Story: "The Love Impulse" fiction short story Oct 05, 2024

 

 

"Miss, we don't serve his kind in this bar." The bartender looked at Susan, not at me, just twitched his head sideways in my general direction, then pointed at the sign: 'No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service ... oh, and No Synths Served'. 

"He doesn't drink," Susan said. "Doesn't eat either. He's a...

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Story: "The Coin" fiction short story Sep 28, 2024

 

 

Look at this coin. Go ahead, take it, hold it.

It is made of pure silver. Can you see how old it is?

The image that is stamped on the front is the head of an emperor who lived more than two thousand years ago.

Yes, two thousand years is a really long time, but even before then a lot had hap...

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Story: "Steam and Grit" fiction short story steampunk western Sep 21, 2024

 

 

"Give me what I want, and no-one gets hurt."

"I know that voice." Marshall Calhoun swiveled on the barstool. "Silas McReady. Ol' Lead Heart."

"In the flesh."

"Been a while."

"Fifteen years, Ethan. Long time."

"What's with the gun, Silas?"

"Wanted to start this off on the right foot. Hear...

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Story: "In the Mysterious Distance" fiction short story Jun 15, 2024

 

 

The sunset makes the darkening sky blush and adds rose highlights to the emerald water. A young couple, a man and a woman, perhaps in their early twenties, tanned and trim, golden-skinned in their bathing suits, have their beach blankets spread on the white sand. They sit close together, facin...

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Story: "The Bestiarium of Shinsuke Manu" fiction short story May 27, 2024

 

  

The Bear Inn, Oxford, Nazi-Occupied Britain, 1947

 

SS-Sturmbannführer Ewald von Haupt walks into the pub.

In one moment, a pleasant, warm cacophony — loud voices, clinking glasses, laughter, singing — in the next, a chilled sudden silence, heads turning and all eyes darting in the tall, b...

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Story: "West of the River of Doubt" fiction short story Apr 27, 2024

 

 

From the diary of Kermit Roosevelt, the second son of Theodore Roosevelt, found in the estate of his younger sister, Esther Roosevelt.

 

Sunday, February 27, 1927, Rondônia, Brazil

 

Thirteen years the nightmare has haunted me. 

I have blamed myself, pushed everyone away — everyone except...

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Story: "Me, Myselves, and Murder" fiction short story Oct 21, 2023

 

 

“Are you hungry?”

I open my eyes and see … me.

Well, it’s me, but a me that’s a bit older. This version of me is a very distinguished me, slim, dressed in a three piece suit, with gray thinning hair and a trim gray beard and mustache.

I’m in a recliner chair, upholstered in the softest leat...

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Story: "Best Served Cold" fiction short story Oct 07, 2023

 

 

Midnight at the Old Opera House, all lights off. 

Medea feels her way, the soles of her bare feet on the cool wooden floors, fingertips brushing the smooth round edge of the intimate dining table, holding on to the table-top until she feels the next table, making her way from table to table i...

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Story: "The Moonstone Club Challenge (a David & Mr. Goliath Mystery)" fiction short story Aug 26, 2023

 

 

 

London, 1898

The Moonstone Club

 

 

“Max,” said Sherlock Holmes, " I want to introduce you to my friend, Mr. Goliath."

The four famous detectives — Sherlock Holmes, Max Carrados, Dr. John Evelyn Thorndyke, and Chevalier Auguste Dupin — were gathered by the fireplace at the Moonstone Cl...

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Story: "Master o' the Tiger" fiction short story Aug 12, 2023

 

 

“They are so cute!”

“Adorable.”

“Look at their little name tags.” Beth picked up the first kitten — gray with white paws, pink nose, and big green eyes. “Graymalkin, is that your name?”

Graymalkin mewed.

“And this one is called ‘Paddock’,” Mac read the name tag as he picked up the black ca...

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Story: "Behold, A Black Horse" fiction short story Aug 06, 2023

 

  

“We’re screwed.”

The night is black, the road desolate, a seemingly endless stretch of unlit asphalt that disappears into the murk of impenetrable fog.

“We just need to keep heading south,” Brendan says.

“We’re screwed,” Chari says again. “No map, no GPS, we shouldn’t have taken this back ...

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Story: "I Will Not Eat My Heart Alone" fiction short story Jul 29, 2023

 

 

Rain falls on his new skin. He feels nothing.

Under cover of the night, he, Isaac Newton, sixty-three years of age in this the Year of the Lord 1706, arrives alone at Woolsthorpe, returning to the old two-story farmhouse where he grew up. In one hand he carries a lit lanthorn, in the other a ...

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