Short Fiction

Jonathan D. Scott is the owner of a small advertising and graphic design firm in the Southeast. He is married with two daughters and is a very ordinary person, or at least appears so to the casual observer. (Originally appeared 2009-05-18)

Suspicious of magic, the mercenary soldier Raka keeps his distance from its practitioners as much as possible. Until the feeble old shaman named Ol' Bob gives him a trinket in thanks for a good deed and his opinion begins to change... (Originally appeared 2008-12-29)

Only vanity could induce the world's most infamous paranoid to trust the world's most notorious liar... (Originally appeared 2008-12-15)

Just because you're little doesn't mean everyone is going to protect you, and maybe if you've been entrusted with an important task, you shouldn't let yourself get sidetracked into another ... (Originally appeared 2008-05-26)

There's an emptiness in Jack Runner that nothing can fill. What was taken away from him can never return, but that doesn't stop it from haunting him every day of his life. The only one who understands that is about to die ... (Originally appeared 2007-04-23)

Why did 'Lord' Patu wear a .44 magnum revolver around the house? Why because he loves moles, of course. And why is the front of his chair cut up? Well, it has to do with how he dresses. Does any of that matter if the beer is good? (Originally appeared 2006-03-27)

Just one trip and he'll be able to retire planetside forever, never to set foot in a ship or be forced to endure his crewmates again. But, as one young traveler learns, spacer is a state of mind. (Originally appeared 2005-01-23)

The clarity of the water is incredible, mezmerizing -- but within it, what can be seen of one's soul..?

It hurt, the sunrise. It burned neither his skin, nor his eyes. But it did hurt, the sunrise...

Suddenly he's got it made ... and has the chance to crawl out of the grave he's dug for himself all those drunken years ...

Pale is the city with no hope, but is it possible to listen to your muse and try to create a haven in such a place?

The Man with a Problem has a solution ...

Who is this woman, and why has she suddenly taken my house by storm?

Suddenly the pieces of an relationship all fall into place ...

When all that is left is what needs to be, a kind of action may be ready to take place ...

When you're on the run, there's one sure place to get as safe as you can, and that would be Uncle Harry's place ...

Ah, Jannie Bez! That bulwark of helpfulness, that model soul of hospitality ...!

When Fate is so cruel for so long, you start to accept injustice as a matter of course. But there -- in the distance -- comes a new thought, an exotic thought, a life-changing thought ...

When the educational system insists on putting their "ideas" into everyone's head, it may well be time for education to take place outside the school room ...

Everyone wants a ticket for the journey... Tyler Garant is from Philadelphia, with plans to leave ASAP.

Jack Runner has a talent that the government wants hidden. The drugs he must take and the computer inside his head pretty much take care of that. But he has another talent, too ... but no government can stop him from finding trouble.

When you have someone willing to not only sell off the home planet, but also make family reunions into something even more than normally feared, you know hanging's too good for him ...

The dinner was heavenly, the location full of meaning, and the time was just right for that special gesture, those long-awaited words ...

Phillip Donnelly grew up in Dublin and currently lives in Vietnam. He has also lived in Barcelona, China, Moscow, Bangkok, Paris and elsewhere. He hopes to move to another planet at the earliest opportunity.

It started out as a simple camping trip ...

Now what do you have to live with, and what do you have to live without?

Barry Kirwan works in air traffic and nuclear power safety, and found non-fiction a lot easier to get published than fiction, but finally has his science fiction novel (The Eden Paradox) coming out as an ebook in Feb 2011 with publisher Ampichellis. This short story summarises what he wishes he'd known when starting out in fiction...

Madeleine has spurned Warren, but will she find someone her intellectual equal?

The lads are getting impatient, but Warren's story about misuse of medication is only getting to the good part ...