MORE BLOOD THAN BONE, by E.K. Wagner   Haukfin, classification unknown:   This sea-faring creature is of gigantic proportions, easily matching the length and girth of the Ngimbian ships which stalk the haukfin in its lair. Found to live hundreds of miles off-shore any civilized isle, the haukfin inhabits the coldest depths of the water. […]

THE LADY AND THE DWARF, by  Rebecca Brinker Once, in a forest, there lived not seven but one dwarf. He was a hard industrious man who had an affinity for the earth and a talent for finding ore. It did not matter what kind of ore: copper, silver, gold, the Dwarf could find it all, […]

CANVAS TEARS, by Steve Rodgers   As the smells of roasting human flesh weaved through the Grand Suuk market, Amis began to entertain new doubts about his strategy. From atop an auction platform, the idea of defeating a weather-invoking madman in his own city suddenly seemed a half-step away from lunacy. What foul mead had […]

WHITE RAINBOW AND BROWN DEVIL, by Raphael Ordonez   Francisco Carvajal y Lopez, vagabond of the Tashyan badlands, conquistador in his own mind, emerged upon a caliche bank from thickets that sang sweetly beneath the sun. The gravel floodplain stretched from north to south before him. Several sycamores, the first trees he had seen that day, […]

THAT SLEEP OF DEATH, by Mary-Jean Harris   “There is no religion higher than Truth,” Lady Wickham spoke as she raised her lace handkerchief to her eyes. Before I could comment on the great sensibility of such a phrase, she exclaimed, “Isn’t it blasphemous!” As a philosopher, I could by no means agree with that, […]