CHAPTER 1: STRONG HAND The cold water ran over Moralez's prosthetic fingers as he held them beneath the flow of the faucet, turning them over, flexing them as the liquid poured across the tread-like pads that helped them grip objects. He could feel the chill on the black polymer that encased the machinery and electronics within, as if it was his own skin,...
1. "Your new book is selling pretty well," said Irina Slonimska, Roger's editor. "Plumbing for the Panic-Stricken fills a definite need. I don't mind telling you that it saved me several hundred dollars in New York City plumbers' bills when I was editing the manuscript." "Did it really?" asked Sharon Hillstein, eying her old college roommate across the t...
CHAPTER 1: AVENGERS She slithered down the ramp of the dropship, her long body winding and undulating as she carried a wounded soldier in her arms, dropping him at the feet of a team of medics who were standing by in the hangar. She rose up on her muscular tail, her almost imperceptibly smooth scales flashing yellow and brown in the artificial lighting as s...
*** Masquerade! Paper faces on parade. Masquerade!Hide your face so the world will never see you. Masquerade!Every face a different shade.Masquerade!Look around, there's another mask behind you! -"Masquerade", The Phantom of the Opera *** CHAPTER 1: Blackmailed into Slavery "Please, Sir," Mandy said in a shaky voice to the man in the well-tailored sui...
A Somewhat Less Than Divine Comedy Driftwood: A Prelude to the Evening 'Let me to take you down -- 'Cause I'm going to strawberry fields' Lennon/McCartney Rogues Bay, Tortola, BVI Today There were a few low clouds scudding over the far horizon, yet all-in-all the day's weather was looking good -- better than good, really, especially for the time of...
Chapter 20: Raising the Stakes Author's Note: In celebration of having made it to chapter 20, I've decided to make this one a double chapter. I plan to do this for every major milestone in this story (20, 30, 40, 50). Enjoy! ***** "Can I get you more wine, my lord?" Lord Regaulfus Avila looked down at his glass, now only a sip or two from being empty. Wi...
Chapter 1 – Moving in - Sunday, November 13th My name is Patricia Teresa McKlellan, but my friends call me "PT". I was going through a dark time in my life. I had gotten fired from yet another dead-end job a few months ago. My self-confidence and enthusiasm were buried in a grave in the deep recesses of my psyche. The one bright spot in my life was serving...
+++++ Redeemers of the Fallen +++++ The following is my entry for the 2019 Halloween Story Contest. This is of course the sequel to the First Place winner from the 2016 contest, Sisters of the Fallen. While not strictly necessary to enjoy this new tale, I highly encourage you to read "Sisters" first so the personalities, histories, and motivations of the pr...
Hello All, I am Maximillian Excaliber and before the story I would like to tell you the importance of leaving feedback. As a writer, it is important to know how well or not well received a work is by received the target audience. Unlike movie and TV studios, we can not rely on focus groups to tell us how our work is being accepted. On this site, the mec...
I sat in the back of the Galaxy Club, moodily communing with Jack Daniels. It had been a rough day, culminating with my girlfriend moving out. I replayed our final conversation in my head. "What's going on?" I'd asked, coming home after a hard day's work running piping and installing the kitchen sinks and bathroom fixtures in a new restaurant going in on Cl...