THE LAST OF HIS KIND, by Bill Ward: Desert winds churned around Tanout, and sand wraiths struck him to the earth.  On hands and knees, half-buried, blind, he fumbled toward his dead camel. A wraith twisted near, raked his face with granular claws, and gyred back into the howling storm. Another tugged his arm, trying […]

DEAD IN THE WATER, by Josh Wolf: We should have heeded Merlin, Gawain thought as the moon sank behind the trees. Across from him in the tiny coracle Lamorak and hulking Glachis snored like two metal clad bears in the darkness. The three of them were floating at the center of a small lake, held […]

SHADOWS FROM FIRELIGHT, by R. Michael Burns “The way of the samurai is to be found in death.”   — Yamamoto Tsunemoto, Hagakuré   The figure on the moon-viewing balcony of Yamagumo Castle might’ve been no more than a shadow but for the faintest shimmer of starlight in his dark, attentive eyes.  His face was […]

THE HAND OF AFAZ, by Euan Harvey Farid found the murderer huddled close to a small fire at the base of a scrawny tree. Firelight winked through the reeds, and Farid poled his raft in slowly, silent as a gar gliding through the water below. Drawing close, he slipped off his robe and slid naked […]

MONSTER IN THE MOUNTAINS, by William Gerke Head bowed, back bent, advancing step by laborious step, Gowther trudged onward even though he was nearly buried alive by snow. Makeshift snowshoes kept him from sinking completely, but it piled atop his shoulders and outstretched arms and clung to his wool cap, leather hood, and heavy scarf. […]