See The Amazing Mechanical Man! It Walks! It Thinks! See It Perform Fabulous Feats of Cogitation and Physicality! Nelly Bly looked up at the sign, reading it three times, her mind failing at first to latch on to its meaning. At last, she said, “This I have to see,” and lined up at the…
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Free Fiction Monday: The Adventure of the Limehouse Rats
1 Of all the myriad adventures I have endured with my friend, the famous consulting detective Sherlock Holmes, none is more bizarre or terrifying than the affair of the Limehouse rats. Regular readers of this chronicle of Holmes’ many cases will know that I am not given to lurid flights of fancy or morbid embellishments….
Free Fiction Monday: Going Rogue
Originally published in The Expanding Universe Volume 5 -1- The pneumatics in Synder’s legs hissed, sending him over the enemy burrow. He dumped two grenades down a hole. “Bullseye,” he whispered. He hit hard, shaking the ground. Targeting vectors danced across his faceplate. He winked them away. Synder leaped again, knowing that to stand…
Free Fiction Monday: Company Town
Honorable Mention 3rd Quarter 2023 Writers of the Future Contest The open-air market smelled of desperation and exhaust fumes. Felix Callisto tugged on the brim of his hat as he meandered through the crowd, looking out of place in his ancient trench coat and battered fedora, a man out of sync with the controlled…
The Road Ahead
It’s hard to believe there are only three days left in 2023. As I normally do during this dead time between Christmas and New Year’s, where we typically lounge around in pajamas eating shredded cheese and time has lost all meaning, I take stock of where I’ve been and where I want to go in…
Free Fiction Monday: Kris Kringle: Monster Hunter
“Wake up.” Kris groaned and rolled over, his broad back to the source of the nudge. The still sleeping part of his mind longed to return to candy cane dreams, while the waking section of his brain hoped to ignore the irritant. “Wake up. It’s the red phone.” Kris grumbled and rolled back onto…
Free Fiction Monday: Date Night of the Living Dead
Written for the League of Monsters Kickstarter “She said yes?” “Don’t sound so surprised.” Ned Nyland was leaning against the kitchen sink, a cup of coffee in hand. Sitting at the small kitchen table was none other than the infamous Count Dracula. For the past several weeks the vampire had been giving Ned dating…
Free Fiction Monday: Jiggle Joint of the Damned
Originally published in It Came From the Trailer Park Volume 3 Johnny Ray Dauterive knew they were in trouble when the stripper’s head sprouted shiny black horns. “Was it something I said, darlin’?” He looked over at his assistant Davy, who was so engrossed in the lapdance he was getting that he hadn’t yet noticed…
Free Fiction Monday: When The Stars Are Right
Originally published in Blaze Ward Presents: After the Fall As they did every night, Zack Jepson and his family huddled near the fire and listened to the monsters. It started as a few low moans at first, then grew louder, more insistent. Something flew past the boarded-up window on heavy, leathern wings. Then there…
The Road Ahead
I’ve been doing some soul-searching for the past month and I want to share my results. My apologies to the TL;DR crowd, but this one’s going to take a while. This month I sprang for some job search coaching from an outfit called Work It Daily. The package came with a free month of email…