Short Stories - 2010

The Dragon's Lesson - Matthew Johnson
"Child, why are you crying? Your first bleeding came this morning, and how many gifts did I give you to mark the day -- black stone bracelets carved smooth, and a silver necklace so fine..." More

Dial Tone - K.C. Ball
"The year had worn away to late September by the time Max Stamp rolled into Columbus. The sensor on the Hummer’s dashboard set outside temperatures at seventy degrees. A cornflower-blue sky promised clear weather forever..." More

Perfect Match - Steve Stanton
"Shyla Cleary looked up from a pot of lentil beans as her husband Ryin entered their tiny apartment. She studied him carefully, searching for any glimmer of hope...." More

The Uploaded - C.J. Paget
"Martin Yorke gasped his wife's name as they rose on filigree wings through the enclosed sky of an impossible fairy-land. Her answer rode on a voice like icicle wind-chimes, escaping from ice- blue lips glazed with a sheen of melt-water..." More

Scream Angel - Douglas Smith  Expired
"Not Available..."

Leaving Town - Gary Cuba
"Maria Gonzales threw on her threadbare housecoat and wiped sleep from her eyes. She stumbled through the narrow trailer to reach the front door. A light knocking had roused her, and she wondered how long it had been going on..." More

Levels - Lawrence Buentello
"Dylan looked up suddenly and found the lift number cascading in brilliant red against the shelf of the corridor. The little man standing behind him bowed slightly and murmured, in a strange accent, of the foibles of the Lift System, not to mention the degraded state of the economy..." More

The Dance - Glyn Hedeg
"The words came without thinking, and the stallholder subsided. I silently blessed my Chinese colleague who had taught me the phrase while I looked to see if there was anything I could buy for the publishing team back home..." More

Consolation Prize - Corie L. Calcutt
"Hannah Lawson blinked. Her dark eyes were feeling heavier and heavier, and the chessboard was no longer in focus..." More

God Save the Queen - Dale Phillips
"The largest crustaceans belong to the Decapoda, a large order (about 10,000 species) that includes the American lobster, which can reach a weight of 20 kilograms (44 pounds), and the giant Japanese spider crap, which has legs that can span up to 3.7 metres (12 feet)..." More

Reactivation Subroutine - Melissa Marriott
"Beloved Mistress, something wonderful has happened! After nearly a century of drifting through the black void of space I am at last attached to something! The last solid thing that I touched was the cold flesh of your body..." More