I understand in that moment. She isn’t a monster. That is a lie from the gods, a deception initiated by Hera. Medusa is no monster. She is a woman trapped in the webs of those who envy her beauty. For the gods prize beauty above justice or mercy, and it…
Simon Alexander was the sort of man who left the library with a volume of Pushkin, Churchill’s The Gathering Storm, Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 10, A Brief History of Time, and “G” is for Gumshoe, and returned them a week later, each read cover to cover. The library could not keep…
There was a second sun once, a pale sister who mused quietly over the earth when her older sister sank into her bed. You see the evening star there? It’s about the only one you can see anymore, unless you drive for miles and hike deep into the wilderness that…
I used to open the fortune cookies at Chinese restaurants just like everyone else. You know, you read the fortune, if it even is a fortune anymore and not just some pithy bit of half-wisdom. “You will succeed in business,” you know, that’s how fortunes used to read, and you…
The casket was closed, the room empty except for a lone man sitting on a chair in the first row. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, fingers in his thick black beard. He stared at the box that held his son, as motionless as the one within. A tall,…
You are alive. You are no longer young, but you are not yet old. You are at the height of your physical power; your mind is sharp, and the flightiness of adolescence has faded. You are working, you are rising, you are investing. Your spouse is beautiful. You love her…
This story was written from a prompt from my daughter Serenity. She drew a picture of Princess Piggob, the half-pig half-goblin princess of Dill Pickleville and asked people to write a story about her. Here’s mine. His name was Galumf, and he was a hunter. He hunted any kind of…
Below, light shimmered and flashed between a thousand panes of glass, coming from nowhere and reflecting from everywhere. Alicia squinted, turning her face upward to the boundless dark that enveloped the space, as if the corridors of brilliance hung suspended in the void. Which, to be honest, they probably did….
Paran walked along the long, dusty road beneath a brutal sun. There was singing in the fields nearby. Men and women were gathering in the wheat, their voices strong beneath the cloudless sky. He knew the songs. His lips twitched to the words one could not quite decipher at this…
It was not much warmer in the hole he had dug for himself than it was outside it, but he eventually managed to control his convulsions. His teeth still chattered if he didn’t force them shut. He was as small as he could make himself, and he was starting to…
“Are you comfortable?” “Yes,” Albert said. “The nurses explained the procedure to your satisfaction? Any questions?” “No, I don’t think so.” “All right. I’m going to lean you back now. If you ever want me to stop, just tell me. You’re in control here.” “This is my first time” Albert…
The princess in the tower was beautiful, which was one of the reasons men made the arduous journey across the sun-scorched ruins to the monolithic stone that entombed her. Those that survived the trials, which were numerous and cunning, arrived in her suite, a colorful and well-furnished space that nevertheless…