Short Fiction
Seven Year Itch
What happens when your curse only turns you into a monster once every seven years?
Now available in the anthology Bewere the Night 
All of the Baker’s Dozen stories are now available in a single anthology! Available for $5.99 at Amazon
Short fiction available on line to date:
Hell For The Holidays
NEW FICTION! Never before published! Thirteenth and last story in the Baker’s Dozen challenge.
December 21st, 2012 hadn’t been the end of the world, only the Great Unraveling. The veils between the Seen and Unseen worlds shredded and the living suddenly found out they weren’t alone.
Andy had seen it all, done it all as a detective when he’d be alive. Now, as a ghost, he still works as a private investigator. This time, it isn’t just Heaven or Hell, it’s much worse: it’s families and the holidays.
This story is a sequel to Hell By Any Other Name and To Hell And Back
Available on Barnes & Noble (Nook)
The Third Raven
NEW FICTION! Never before published. Twelfth story in the Baker’s Dozen challenge.
The raven clan takes pride in three things: the education of their children, the fierceness of their warriors, and how they care for their own. However, Pedrek, a retired raven warrior, finds a raven clan boy alone in a remote mountain village, ignorant of his heritage as well as cursed: looking like a dreaded half-breed, with one human arm and one black raven’s wing. Can Pedrek break the curse and bring the boy into the clan? Or has he been too long on his own?
This story was inspired in part by the two ancient songs, “The Three Ravens” and
“The Twa Corbies”. Wikipedia entry
Available on Barnes & Noble (Nook)
The Doom of Alokai Temple
NEW FICTION! Never before published. Eleventh story in the Baker’s Dozen challenge.
Storm has lived alone all her life, shunned like all witches, for her gift of prophesy. However, every augury comes with a geas to tell the person their future. This time it’s the doom of Alokai temple and the priestesses who burn witches. How can Storm tell them of their fate while not revealing her true nature? Can she also escape the doom of Alokai?
Available on Barnes & Noble (Nook)
The Other Story
NEW FICTION! Never before published. Tenth story in the Baker’s Dozen challenge.
Once upon a time in the kingdom of Illumignot lived the handsome King Franklin and the clever Queen Isabella. They loved each other dearly and their only wish was to have a child. After a decade of trying, the brave Prince Kyle was born. All the kingdom celebrated. That night, while they all slept, the Blue Fairy came and stole all their shadows.
Available on Barnes & Noble (Nook)
Secrets of 9s: A tale of anarchy broken into nine bits
NEW FICTION! Never before published. Ninth story in the Baker’s Dozen challenge.
One of the secrets of 9s: they always return. They may come disguised in the coyness of eights, with the rigid line of the one hidden at their back. Or maybe you mistake them for fours marching across burnt fields, not seeing their friends, the fat fives, until it’s much too late. Other secrets are that 9s are anarchists, hyper-local, and stand alone at the end. Come learn about the 9s and their more militant anarchists.
This story has mature themes, bodily fluids, and a high body count. Reader discretion advised.
Were-Teen
NEW FICTION! Never before published! Eighth story in the Baker’s Dozen challenge.
Patrice is happy, successful, and cursed. Every month during the full moon she reverts to her awkward teen-aged self, complete with braces and acne. This year, it’s Patrice’s 25 year high school reunion. She finally has a chance to confront the witch who cursed her, and maybe get the spell reversed.
Availale on Barnes & Noble (Nook)
Hunting Ghosts in the Machine
NEW FICTION! Never before published. Seventh story in the Baker’s Dozen challenge.
Overcrowding, pollution and acid rain have reduced humanity’s livable areas. For most, space is achieved through virtual reality. Only a few see behind the mask. They’re the collectors, who hunt the ghosts in the machine. But who watches the watchers?
Available on Barnes & Noble (Nook)
To Hell And Back
NEW FICTION! Never before published. Sixth story in the Baker’s Dozen challenge.
December 21st, 2012 hadn’t been the end of the world, only the Great Unraveling. The veils between the Seen and Unseen worlds shredded. The living suddenly found out they weren’t alone.
Andy had seen it all, done it all as a detective when he’d be alive. Now, as a ghost, he still works as a PI. This time, he’s fulfilling his promise to the beautiful Toni, going to look for her brother, all the way to Hell and gone in Yakima, WA.
This story is a sequel to Hell By Any Other Name
Available on Barnes & Noble (Nook)
Golden Charms
NEW FICTION! Never before published! Fifth story in the Baker’s Dozen Challenge.
As a child, Jolene learned she had a gift. She could see people’s fates: they appeared as a golden charm around the person’s neck. She didn’t want her gift, though. She just wanted a normal life—a job, a husband, and kids. Three years later, Jolene can’t get pregnant. What kind of strange beings in the creole fairy court must she deal with? What does she sacrifice to make her dreams come true?
Available on Barnes & Noble (Nook)
Walking Gods
NEW FICTION! Never before published. Two stories in one!
What happens when a God creates Her people out of vengeance? This is the story of how that god came to be, as well as the one who follows her.
Available on Barnes & Noble (Nook)
Slipping the Leash
NEW FICTION! Never before published! Fourth story in the Baker’s Dozen challenge.
Twyla learned early how to fight. The kids knew she was different, but she figured that was just her African-American dad and her Japanese mom. Now she learns just how different she is: she’s not even human. How will she balance all these expectations and definitions? Or will she just slip the leash and run?
Available on Barnes & Noble (Nook)
True Vision
NEW FICTION! Never before published! Third story in the Baker’s Dozen Challenge.
Devil? Angel? Gabriella has lived all her life following other people’s plans, using their definitions of her body, allowing them to judge her abilities. Finally, though, Gabriella is ready to take matters into her own hands.
Available on Barnes & Noble (Nook)
Magpie
NEW FICTION!! Never before published. Second story of the Baker’s Dozen challenge.
When Sarah finds a beautiful, porcelain bird hidden inside a hollow brick inside her fireplace, she just thinks it’s odd. Then her jewelry starts going missing. What will the magpie steal next?
Available on Barns & Noble (Nook)
Hell By Any Other Name
NEW FICTION!! Never before published. First story of the Baker’s Dozen challenge.
December 21st, 2012 hadn’t been the end of the world, only the Great Unraveling. The veils between the Seen and Unseen worlds shredded. The living suddenly found out they weren’t alone.
Andy had seen it all, done it all as a detective when he’d be alive. Now, as a ghost, he still works as a PI. This time, he’s investigating a myth: a stone that could change his destiny, and open the gates of Heaven to him.
Available on Barnes & Noble (Nook)
One Fall Day
NEW FICTION! Never before published.
Magic requires the life of another. If the life the magician chooses isn’t enough, they’ll Diminish their own souls. But Catriana is tired of killing. Can she find a different life source to tap into?
Available on Barnes & Noble (Nook)
The Dutiful Daughter
NEW FICTION! Never before published.
Mama Chen thinks she’s lucky to have found Xi Bao, wandering alone through the empty streets during Ghost month. Now she has the most dutiful daughter, who waits on her every wish. Or is there more to Xi Bao then there seems? This short story is set in Beijing, during the Ming dynasty, around 1500 A.D.
Available on Barnes & Noble (Nook)
Slow Honey
NEW FICTION!! Never before published.
Brendon works like a slave and dreams of the stars. Will he take the escape offered to him by the aliens?
Available on Barnes & Noble (Nook)
Cold Comfort
What if the northern lights casts dreams into the ice, that are then mined by those who dare and sold to shape the future of children?
Originally published by SDO online magazine, then republished in “The Best of SDO.”
Available on Barnes & Noble (Nook)
Gulkhanam
Based on my favorite Kasmiri fairy tale, “The Flower Princess.” What happens when the prince, after he is cut in two, is buried in earth that has a bloodlust?
Originally published in Talebones magazine, #16.
Available on Barnes & Noble (Nook)
The Power of Preserving Pictures
Paints that are magic? Nonsense, Ikuno maintains. Until the things he paints start dying.
Originally published in the “Dark Arts” anthology, produced by the Horror Writers of America.
Available on Barnes & Noble (Nook)
Obsessions
What happens to graffiti artists in a world where walls are protected with nanotechnology?
Originally published in an anthology called, “In the Shadow of the Wall,” edited by Byron Tetrick. It’s a collection of short stories about the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial (the wall) in DC.
Available on Barnes & Noble (Nook)
Red Boots
The story is a retelling of “The Red Shoes,” only ’cause she’s a country-western dancer, it’s the “Red Boots.”
Originally published in an anthology called “Black Heart, Ivory Bones,” edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. The anthology is a collection of fairy tales, written in a modern vein.
