Archive
You are currently browsing the archives for the Short Stories category.
The Visions of Koto-Ryin, is a collection of short stories that takes place after Return 2 Earth, when the assistant of an Elder, Koto-Ryin receives visions of her Deltorian ancestors from more than a hundred years ago.
These five short stories are about the Deltorian Warriors, also known as the Delta Four who must protect Queen Lora and the citizens from Deltor from the ravenous bodiless beings known at the Revkar, the evil aliens called the Skyro, and any other creatures who are against the realm.
Koto-Ryin doesn’t know who to trust when she begins to receive these visions of her long hidden Deltorian history. She approaches the soon-to-be Oracle Nolan from the planet Xanar. And together the two travel to the past without being seen or heard and witness the events of the battles of these warriors.
Vision I: Battle at the Revkar Portal
Vision II: Attack of the Skyro
Vision III: The Vadarian Nightmare
Vision IV: The Return of the Skyro
Vision V: Double Crossed on Kitnar
Author Website
Loading ...
England may look like a peaceful island, but it swarms with ancient forces: old gods hungry for a touch of worship; mysterious spectres that can grant wishes, no matter how destructive those wishes might be; pre-historic cultural memories that can raise hungry spirits; and then there’s the mysterious haunted washing machine unhappy with the new detergents. To combat evil forces, the Church of England calls on a special breed of men (yes, they’re all men–and that is part of the problem). The Theological College of St. Van Helsing trains its students to combat evil forces–except when those students go renegade and fight their fellows.
With St. Van Helsing restricted to men only, women with talent lack a place for proper training, which makes them both dangerous and tempting targets for dark forces. Penny Bailey finds herself confronting a hungry fertility god, a misdirected love-spell and the horrors of the perfect diet.
Author Vanessa Knipe continues her stories out of St. Van Helsing (after 2008’s WITCH-FINDER) with another strong series of adventures. Knipe writes with a compelling mix of darkness and tongue-in-cheek humor. While theological students confronting evil by calling phrases from the Book of Common Prayer sounds amusing, Knipe makes it both real and dangerous. More so even than in WITCH-FINDER, darkness underpins these stories–the title, HARD LESSONS is definitely hard-earned.
(1 votes, average: 10 out of 10)
Loading ...
A follow-up to 2006’s Single, Cassingle is a new collection of stories by Jim Hanas that originally appeared, individually, in Fence, McSweeney’s, Bridge: Stories & Ideas, and Twelve Stories.
Toronto’s Eye Weekly recently wrote of Cassingle, “No matter the cut, this is writing that speaks American, in all its complexity.”
Loading ...
Free anthology of quality sci-fi & fantasy
Detective thrillers, political satire, family drama, fables, fable deconstructions, the mysteries of debugging: there’s something in this anthology for every fan. Contains nine original stories and five original artworks.
We found awesome fiction, bought it, and released it online under a Creative Commons license. We learned a lot, so the appendix, “How To Do This And Why,” has submission/rejection statistics, our budget, and some behind-the-scenes musings on process, supply and demand.
Some excerpts from the stories that got us over four stars on GoodReads:
Day-to-day life with a sponge golem was pleasant.
-“Daisy” by Andrew Willett (audio version)
Anyone who’d ever seen the Martian Ambassador would recognize it, the way he wielded it like his staff of office.
I frowned at Seeth. “So how does the Ambassador’s staff wind up broken on a street in the Crops, when the Ambassador is dying peacefully in his hotel room?”
“I guess that’s what I need you to find out.”
-“The Ambassador’s Staff” by Sherry D. Ramsey
Sarita kept feeding her, one bite after another. “You were the one who insisted on breast-feeding. Joshua and I would have been fine using formula. They’ve duplicated the ingredients found in breast milk, you know. Perfected it two decades ago.”
“It’s not the same,” Kate insisted. “I can’t prove it, but I’m sure it isn’t.”
-“Jump Space” by Mary Anne Mohanraj
Xanathan Kurtler didn’t die because of greed. Not his own, anyway. It wasn’t greed that made him plant those trees.
-“Goldenseed” by Therese Arkenberg
The technically proficient could breach the best software security systems by deliberately inducing errors in the hardware. Couldn’t the rational induce faith in themselves the same way?
-“Single-Bit Error” by Ken Liu
The crack of leather that followed hurt more than my own whipping.
You might think we’d never be dumb enough to eat Jilly Jallys again.
-“Friar Garden, Mister Samuel, and the Jilly Jally Butter Mints” by Carole Lanham
Those and more, available as HTML, PDF or print-on-demand physical book. Plus mobile editions:
Loading ...
The Memory House
“I’ll leave you my fantasy,” he said. “It’s all I have to leave you in any case.”
Ip Dip
Ip dip, sky blue, who’s it…?
Fulcrum
Fulcrum, n. (pl. –ra). (Mech.) point against which lever is placed to get purchase.
Snow
Doesn’t anyone die for love nowadays?
That Celeb. Smile
Trouble is, any photograph worth taking, costs.
Loading ...
In these two short stories, Rosanne Dingli contrasts life in Europe with that in Australia. Textures, tastes and sights are vividly explored, to become indistinguishable from emotion. Each story is accompanied by a recipe: food is a vital ingredient of culture and how we identify place and people.
Rosanne Dingli is an author to whom inspiration means location and experience.
(1 votes, average: 7 out of 10)
Loading ...
Sue Lange again engages the mind as she entertains the senses through Uncategorized (publ: BookViewCafe.com), a collection of randomly genius short stories. Re-defining the aspect of “Theater of the Mind,” this progressive sci-fi author takes advantage of new multi-media tools that technology affords the modern reader. In this, her latest book, the short story meets old-time radio buckled up in a time machine and blasted into the future. In this thought-provoking collection, Lange grabs the reader with an “audio download” and segues into her eclectic set of short stories with the aggressive delivery of a beat poet and the timing of a stand-up comedian. Her Uncategorized readers are certain to be a good crowd, for they will find themselves laughing out loud and at the same time nodding in agreement. You can find Lange at her website.
Loading ...
Zombies have invaded the U.S., but one political party is hoping to promote brotherly love. A young girl sells nice dreams for a nickel, but be sure to read the fine print. Gorillas teach kindergarten, or deliver unexpected refrigerators. Magical gypsies deliver predictions that have uncomfortable ways of coming true. People unhappy with their own lives can enjoy someone else’s past for a cheap price…but be careful of the sudden ending. In the land of the novel-writers, poets beware.
From zombies to space aliens to fortune-telling gypsies to ancient and magical statues, author Michael Kechula delivers 71 complete stories of speculative fiction. Kechula has become a leader in ‘flash fiction,’ super-short stories that contain characters, dialogue, and a complete plot, all within a very small number of words. In THE AREA 51 OPTION AND 70 MORE TALES OF SPECULATIVE FICTION, Kechula shows why he’s been so successful.
For its first month of availability (until October 18, 2009), this complete collection is available for only $1.00 directly from the publisher. After October 18, it’ll be available at its regular price of only $3.99. (Multiple eBook formats).
$3.99 (but only $1.00 until October 18)
187 pages
Loading ...
In May 2009, Editor Unleashed and Smashwords partnered to sponsor The Flash Fiction 40 Contest. Any writer could post a story of 1,000 words or fewer on the Editor Unleashed forum, and the members would get a chance to read and rank all of the stories.
More than 280 writers took up the challenge and posted a story. It was a dynamic experiment in what is quickly becoming the new wave of publishing: crowd sourcing and open review. Both the forum members and editors who made the final cut chose the same story as the Grand Prize winner—a dark, astonishing piece of magical realism titled “Fairy Tales” by Laurel Wilczek. You can read about Laurel and her inspiration for her flash fiction in profiles on both Editor Unleashed and at the Smashwords Blog.
In this anthology, you’ll find “Fairy Tales” as well as 39 other winning stories from the Flash Fiction 40 Contest. These stories encompass every genre—from literary to horror and beyond—and are 40 outstanding examples of the rapidly evolving flash fiction form. Savor the stories one at a time or spend a few leisurely hours reading the collection in whole. I know you’ll enjoy reading these 40 great flash fiction pieces as much as I did.
-Maria Schneider, Editor Unleashed
(1 votes, average: 10 out of 10)
Loading ...
25 short, sometimes funny and sometimes mean stories ideal to rediscover the joy of reading a book as shiny and beautiful as a brand new cell phone.
A look from a distance at the absurdity of our present day lives: fights with the less and less comprehensible equipment, pursuit of the latest technological news, pitfalls of our modern lifestyle, useless inventions and issues racing in all directions at a breakneck speed.
A lot of entertainment and a little food for thought. Just perfect for the moment when you’re finally bored with exploring the alarm settings on your new iPhone.
Nick Name’s Password Incorrect is a selection of short stories addressed especially for iPhone users. The book was designed to be downloaded for free to iPhone, which among its many other features seems to be also a great e-book reader.
Opposite to devices specifically designed for e-book reading, which still look unattractive and suffer early stage problems, iPhone with it’s large color screen, smooth interface and millions of users around the world has the real power of rediscovering the pleasure of reading books - so that we could hear a louder “bye, bye” to paper.
The time for the reader’s change of mind is perfect. With Stanza application, which allows to read books in ePub format on iPhone/iPod and Feedbooks’s Online Catalog of free publications, a typical gadget-hunting, forward-looking consumer, who perceives reading paper books as an outdated way of spending time - can rediscover book reading, and even more - reinvent it.
[excerpt from press release]
(2 votes, average: 7 out of 10)
Loading ...
An anthology of brand new short stories to celebrate the launch of CompletelyNovel.com. CompletelyNovel are proud to present twelve imaginative, humorous and innovative short stories written by talented new writers. This anthology contains the winning entries of CompletelyNovel’s launch competition, asking for stories inspired by the phrase ‘And now for something completely different.’
They’ve all got more talent in their little finger than I’ve got in my whole body — Cathy Adams, budding journalist
It’s good, it’s very good! — Anna Lewis, CompletelyNovel.com
Loading ...
“Newbury! Thank God you’re here.”
Sir Maurice Newbury swept into the hallway, his overcoat billowing open behind him as he marched across the marble floor towards his friend. His expression was serious. “Don’t thank God, Charles. Thank the cabbie who agreed to take my fare this close to Christmas.” His face was ruddy from the biting cold and his breath was shallow with exertion.
He began removing his black leather gloves, one finger at a time, eyeing the older man for any clue as to why he’d been called from his bed at such an early hour of the morning. Sir Charles Bainbridge, his grey moustache twitching with irritation, glanced over Newbury’s shoulder as if he were expecting someone else.
“Miss Hobbes?” He looked flustered.
Newbury shot his friend a stern look. “Charles. It’s Christmas Eve!”
Bainbridge nodded in acknowledgement, as if the date had only just dawned on the Chief Inspector. He glanced at his pocket watch. “Quite so, old man. Quite so.” He shook his head. “Well, Christmas or not, I’m afraid the situation here is rather grave.”
Loading ...
Watch your step. You’re not the first one through the door, but we know what you’ll say when you get out there. Fourteen short stories of dark fantasy.
- Necrogarchy
- Kora
- The Last Burden
- The Day They Let Bernard Leave
- Adelaide
- Voodoo ver. 1.0
- Of Sorcery and Seasoning
- Bottom’s
- Things No One Should Know
- These Modern Times
- Room 814
- Grey
- The Excavation
- With Such Permanence As Time Has
A very enjoyable reading experience; a broad range of characters and plots, most a bit on the darker side of life but some happiness and sunshine mixed in for flavor. I recommend this book to anyone with a touch of macabre to their sense of humor, or a reader looking for something a few steps off the beaten path of so many standardized plots.
By J. Adams
Loading ...
