Short Fiction

When family members visit, there's bound to be griping, gossip, and conversations about "what-is-your-hand-painted-on-so-you-can't-write-more-often?" But when the family member is also your boss, you know something's up, just like when you smell smoke, you know there's a fire somewhere ...

They told me it was the best thing I could possibly do for myself, and yet it took literally years before I could find the motivation to make the Big Step...

When betrayal and cruelty are the hands on the potter's wheel, the resulting vessel will take on a sadly distorted shape, and hold depths of pain. Poured out, the contents will drench all...

When you're behind the big desk, you call the shots. When you're in front of the big desk, there isn't much you can do but say, "Yes sir." On the other hand, who bothers to scrutinize the little guy?...

I suppose I should have been thankful for the holiday. Normally, people would have been driving to work, delivering supplies, and making all the noises that come with the start of the new day. Most of them would have wondered what this crazy woman was doing standing in the middle of a traffic circle wearing only a towel.

A prologue to all the Aser stories. The lands of Ur, the seven Clans, and a creation story about the origins of birds and their gifts.

It was too late. No matter what he did or where he tried to hide, Jack Runner had been infected with cooties. The three girls who had cornered him giggled and jeered, sing-songing, "You go - ott cooties!" over and over. Jack was horrified.

Tommy had eyes only for her, a passion, a partner ... a purpose...

Can you bring yourself to believe that the Universe is a place with order and purpose? That what seems cruel or unfair may be part of a greater plan? That misfortune and desperation may even be what draw you along to be where you actually need to be?

Ask a smartass Ur-Jennan a question and get an involuntary education. Aser expounds on the origin of silk.

It was the night Andrea spent all month dreading. The strange affliction overshadowed her with its power, and the consequences might follow her until the next full moon ...

A day a little different from any other; a day no different than any other. A day to reach out in kindness; a day to turn away from the darkness of the past. Each day is like that, making a decision to be as good as you know the rest of the world wants you to be ...

Battered and blood-soaked, mortally weary and nearly dead, Jynx, Kaine, Kumiko, and Iai struggle to regain their strength, for in spite of the defeat of the Star-Demons, the battle for the Leylines of Phoenix is still looming over them like an evil shadow filling the sky ...

No liquor, no elf sex, and no worries. Sometimes you don't need all the extra stuff that complicates your life and gives you stress-wrinkles.

She had no idea what to tell him or what to say to him, she couldn't feel more unequal to what lay ahead. He wasn't quite sure what he could tell her. They hoped that the love they shared would be enough to carry them through this meeting ...

Battered and blood-soaked, mortally weary and nearly dead, Jynx, Kaine, Kumiko, and Iai struggle to regain their strength, for in spite of the defeat of the Star-Demons, the battle for the Leylines of Phoenix is still looming over them like an evil shadow filling the sky ...

Set yourself on the auction block. What is it that makes you a marketable item?

People go to memorial sites to remember the past, but for a secret psychic like Jack Runner, the past is quite visible and overwhelmingly present.

In life, in personal relationships, every second counts. Often we don't believe that ... until it's too late.

Aser and Margot are trying to figure out what to do with their tagalong Melody. The only problem is, Melody wants to figure this out for herself.

There are beliefs that are unshakable. These require no act of faith; they are simply there, from the heart out, and no argument or gesture or demonstration can disprove them, not even when the believer wants desperately to be convinced that things can be different ...

Sometimes you start out on the wrong foot, and hope for a way to put things right. And if you can't, you at least hope no one has anything to throw at you.

Are words only words, or can they be something more? And is a gesture only a gesture, or can it be a statement of belief? And who is it who really has the right to decide what meanings words or gestures have for each person?

You know how they say "The first step's a doozy?" Well it's a piece of cake until you decide to put the next step in front of the first.

What is art? Is it only the things that end up in a museum? Only the things that can be sold in a reputable house? What about the crayon scrawl that a mother carefully saves because it was the first drawing her child made, with colors so bold and beautiful? What about the thoughts that occur in measured order, flowing from a pen onto paper, portrait of the shadows of a heart?

Well, yeah, we knew what we were doing! Or did we? Good intentions sometimes have to backtrack for practicalities. Oh, and did we mention that wizards are jerks?

Three star demons are waiting; they know that their time has come, that their strength in combination can destroy the angel-fool who will try to stop them, alone, to try to save the ones he loves...

In the great square of the western plaza in the mountain city of Shaddir, a story-teller gives a history lesson that may or may not be largely hearsay. So what does a crowd want, the McNeil-Lehrer Report?

Waking exhausted from an uneasy sleep, the worst thing for the sleeper to find out is that there is no escape ...

David Lignell lives with his wife Colleen and their family in Lawrence, Kansas. He is an active member of Pam Casto's flash-fiction workshop listserv.