sabo 15 Comments
From across the yard, it looked like a sliver of glass in the herb bed. Ellen wasn’t surprised by it. New house, new gardens, all sorts of things had surfaced during the summer. She’d found handfuls of nails under the yew bushes. Dozens of bottle caps dotted the soil as she dug the wildflower garden. [...]
Fantasy, Stories
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GHOST GUN • by Bradley Mason Hamlin 12 Comments
Gus picked up his brother’s pistol, immediately struck by the weight of the thing in his hand. He popped open the barrel, filling it full of lead ammunition and slapping the gun shut. He considered the whiskey on the bar counter. Maybe later, he thought, then walked out into the street.
Fantasy, Other, Stories
Jork, Moore, and Whistletop sat [...]
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SOLSTICE • by Lane Haygood 11 Comments
The sound of flute and pipes died away. The rhythmic thumping of hands and feet continued for a moment as the dancers spun and stepped through the final moves of the dance. The whole collected village sighed as the revelry faded.
Fantasy, Stories
There was a moment of uneasy silence, as no one wanted the Solstice Dance’s merriment [...]
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THE EXTERMINATOR • by David Macpherson 6 Comments
The young man in the old clothes was called to rhyme the rats to death. When there were too many rats in the basement to accept with a smile, folks in the neighborhood called him. He’d amble up in his worn elbows and stained pork pie hat. We kids dropped our games and play to [...]
Fantasy, Stories
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THE WICKED DEED • by Heather Kuehl 9 Comments
The fire roared around me, like some great apocalyptic monster. I kept my hand raised even though my nose had picked up the scent of charred flesh, and continued to use my magick to keep myself relatively safe. The dragon was no match for a witch on a mission and he knew it, perhaps as [...]
Fantasy, Stories
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GARDEN PESTS • by Ellie Tupper 11 Comments
“Congratulations, Greg, this is a nice place. It’s going to be good to have a family in the neighborhood again.”
Fantasy, Stories
“We were lucky. The Realtor’s a cousin of Magda’s. The house wasn’t even on the market, but she knew the owner. It’s a bit rundown, but Mags is a gardener and I like to do the [...]
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SOCKS AND BANSHEES • by Jens Rushing 17 Comments
“I wish you wouldn’t leave out your oatmeal bowls,” the young husband said to his young wife. “They attract ants. It’s really disgusting.”
Fantasy, Humour/Satire, Stories
“At least I don’t leave a dozen such oatmeal bowls hidden all over the room, under blankets and dangling over the backs of chairs–as you do with your dirty socks!” she retorted, quite [...]
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WHO COMES FOR THE MOTHER’S FRUIT • by Michael Ehart 9 Comments
Timra dabbed at her eye. It was swollen and black, reflected in the water from the cistern. Omri had loosened a tooth this time, too. Behind her she heard steps and a few stifled gasps, as the other women from the village came for the morning water and saw her kneeling there, trying to soak [...]
Fantasy, Stories
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STORM’S RISING • by Suanne Warr 14 Comments
Farren lay in the dark, listening to the quiet drip drop of the rain. He stretched, wincing at layer on layer of bruises.
Fantasy, Stories
His cot creaked as he settled on his side and listened.
There was no answering sound from his bunkmates.
He rose and placed his feet carefully, silently. He stepped to the door and looked back.
Tomas, [...]
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BAD LUCK • by Katherine Shaw 8 Comments
The sun wasn’t down yet but the sky was dim, ochre with storm clouds. Lightning stabbed at the horizon. There was no smell of rain–the rainy season wasn’t for months anyway–but the clouds might herald a sandstorm, or even a dragon’s approach.
Fantasy, Stories
In the villa court five men crouched in a circle, throwing dice. They gave [...]
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IMMORTAL TAPESTRY • by Clyde Andrews 21 Comments
“The threads of life can be so easily cut,” The Great Rainbow Serpent said. His tongue, long and quivering, lashed out to touch the weave of the tapestry of life, to sense it, to hear its many, many thoughts. “The essence will drain quickly as the wire, once twined together, separates for eternity. So fragile [...]
Fantasy, Stories
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FOR CABBAGES AND ALE • by Robert J Santa 13 Comments
“No good can come of this, Dmitry.”
Fantasy, Stories
Dmitry leaned into his wife and kissed her anxious face, once on the cheek beside her lips and once more on her eyebrow.
“I know not what else to do, dearest.” He lifted his sword away from the table and examined it. A nick on the false edge above the [...]
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GLASS • by Beth Langford 5 Comments
While Kari was married to the god of pain she never once stubbed a toe.
Fantasy, Stories
No, it wasn’t quite that. It was that she could walk into walls and only know it from the fact that, well, she sure wasn’t moving any further forward–or from the bruises after.
See, her husband never took his work home with [...]
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TELL’S CHOICE • by Steve Goble 20 Comments
The adulation, the hero worship, sickens me.
Fantasy, Stories
It has sickened me for centuries, and will sicken me for centuries to come, for I am doomed to hear the tale echo throughout eternity.
More tourists. They come to Altdorf to worship their hero. They gaze at the mighty bronze figure towering above the village square, as though they [...]
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BROOMCORN • by S. L. Bickley 10 Comments
Once there was an old woman renowned for her ability as a healer. A young man traveled many miles to seek from her a cure for the blindness in his right eye; he came by bus, for he could not see well enough to drive.
Fantasy, Literary, Stories
The woman sat him in a chair, knelt next to him, [...]
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FILIAL TIES • by Rumjhum Biswas 13 Comments
She’s gone off again to dig into the food that I saw first. She always does this. Sometimes I wish she’d buzz off someplace else. She could just pop into those huge machines these flat-eyed behemoths love to sit in when they travel, and that would be the last of her. She won’t do that, [...]
Fantasy, Stories
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STELLAR ROULETTE • by Daniel Ausema 8 Comments
Thom threw the stars, and billions of years ticked away, seeming to take forever. The universe spun around with its telltale click click click.
Fantasy, Stories, Surreal
“Check them out.” Sam pointed at the dancers, but Thom’s focus was on the spinning stars.
“Have a drink at least.”
Thom took the glass and downed the fiery liquid. Some of the stars weren’t [...]
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ANONYMOUS • by Selena Thomason 28 Comments
Princess Laurel hated her life.
Fantasy, Stories
It wasn’t that she had a wicked stepmother. Her mother was in fact very nice.
It wasn’t that she was being forced to marry an unkind prince from a neighboring territory. Her father had married for love and expected her to do the same.
Laurel knew she was lucky in many respects. She [...]
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THE THRESHOLD • by Scurvy Bastard 21 Comments
Lenny Bruce was still balling Josephine Baker in the cloakroom, so Monk had to string out his first set. I didn’t mind. Patience is the only virtue a bounty hunter like me needs. Che, the bartender, leaned over and poured another double laudanum, waving off my green. “Venceramos, baby,” he smiled, “…on the house.” It [...]
Fantasy, Stories
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THE DACUNA • by John M. Whalen 11 Comments
Thirty days becalmed. Thirty blistering days the Orion sat in the fetid waters of the Sargasso Sea. Never had Tragon of Ramura, captain of the Orion, seen the like. He looked out over the deck of the ship at his men lying parched and burned, their hands still gripping the oars they could no longer [...]
Fantasy, Stories
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SWEET REVENGE • by Suanne Warr 17 Comments
Seera stood firm, facing the serpent’s jaws with a calm face. Her black hair swept back in the breeze, her eyes held a light of their own.
Fantasy, Stories
“I forgive you,” she said.
The serpent coiled in a mass of shining purple scales. His eyes were slits of hatred. His fangs spread wide to engulf Seera.
“I forgive you.”
The [...]
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TELLER OF TALES • by Michael D. Turner 17 Comments
“Hear me, oh muse,” the teller began.
Fantasy, Stories
“Oh for crud’s sake, Ishmael, get on with it!” cried a voice from those huddled near the hearth.
“When April showers–”
“Does it have any action in it?”
“I’m bored! Let’s go watch a shadow-play instead.”
The crowd dispersed, leaving only the teller of tales and a single child near the fire. Pleading [...]
