by Michael Kingswood It was a Thursday night, and the crowd in The Golden Harp was almost non-existent. Just Tim down at the corner of the bar farthest from the door, dressed as usual in plaid flannel and jeans and leaning over his half-full mug of beer like it held some deep dark secret, and…
Category: Fantasy
The Eternal Ride Of Brom Bones
by Michael Kingswood The sun was still shining when Brom emerged from his lair, wherever that was. The brightness of it flared across his vision, whiting the world out and rendering him able to perceive only the faintest of shadows as he took halting steps forward. Vague shapes—the trunks of trees, he thought—loomed all around,…
Warden’s Trial
by Michael Kingswood The humid air seemed to drag and flail, resisting being inhaled, as Patros made his way from his little cell in the trainees barracks and across the carefully-trimmed field of grass toward the testing ring. Five years he’d been here, at the martial academy. Five years of running and jumping and study…
Caledonia
by Michael Kingswood Saul looked through the scope on his rifle and grimaced. In the viewfinder, five times normal magnification, he saw a dozen grey-brown scaled and armored bodies, each with eight legs and four manipulator arms below an oval head with external mandibles and at least four visible eyes. They were moving in seemingly…
Miss Melody And The Knight Gallant
by Michael Kingswood Henry ran as hard as he could remember ever running. His heart pounded in his ears and his breaths came in gasps as he pushed himself to greater speed, but above even the cacophony of his racing pulse he could still hear the footfalls behind him, the mocking shouts as his pursuers…
Moonstruck
by Michael Kingswood The moon was a waxing gibbous, just a few days away from full. It shown down on the field where Susan lay with blue-white brilliance, giving the world a dull, mysterious illumination that hinted at mysteries almost uncovered. Secrets whispered in the shadows. She tucked her hands beneath her head and just…
Miss Melody And The Elf Spa
by Michael Kingswood Steph ran her left hand through her hair, and wished she hadn’t cut it short the previous week. She hadn’t realized how much just running her fingers through it, and then being able to give it a little tug—just a little—was soothing when she was irritated or upset. Now there was barely…
Work Release
by Michael Kingswood “I really don’t want to do this.” Billy looked across the drop ship to where the kid sat, strapped to his crash couch by a four-point sling of webbing, and could identify completely. The kid was young, maybe twenty years old. Brown-haired, with yellow-green eyes. In shape, but not bulky, and wearing…
A Man of Faith
by Michael Kingswood The shriek that left the girl’s mouth was guttural, profane, and inhuman. A roar from the Pit of Hell itself, something that her vocal cords could never have produced on their own. Joseph knew the sound well; he had been evoking it from demons for years. The girl was fifteen, wearing a…
VIP Treatment – A Dustin Cofield Adventure
by Michael Kingswood Most folks have heard the term “Christmas in July.” The suburban town where I’m stationed is run by smart-alecks, though, so Lockwood has “Christmas on the solstice.” Because symmetry of timing and rigid thinking. What most people don’t know is the concept, whether fun or annoyingly pedantic, derives from a real necessity…