Coyle was mucking a stall when the villager came running in. “In the flower patch! In the flower patch! There’s a–who’re you?” “The new stable hand,” Coyle said. “Of what…
Fantasy
The Haunting of Piedras Blancas
There is no end to my love for Jemjasee. I pace the ragged cliffs, searching the sea for her ship. My longing will not cease until I am entwined in…
The Night Science
1. My Brother, Fire When he was a baby, my brother, Fire, was uncontrollable. He’d incinerate his diapers and make his formula boil in the bottle. By age three, he’d…
The Scholar’s Stone
1Since I am now old and no longer performing any productive labor, you may well wonder how I am able to afford such a beautiful, rare, and valuable object as…
Only Logical
Aricook hurried through the expansive kitchens of his father’s restaurant, but the gleaming tile, mirror shine of copper-bottomed pots, and heady mix of aromas barely registered. He slipped through the crowd of bustling food builders and their assistants and entered the main eatery. The familiar sights and sounds of one hundred and ninety-eight customers chattering like mag-chickens while assaulting the day’s feast failed to ease his worries.
Night Market Noodles
The room in which I found myself was suffocated in decay. Its corners were blurred with concretions of dust and broken shards, or filthy black cobwebs saturated with
The Flowers in Billy’s Garden
In late February, snowdrops slowly lifted their sleepy heads from their cold wet blankets. These flowered alone, waiting patiently for March and the great melting. When the weather began to…