RETURN TO THE TOWER, by Harry Piper, Audio by The Bard   I was born in his shadow, in a sense, though I suppose we all were; the sorcerer’s great tower of silvered glass threw its shade across our valley, across our village and across every man, woman and child who lived there. The name […]

DRAGON BAIT, by Ray Daley, Art by Karolína Wellartová       In hindsight, I should have realised it was going to happen, sooner rather than later. If I had been able to come to that conclusion, I could have been raking it in, hand over fist. Of course, it took a knight to notice. […]

ARABELLA AND THE KRAKEN KING, by Gretchen Tessmer, Art by Andrea Alemanno     the captain’s widow is mad with grief her dress stained in saltwater spray her skin glowing blue-violet in moonlight and sparks from the mast St. Elmo’s fire hovers in her hair drenched, unpinned wild and everywhere, in static strands like tentacles […]

THE LAST KING OF MERCIA,  by David Barber, Artwork by Miguel Santos   The old king is dying. Around the death bed his brood of sons wait their chance to seize the crown. The Witan divided. Words spoke in secret. The treasure room keys, hard glint of silver. Pouncing on weakness, Welsh raid the border. Kinfolk […]

NIGHTMARE VOYAGES, by Jennifer Crow, Art by Gary McClusky     On the storm’s third night, winds howling through torn sails and waves washing across the tilted deck, the sleepless crew stumbles from rail to line as the captain screams with profane desperation into the teeth of the gale. None of the men has seen […]