Hermetta let the hoarse chant die away and twitched her fingers. She rose from the trance to find a dense cloud of fireflies prickling the dim light of her home.

Half an arm’s worth of blood and two hours of incantation—well worth the effort. Ritual magic had never failed her. 

She held out a thin finger and allowed several of the insects to alight there in a line. Hermetta drew them up to her mouth and whispered her message, then gently blew on her finger. The tiny lights sped off, colliding with the cloud and pulling a streak of flickering greens and yellows out the door and into the swamp.

“I pinned the chicken to the plate with my fork and hefted my knife. It wasn't clone meat. It wasn't. Synthesized amino acid chains, algae-based, contributed most of the nutritional value. Synthetic flavoring. Coloring. No clone.

I hesitated.

Something sharp pricked my neck and stayed there.“

“The humans crept up to our sacred place, venturing far from their own flock. They snuck up the narrow path, quiet on their soft feet. 

Not quietly enough. “

“My blood felt… thicker than I remembered. Warm and viscous, I felt it seeping past my thighs, soaking the seat of my pants where I slumped back on the ornate sitting couch.

I had liked the couch, even told my host that, not an hour ago. Seemed a shame to ruin such lovely fabric, with a couple quarts of my finest blood, but that’s life, I guess. No one gets to hold on to their nice things forever. Some poor sap will bleed all over it, eventually.”

“Now. Here. We get interesting. On a whim (or perhaps on some principle of sharp-toothed humor) the wife pops open the egg carton and pulls forth one of the little kings of the perishable kingdom. She pulls back her arm, touching the back of her hand to the passenger door, then jerks it forward. She never intends to throw an egg at her husband, that would be too far. And messy. And wasteful. She’d never actually throw the egg. Never.

And yet.”

… Hank waited. Bart went on.

“The man…” He paused, hesitant. “Future-me, opened his mouth to tell me what the choice would be and– Bang! Someone kicked open the door behind me and future-me went all white. The color just drained right out of him, right? I turn around and it’s another god-forsaken version of me and this one looks like absolute hell.”

…

Clones created for specialized labor. A space station nested in a remote region of the galaxy. An experiment gone awry and a daring escape. Enjoy Part 1 of this novella based on the short-story Deep Space Bob.

After 27 years with the Bureau for Non-Rational Creatures, Larry looks forward to retiring (or rage quitting) very soon. He wants to settle down into a quiet life with boring patients. First, he needs to get a dragon safely out of harm’s way.

Millie gives a speech to her wedding reception, a room full of empty chairs.

Mickey’s a legend in this small fishing village. A last hope for desperate sailors, a fisherman’s fishman, a man born to ride the waves. He disappeared twenty years ago, but Clifton and Tom just noticed him in the back of the bar.

[Author’s Note: This is a work of fiction and not intended as an ACTUAL guide to foraging Chanterelles. If you intend to eat things that you find on the ground, bring a mushroom guide. Don’t ask the sprites, fairies, or Fey people.]

Our narrator, alone in the depths of space, can hear a low keening wail coming from outside his one-man space station. He knows who it is, Bob, but not what Bob is. For better or worse, he’s about to find out.

A quick and punchy sci-fi story. Super-human influencer, Rib, appears as a guest on the Late, Late Show with Chatlin O'Brien. Hilarity does not ensue.

Tabatha's child isn't quite right. It looks, smells, and even mewls like her babe. But they’d gotten the eyes wrong. She's going to get her baby back.

[~15 mins read] A reflective note penned by a (fictional, I hope) witness to the paranormal. Demons. Shadows. Tattoos. School bus. So much to look forward to.

A swashbuckling good time, with schooners sailing the skies and harvesting lightning from the neverending storm, Kartheros. Featuring Captain Layla Nefferson and seasoned sailor, Harken. It's a fun one. ...IMO.

This pamphlet features an urban fantasy piece about a young woman with a stalker and a contract signed in blood.

Another sci-fi romp through a dystopian future. Two retired Naval divers have an illegal salvage job to finish up in the submerged ruins of downtown Charleston. It’s already gone wrong… but can it get worse? Of course it can.

Fleeing NYC ahead of some ugly legislation, a young man takes to the skies to start a new life with his cat, Mindy and the help of Uncle Charles.