The Automaton’s Treasure

I sat on the deck of the Ocean’s Rose with the only book I’d managed to shove in my trunk before I had to leave my homeland forever: an illustrated history of the Qilari swamps.

Published by Strange Chemistry. 2 May 2013. Available here.

The Witch’s Betrayal

When I stepped out of the shadows, the scent of night-blooming flowers slammed into me. I wasn’t expecting a garden, not this far into the desert, and the sight of it put me on edge. Everything about this commission suggested it was simple, routine — but these flowers spoke of magic.

Published by Strange Chemistry. 22 January 2013. Available here.

Blood and Saltwater

Luis let Marja kill the seagull before he asked his question. She did it fast, chopping the head off with one cut. Blood splashed into the plastic bucket at her feet. She kept her face blank but Luis knew it bothered the shit out of her.

Published in Stupefying Stories. 5 November 2012. Available here

Clem

When Clem died, I took to eating my lunch in the office with the computer. No one ever went down there except Clem. I couldn’t stand the thought of the break room, all the conversation stopping when I appeared in the doorway.

Published in Daily Science Fiction. 2 March 2012. Read here.

Farrago

They had a new girl working the shoe rental. As Henry paid the twenty bucks for his three rounds (the owner liked him, liked that he was a cop, so he gave Henry a discount), the girl glided in front of the row of shoes, passing it over with the buzzing decontamination stick, the glow staining her hands pale blue.

Published in The Colored Lens. 18 March 2012. Read here.

Ecosystem

I work on the seventh floor of an office building in downtown. The city is new, and all the buildings are made of glass and metal and they shine like broken mirrors in the summer sun. I’m a secretary for an engineering firm, although my official title is administrative assistant.

Published in Newmyths.com. 6 March 2012. Read here.

Hooked

Mr. Grish, you have asked me to come forth on the matter of my illegal work with the New York Stock Exchange at the end of the last decade, and my association with the famed financier Harry Feverlot — and although you did not mention it forthright, I imagine some unseemly part of you wants to hear about my association with Mr. Feverlot’s young mistress, Lily Novacek.

Published in Digital Science Fiction Anthology 4: Heir Apparent. 12 November 2011. Available here.

The Space Between Stars

They used to let me fly into Las Vegas on Fridays, for the weekend. Twenty minutes skimming just below the surface of the air before descending into the grid of neon lights that blinked and shimmered in the disappearing daylight.

Published in Strange Horizons under Cassandra Clarke. 10 January 2011. Read here.

The Cowboy’s Wife

Sometimes the vaqueros like to sit in clumps together and tell ghost stories in Spanish. You know some Spanish from growing up on the border and from the words Maria taught you, to bring you closer to her world, after she crossed the river for you.

Published in Zahir Issue 19 under Cassandra Clarke. Summer 2010. Available here