The Sockdolager

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Stories appearing in Summer 2017

Chosen One

There's a lot of theories about how the Chosen One is chosen. Magickal talent is a big one, though in a few cases they have to lean on the latent pretty heavily. Reincarnation. Genetics.

A Look at the Rise of Jihyun "Sardonicus" Layne From Pirate to Chancellor Through the Official Communiques of Her Predecessor

As a slight aside, I have been receiving very colorful reports of piracy in the Callisto Corridor.

And Sneer of Cold Command

After it was over, the city squares began to boast statues of our conquerors—hasty, ugly things cast in brittle bronze.

A Day Without Gifts

First I heard the shots: three short whip-cracks of sound from the street outside my shop. I knew better than to run to the windows and look.

The Taste of Grief

Though the three men along the back wall were obviously military, they wore civilian suits. They were all Retcon: no mods, no visible tattoos, their hair in tight close braids.

Drawing Dead

Nine figures were seated around the arc of the green baize-topped poker table. All were wearing shades or else had mirror fields in front of their faces to hide their tells, but I knew their eyes were on me, standing across from them.

Fire Rode the Cold Wind

The brown woman came to Vrau from the sky, without a name of her own.

Man-Size

Things Amy and I wanted to do before she started going out with Ted: start a band, write a comic book or maybe a webcomic (Amy’s art, my words), get an apartment together (when we go to college), go to Ireland, go to Paris, go to Prague…

In the Land of Gods and Monsters

On the first day of summer in the Year of the Hawk, when the wind came hot and dry from the west and the fat red sun stood high overhead in a pale blue sky, the fists of the Titans rained down like hammers on the City of the Gods.

New Lamps for Old

The beach at Foteris was the grandest resort in the kingdom of Avelar. There was a western-style arcade fifty feet from the water, fifteen restaurants, a promenade, and a wide stretch of sand, suitable for bathing.

We Came Here to Make Friends

The first three months of year one we spent holed away at our camp. We stayed out of their territory. We printed up drones shaped like indigenous wildlife, to get closeup views of them.