Weird Fiction for the Bold
“Everything’s half off,” an old woman growls from the porch. Krystal offers a quick smile that turns to a grimace as she turns back to her son. The woman gives her the creeps–an unfiltered cigarette dangling from colorless lips, her face a spider web of wrinkles, and a filthy house dress clinging to her sagging,…
(knock knock)
It was maddening. And, at the same time, oddly comforting.
(knock knock)
Every 25 seconds like clockwork, she rapped softly on the trap door above me. Never louder or quieter, never one knock or three. Two knocks every 25 seconds.
The old cowboy’s silhouette danced on sandstone behind him as he turned over and regarded the younger man across the fire. “Come sun up, you and me’ll head into town and see what’s what.” The younger man grumbled an affirmative and nodded off almost immediately. His dreams were dark and foggy, with vague images of…
The evening sky fades to navy. Venus hangs low on the Eastern horizon and Sagittarius spreads above it, barely visible in the gloaming. The breeze is cool and dry and carries a hint of woodsmoke from somewhere out of sight. It ruffles the young man’s black hair, which shoots askew from his pale scalp, swinging…
I HANDED QUEEN CYNDRA her goblet and stepped back, my eyes demurely downcast. She didn’t spare me a glance and never had. As assistant to the apprentice cupbearer, I was invisible in a royal court filled with advisors, courtiers, and clerks all squabbling to be seen. I floated from the shadows when my duty required…