Stories tagged as "Contemporary".
How far would you go to save a sick dog? However far, Grace will go further. Even if it means traveling to the gates and facing the terror that is awakening there.
First published in Black Static, Issue 8, December 2008.
“I saw her first the day I found Dad on the kitchen floor. The new girl. The wild girl.
“At first I thought Dad had been drinking again. There were beer cans scattered across the floor. But the cans were still full, and I couldn’t smell alcohol.”
First published in Realms of Fantasy, February 2005.
Never underestimate the power of a story.
Claire Harris is an old hand at disrupting fairy tales. It’s just a shame that this one had to happen when she’s on her day off and hungover. But the Path doesn’t wait, Claire is the only specialist on hand, and this time it may not be as straightforward as she has been expecting.
First published in At the Gates and Other Stories, 2021.
In Uncle Vernon’s garden, the river of stars might sweep you away. Satyrs weave tales on looms made of moonbeams. Worlds fall and die in every single teardrop. And Uncle Vernon tells stories that can’t possibly be true. But hidden in those stories is the single lie that will break Benji’s heart.
First published in Realms of Fantasy, February 2006.
In the rainforest, there is love and magic, jealousy and romance, hope and fear. Now the road is coming, and everything will change, forever.
First published in Ideomancer Unbound, December 2002.
“Tam found the fossil jutting from the crumbling slope above the lake…”
But is the fossil a dinosaur or a dragon? Things are changing for Tam. His parents are acting strangely, and he no longer knows whether to believe in the fantasies he once did.
First published in Realms of Fantasy, August 2005.
Sam’s brother was shot down over France in 1943. Now it’s 2010 and Sam is still searching for his lost brother, and for a dream of flags fluttering over crumbling castle walls. Now his search is coming to its end, and somewhere, hidden, Camelot is waiting.
First Published in Interzone, Issue 230, September / October 2010.
Jamie Barton’s life is in ruin. He is unemployed and his wife has just left him after fifteen years. In despair, he returns to the abandoned industrial estate where he used to work. But when he meets an unusual woman there, everything will change, and not just for him.
First published in Strange Horizons, 6 June 2005.
For twenty five years, since the death of his lover, Thomas Carlyle has drifted from dead-end job to dead-end job. But when he meets a stranger on the underground, and the stranger tells him a secret, he can ignore his grief no longer.
Somewhere, no more than a pen stroke away, his past may be waiting… in Finisterre.
First published in The Third Alternative, Issue 34, Spring 2003.
Cameron, Marcy, and Frank are archaeologists working to reconstruct a stone age village and burial mound in Cornwall, England. But Cameron is still grieving over the death of his son, and, as the anniversary of his son’s death draws closer, Cameron will find echoes of the same grief, far in the past.
The distant past may be closer than Cameron realizes, and two fathers are searching for a release.
First published in Realms of Fantasy, December 2002.
Once, long ago, four friends made a terrible mistake that ruined their friendship. Now they are meeting up again for the first time since. The old resentments may remain, but that’s all that does, and the past may not be the way they remember it.
First published in Interzone, Issue 215, March 2008.
From the moment they met, Ralph has always believed what his wife once told him, that she was the queen of the fairies. But now she has left him.
Together with his daughter, Bonnie, Ralph takes a trip to discover who his wife really was and where she came from. Neither of them are prepared for what they find.
First published in Realms of Fantasy, December 2005.
Cameron Everett hasn’t seen his high-school girlfriend for twelve years when they meet in the queue of a cafe. But both of them have followed very different paths since, and this meeting isn’t an accident. If he can’t convince her that his is the right way, Cameron may not walk away from this.
First Published in Realms of Fantasy, June 2011.
Srilal doesn’t know why his wife has left him. He doesn’t know what he’s done wrong. The five gifts that appear on his doorstep are a message, but can he understand it before the war in the north calls him, and it is too late?
First published in Strange Horizons, 9 June 2003.
“Moderate learning disabilities, he says. Schizoaffective disorder, autistic spectrum disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, epilepsy, depressive psychosis. Well, Keith, he says. Looks like you’ve got a pretty good bundle there.
“The nurse behind him gives me a nice smile. I like her. She’s very pretty.
“Got a cold, I say.
“He raises an eyebrow. He’s laughing at me and thinking I don’t realize it. He thinks I’m stupid.”
First published in Abyss & Apex, Issue 14, 2nd Quarter 2005.