Some love a challenge; others choose

To wield a tool that's quick to use.

But as for me, I want a prompt,

Some sylvan glade where no one's romped

Before--a snowy field to mark up

And love the night, then give the dark up.

I shun the the less-resistant r…

Thermu burst into the parlor without knocking, her voice raised in excitement.

"Esma! I found it! I finally found-"

Esma turned with a panicked smile and owl-wide eyes from her seat in the wingback chair. Across from her sat a sharply dressed man with lon…

On clear nights you could see the distant glimmering pinpricks of light denoting the city's presence. It was tucked away amongst deep mountain ridges and thickly forested land, with hints of water hidden in the surroundings.

The view was beautiful this ti…

"I did warn you."

"You've seen my underwear before."

"Yes, but not in the open air. On the highest hill in the county."

"It's windy. I'm a web designer: my wardrobe is a bit thin in the hiking skirts department."

"A lack we are clearly going to have to ad…

It closed its eyes and roared.

"Sacrilege! Blasphemy! Desecration! The Aldergods will destroy you utterly for this. You will be fodder for their entertainment. Perhaps even the Gilder- and Bolgurgods will--"

"Enough," I replied mildly. Its mouth clamped…

I raised my glass of Southern Comfort to the lone cupcake. "Cheers."

The whiskey was sweet and warm but didn't sit right in my stomach. Groaning, I set the glass back on the stained table, which was sad and bare except for the cupcake and the whiskey.

M…

It's dark and the rats are eating my sleep. They feast on my lack growing fat and fearless. I've been in bed for three hours, tossing and turning, and each time I slide from consciousness into that darkened stage of the first dream, the crinkle of paper o…

You've called. Sent me letters. Begged me back. Explained how stars have decided our lives are meant to be intertwined.

But I don't want to be your girl no more.

Go home, sweetheart. Take a deep breath and take care of yourself and move on. You can't ta…

I stand on the gently rocking deck, facing the east. The clear sky is still dark but beginning to brighten. The breeze is brisk but it's coming from the right direction and if it holds, I'll make good distance today.

Months of preparation are done and th…

I lay down for bed and turn out the lamp, but I still can't sleep. It's the light behind my eyes that keeps me awake. The room may be pitch black, I may cover my eyes, squeeze them shut as tight as I can. It doesn't matter. There's still that light behind…

The Watchers tell me you departed some time ago, that you walked into the tunnel by yourself armed with nothing but your pack, walking stick, and a lantern. An incredible risk, if you ask me, given what we both know lurks there in the dark. But I know you…

Sophie Claire was far from a damsel in distress, so she didn't cry out when the rust and gunmetal colored 357 Smith and Wesson blew a gaping chasm in Earnie's torso. She had driven a stake through his chest with a hand maul while he slept, to no avail, …

Story is marked as mature

You've heard the expression, "Everywhere you go, there you are." Well, I've got a variation for you.

"Everywhere I go, there you are."

Frankly, I'm getting tired of it. At first I thought it was just me. You know, how you see a familiar face in a cr…

Around her, the air glowed with imaginary light.

A scintillating galaxy of text, artwork, and signage drifted just above every surface, ethereal and invisible without compatible hardware.

It ran up walls and windows, across sidewalks and streets. The gr…

The wastes are not empty. They are bleak, harsh, even dangerous, but people make a living out here. Some say an inferior race lives like animals. This proved untrue, becoming my saving grace.

I encountered a band of hunters. They were wary, but led me ba…

I sat hunched over my glass of whiskey. It was a double. It had to be. No other amount would do.

She was out of my life. I wished her well, but I couldn't help but worry for her, a person I felt so deeply for.

I mourned her as if she were dead.

I lifte…

If there is a God above

If there’s a being filled with love

If there’s a master of my fate

If there’s a devil fueled with hate

If there’s a battle raging on

'Twixt angels and demons, eons long

If there’s a heaven and a hell

If there’s a coming judgement k…

The universe let out a sigh and breathed for the first time it seemed. Like it had been holding its breath through out every epoch of history waiting for this one singular moment in time to happen.

Its breath was baited. If it had eyes in the traditional…

Story is marked as mature

It had been fourteen days.

Two weeks.

A fortnight.

It didn't feel like it had been that long.

It felt like it had been much longer.

I remembered it like it was yesterday, yet it felt like a lifetime ago.

I remembered clearly, the looks on their faces, …

I just had an image for a series of co-written stories, just for the experience and the cameraderie: one person writes an opening story; another person writes a sequel to it. Then either a new writer or the first one writes a PREquel to the 2nd writer's s…

Dr Geld did what he could for them in his primitive surgery - little more than a crack in the rock, furnished with the few bits of medikit salvaged from the lander. Another sand storm - elemental, yet not impersonal. Only a fool could now maintain that th…

We called them Blackbirds, after the queens of speed from another age. Beautiful machines, though you have to become slightly detached from the numbers to fly them. At the cruise phase, they fly at 0.9C - ninety percent of the speed of light.

Incompreh…

A silent journey home.

Foxglove came over when she spotted us. "Noleka, what-"

"Please don't call me that."

Foxglove tilted her head. "What?"

"Don't call me that name. I don't want it anymore."

"But Noleka, that's your na-"

"Not anymore. Please. Call me T…