DRAGON TEARS, by Caleb Williams, pending artwork by Simon Walpole   An elbow struck my side and woke me from an alchemical slumber. My limbs were bound to the mast of some ragged naval vessel. A boy held tight to the rigging. “Sorry. Captain orders.” Across the sea, royal ships from Alma’Riha shot fireworks across […]

THE CURSE OF BLOODBONE ISLAND, by Adrian Cole, artwork by Miguel Santos A tale of Elak’s Atlantis Prologue   Under the watchful eye of the Atlantean moon, the Arrow, a sleek privateer craft, was at rest at the quayside of the small port of Ulumar, far from the main sea lanes of the young Empire. […]

THE CANDLE-MAKER AND HER KNIGHTS QUESTING, by Kelly Peach, with audio by The Bard     The candle-maker wears a silken gown Of blackest ink and broidered gibbous moons And shiver sta rs. The candles, lowered down With supple wrist while humming mirthless tunes, Are dipped in iron vat of paraffin, Some bacon fat, and […]

SHY DAISIES, by Gretchen Tessmer, with artwork by Andrea Alemanno     She’s muttering to herself oh, clasp these hands together before we’re all done in— keep them steady keep them still don’t shiver even as the woods dress in winter-white all their apple seeds and maple saplings close to the chest, sleeping under this […]

The Portrait of the Bold Captain, by Deborah L. Davitt, artwork by Karolína Wellartová     Every portrait is a lesson in what the portrayed wishes you to see take this one hanging here, the bold and doughty captain his falcon on his shoulder, a sword at one hip, a book hanging from a baldric […]