An Anthology of Dragons is a dragon-themed collection of short stories and poetry. A collection of haiku describes a battle between a dragon and a knight, and a more modern style of poem describes searching for a dragon in the modern world. The four ...
: A short story made up of a series of linked vignettes describing cyclic battles and aftermaths in fantasy, pseudo-contemporary, and science fiction settings. Approximately 3,000 words in length, A Window on Salukia is included in An Anthology of Ba...
Jessica is out of work and in desperate need of a job. When fashion company, Dragon Coast, start advertising vacancies, she decides to aim high and then work her way down the list, with unexpected results.Dragon Coast is a 1,400-word short story that...
When I was young, I thought I had a dragon watching over me... and then I grew up, and put all such nonsense behind me. Everyone can make mistakes.The Dragon in my Shadow is just over 5,000-words long. It can be purchased individually, here, or as pa...
A knight's squire tells a fireside tale about a blind bard who meets a dragon.Everything has its Price is a short story of approximately 3,000 words. It may be purchased individually, here, or as part of An Anthology of Dragons, which contains other ...
Erin writes of her earthbound memories of an interplanetary war, of the fate of a war hero, and of the start of re-building. Approximately 5,000 words in length, Jacob’s Vision is included in An Anthology of Battle, which contains additional materi...
Rashkah’s mother is mourning the death of Rashkah’s last surviving brother when the raiders attack their village. This short piece explores what happens immediately after. Approximately 1,200 words long, A Vignette for Rashkah is included in the ...
When Denie discovers her lover Nicola has been murdered, she turns to the secretive inhabitants of the night to help her avenge Nicola's death. Shadow Life is a short story in the contemporary paranormal urban genre. Approximately 5,250 words long, S...
An Anthology of Those Who Walk Among Us is a collection of short stories about creatures passing as humans in human settings, each of which is available individually. Stories cover a range of genres from paranormal urban to science fiction to magic r...
Peace Flower is a short fantasy story set in a time of war and change. Shoru is descended from a long line of sorceresses, once valued for their skills. How they are viewed in the future, depends on the battle’s outcome. It is approximately 3,350 w...
Treaty Time is a short science fiction story that continues the story of human settlement started in ‘Nothing’. In this tale, both humans and shifters discover they are not alone, and that some memories are inherited. It is approximately 3,250 wo...
A single, gold coin that no one seems to want lies seemingly forgotten on a pavement. My only hope is for someone to pick it up. Please, let someone pick it up.Finders-Keepers is a vignette on waiting. It is approximately 1800 words long, and is the ...
The Mythicus is crewed by creatures of myth and legend, fairytale and urban lore. In this short episode, it and its crew pursue a space pirate until a small team must continue the pursuit on planet. With its firestarter captain and a defense system t...
Chani dreams of the ritual of Severance, which allows her to leave her people's homeland, but when the company she works for moves to take her people's lands, she is exactly where she needs to be. All she has to do is convince Security Officer Asleya...
n Anthology of Battle Short: contains 4 short stories and 3 poems about war and the aftermath of war. Stories cover a range of genres: one is near-future contemporary in setting, another traverses three settings, and two more a science fiction pieces...
An Anthology of Worlds is the fourth book in the Simpson Anthology series. It contains stories of a pirate hunt among the stars, a simple gold coin that acts as a gate to other worlds, a teenager haunted by an elven prince, the truth about banshees i...
All is not well in the suburb of Nettlefold Hollow. Amity sees shadows and refuses to go out at night, much to the amusement of her friends, but when she goes missing on her way home from school, everyone becomes wary of the dark. When her best frien...
Screams for the Dying is a short science fiction story that blends myth, fantasy and science fiction. In the time in which this short story is set, banshees and star ships are real, and so are a lot of other things. It is approximately 2,500 words lo...
When the two halves of her soul rejoin, Linna finds herself in a city she does not recognize on a world she thought existed only in her imagination. To make matters worse, the god she serves has rejected her and she is captured and sold to four princ...
Transported to a world she’d thought she’d created, Linna discovers she has had two lives, all her life: one in a land of fantasy, and one in the world we know. When her god rejects her, and four princes of a distant land take her captive, Linna ...
When the gods discover an ancient power has suborned a king, and now menaces their domains, they must find agents to act on their behalf. Will a goddess’s temper over losing a favorite to the cause stand in their way? Or the capture of one of their...
When the grass in one of her uncle's fields starts to die, Amanda tries to work out why, but her uncle only sees stones, where she sees fragments of pottery. In a war as old as time, will Amanda convince her uncle of the truth, and remain unscathed, ...
Abselia has traveled a long way to reach the trading town. Shadows move at her arrival, and light shimmers in dismay. Can Light’s champion find the Shadow stronghold, and solve the puzzle of Shadow’s strength, this time, or is she doomed to failu...
Danzer is a VR combat star. Unfortunately, somebody wants him dead. Is it a private vendetta from someone he’s defeated, a disgruntled fan, or someone else entirely. Whoever they are, their poetry stinks, but its meaning is clear. Security personne...
Corporate Loyalty is an short pseudo-science adventure a la the 1950’s. Its science is unlikely; its people and their motivations are not.When a leading ‘bug’ researcher is returned to normal size early, he discovers the science which alters hi...
Shadow Trap is the second novel in the Shadow series trilogy. Exchanged by the gods, so he can better suit their purpose, thargramorg priest Gilzereet Urkhrist must now travel to the distant realm of Thargood in order to discover the Old One’s pris...
All her life Lily has prepared herself for taking over the family farm. The property talks to her, the animals and plants thrive under her care, and even the old tractor bends to her will. Her brothers have other careers planned, and help Lily positi...
When an Arach raiding party attacks a wagon train and moves on to take on the next town, Dannon is part of the out-riders who must clean up in their wake. The dead girl on the wagon is just one of many reasons he doesn’t like spiders, or the elves ...
When Larias, god of problem-solving and secrets, flies over the forbidden lands of the elves, he only hopes to discover what force is powerful enough to breach the elven magic protecting the forest. What he finds, instead, is a battle in which he is ...
Forced to flee with her village, priestly apprentice, Althessa, discovers that danger comes in many guises and salvation is often unexpected. When their undead pursuers are slain by an unknown force, Althessa assists her mistress in consecrating thei...
Shadow’s Fall is the third and final novel in the Shadow series trilogy. This tale contains strong elements of horror, following the path of a small group of heroes who must work together to prevent an ancient evil’s escape. High Priest Urkhrist ...
Preparing for a new era in his life, the wizard Gulvane walks the corridors of his mind, remembering the eras locked behind three doors. Forester, Fighter, Assassin. Behind each door lie the memories and skills of who and what he used to be, inaccess...
Of Hunters and the Color Blue is the first short story to be found in The Loft Anthology. It is also available as a stand-alone short story.A letter reveals the writer’s love for her daughter, and her reasons for leaving the child behind. It is a t...
This is a collection of all the short stories C.M. Simpson published and wrote in 2012. Many of these pieces can be found in earlier anthologies or on C.M. Simpson’s blog, but some have not previously been published. Genres range from paranormal ur...
This is a collection of all the short stories C.M. Simpson published and wrote in 2012. Many of these pieces can be found in earlier anthologies or on C.M. Simpson’s blog, but some have not previously been published. Genres range from paranormal ur...
Stiletto’s Luck is about an assassin dealing with the consequences of having a name more associated with a girl.They could have called him Scimitar, Blade or Dagger, but, no, his parents had to call him Stiletto. Stiletto did the only thing he coul...
Death Comes in Bone is a dark fantasy short story about a skeletal assassin.Murdered by his closest friend, Tanag is not surprised to wake and find himself dead. He is surprised, however, that others have come to the caves hidden not so far from what...
Axes, swords, knives, cursed, blessed or from the Otherlands, this anthology is all about things that cut, slice, dice or amputate. From a buried blade housing one of the protagonists of an ancient battle, to axes wielded by a barbarian at the crossr...
Science fiction, fantasy, dark fantasy, speculative fiction and a touch of horror, this collection plays with just about every genre I could lay my hands on. In it, I explore new worlds, new settings and some ideas that just needed to be gotten out o...
This year’s anthology consists of all the short stories and poems that I created, or discovered in my files and rewrote in 2013, regardless of whether or not they were released. The tales are taken from completed anthologies, and anthologies to com...
Last year’s anthology consisted only of the short stories and poems published in 2012. This year’s anthology consists of all the short stories and poems that I created, edited or rewrote in 2013, regardless of whether or not they have been releas...
There comes a time when a young person has to decide which path they’re going to take. There comes a time when conflicting tides of family influence break against the shores of the future and the first step towards independence must be taken. Basof...
Last year’s anthology consisted only of the short stories and poems published in 2012. This year’s anthology consists of all the short stories and poems that I created, edited or rewrote in 2013, regardless of whether or not they have been releas...
In a world where trolls can invade a castle from the inside, an interstellar prince finds he’s not the only one who can fire a sun-cannon, and the princess discovers she isn’t the only one who needs rescuing.Hammer and the Trolls is a tale of sci...
A collection of flash fiction, short stories, poems and essays where social commentary rubs shoulders with zombies, where poems both celebrate and criticise yearly celebrations and where short stories blend genres, where inspiration is usually ground...
The sun was setting and the trolls were out when we discovered the chapel. From the get-go it seemed almost too good to be true, but we needed refuge from the trolls. Between them, the dust smugglers, the pixie and the unicorns, we mighta bitten off ...
A collection of flash fiction, short stories, poems and essays where science fiction explores future possibilities and tragedies, where hopes and dreams are held and lost, and where cyberware stands alongside shapeshifters and starships. The poems he...
When planet-colonist, Joaquin, takes his daughter, Ry, into the autumn forest to show her the danger lurking amongst the trees, he does not expect to end the day fleeing for his life, nor does he think he can discover more about the spider-like orsov...
When werewolf, Chitin’s, nightly solitude is interrupted by a small child seeking his help, he does not suspect that her plea will touch his dreams for the world of his ancestors. He is determined to refuse her, but she is just as determined to gai...
When Tischa escapes from a warehouse of crooks bent on doing evil to boxes of mice, she’s only trying to escape. She doesn’t expect to encounter unicorns, or fairies, or a hot-looking elf that looks like he’s stepped straight off a movie set. C...
When a mysterious pod is found on the moon, and an alien emerges, the press have a field day.This science-fiction short story is a first-contact tale that explores the relationship of the press to politics and to reality....
When Ramana Dewarth sneaks aboard a shuttle being taken on an illegal research mission, she gets into more trouble than she ever thought possible -- and the space pirates weren’t the worst of it.This science fiction short story takes us on another ...
Jamie has two names, and a whole bunch of secrets that she keeps from everyone, including her employer, Odyssey -- which is no mean feat, given what that company does -- but, when a mission takes her to Askreya, she has to deal with an old dilemma, a...
Vortex travel -- you don’t ask, and I won’t screw up the explanation; closest thing I can get to it is that I pilot a transdimensional skipping stone through the edge of a vortex from one point in space to another, and it gets you where you want ...
When Melerom escapes the aftermath of his people’s massacre of the humans on Jehornak, he sets himself up as a wealthy wanderer on the Odyssey luxury liners, and acquires the one thing every gentleman needs -- a valet -- but when his valet begins s...
People are disappearing on the close archaeological world of Jehornak, including an Odyssey operative’s sister, but that’s not why he’s there. It seems other people have gone missing, too, people with relatives rich enough to pay Odyssey to dis...
When his flying ship, the Red Horizon, was shot down, Tescher told no-one he had a woman on board. Three years later, he returns to the ship wreck and finds Marianna not only survived the crash, but left him a message. She found what she was looking ...
What do you do when your brother betrays you, and you end up on another world, in the employ of a company whose recruiting methods leave a lot to be desired? Well, I guess you keep your head down, while you try to figure out a way to get back home.An...
When Grey, the colony’s Head Botanist, disappears, Kiralee worries. When he has not returned after five months, she goes looking for him, for Grey is more than chief botanist, Grey is a storyteller at heart, a believer in the importance of the tale...
It was meant to be a surprise for Allan’s farewell, but the only person who got surprised was me. And the only farewell I was lookin’ at was my own, which just shows it’s never a good idea to look too closely at your heroes -- even when you’r...
I hate camp. Every year yada yada yada. The only bright point is Luka, the Wild Man of Camp Mellinjo, an orphan and a stray grown up. When he bolts out of camp with the ook on his tail, I take off to see if I can save him, yet again -- and that’s w...
I grew up with the White Pinnacle always on my horizon. It was the first thing I saw in the morning and the last thing I saw at night. Was it connected to me not being allowed to go to sea like the rest of my siblings, and why my father refused to te...
Hani is surprised when his wife joins him on the journey to barter for spider silk, moreso when she brings their children. Nothing, however, prepares him for what the children do when they meet the spider queen....
I don’t remember how I got in the alley, at least, not when I first wake up -- and I don’t remember the names of these friendly faces making sure I’m okay, but it’s coming back. I just wish it would come back faster, because one of these face...
When the battlespike Oliver is flying is hit as he seeks shelter in the warp, life as he knows it ends. On the other side of the warp waits a new world, a new life, and whole new set of dangers, and Oliver is going to have to pick things up fast, if ...
When Jervis’s son has a melt-down at school, and takes on partial wolf form, it’s just a normal family crisis, but when the nurse warns that anti-Lupine activists have the family’s name on a hit-list, Jervis needs to get them off the moon -- an...
Sandfire is a dragon, a guardian of the mountains, and a servant of the Gatekeepers. It is her duty to collect those the Gatekeepers designate seekers and bring them to her masters. The only problem is that the latest seeker doesn’t want to go. Ves...
I’d always considered myself one of the lucky ones, lucky that the slavers had taken me and left my family, lucky to have found a master as kind as the one I had, just… lucky, so, when my master asked me to ride one of the many-legged spurline on...
When the plane carrying P.O.S. Officer Schaeffer goes down, it’s no accident. She and her partner lose the prisoner they’re escorting to trial, and the local elves nearly lose their lives protecting the unicorns and a grove of dryads. With the ai...
The legends hinted at some kind of dinosaur. Oliver hoped it was a new species, and he had Nate believing him. Together, they hope to circumvent the prohibitions of intruding on a sacred site, to prove the creature existed -- and all without their bo...
Someone had to go to the old ship -- not because the colony was sick, but because the colony was dying, and the reason why was locked inside the transport’s hulk. Someone had to go out to where the ship had crashed, out into the dark, and past the ...
A collection of flash fiction, short stories, poems and essays where the genres of fantasy and urban fantasy explore depression, fear, facing the unexpected, and working through difficult situations. It is of adapting to a changing world, to dealing ...
When Lorellan Cartwright finds buying back the woman he loves an impossible task, he promptly steals her away, but escaping from the criminally minded third duke of Aristoc and reaching a place of safety are two very different things. And stealing fr...
A collection of flash fiction, short stories, poems and essays where the genres of fantasy and urban fantasy explore depression, fear, facing the unexpected, and working through difficult situations. It is of adapting to a changing world, to dealing ...
Seventh sons and space colonies, bird flu and poetry from the stars, flying ships, early Australia and fairy, pixies and elves in modern urbania, all can be found in this collection of poems and tales....
Knocking over those crates of beer was a death sentence. I did it on purpose, in front of everyone, and then I did the only thing I could -- I ran. I think I saved the starman. Now, the only way I’ll know, is if the supply ship comes in time to dri...
Esmeralda and the Breeze: is a short story in the magic realism genre centered around a young woman finding her place in a world that largely rejects her. It is approximately 1,800 words in length. This short story is the third story in An Anthology ...
On Canon V, the colonists live underground -- those that can, anyway. Those that are born unable, I help guide to the surface, and then I try to warn them of the creatures that come from beyond the rifts. Some listen. Most run away screaming. With th...
When Aggie Dormain arrives in Canberra to paint some old diggers, she does not expect to meet an out-of-work archaeologist investigating an alien conspiracy, much less to be pulled into an adventure that would give Indiana Jones a run for his money. ...
So, we’ve done this job, and I’m checking our tails are clear, and I find they’re not -- and then I find the only way to kick clear is to find the Cloud Door. Only trouble is the Cloud Door’s a legend, and Mack? Well, he’s not too fond of c...
Inside these covers is a short story for every day of the leap year, some of which tell of the fantastic, others which take us to the stars and a myriad of other world, and still others that horrify with creeping tales of the undead. Every story is a...
Mankind has legends of intelligent serpents, dragons and vampires in almost every culture, and now mankind is out amongst the stars. When an emergent psi of lizardine-human descent dreams of a many-legged threat and serpents walking the skies, mankin...
Never get involved with the Otherworld Fey. Take my word for it. I saved the Queen of Summer, and was betrothed to a lord of Winter by way of thanks -- and then the human underworld got involved. So what do I do, when every choice is bad? What would ...
I woke up in a car—upside down, staring into the faces of a half dozen pixies sitting on a tree branch. To one side, was a cliff face, to the other, sky, and things were starting to shift. Apparently, I’d had an interesting night… i...
Not all vampires feed on blood. The ones we hunt take your memories before they take your life -- and now they are hunting back. We’ve been compromised, and I don’t know who to trust. That comes later. Right now, I just want to make it back to my...
When the contract’s done, and you’re fleeing for your life, the company’s supposed to be on your side, right? Am I right? So, you tell me what happens when the company understands the contract wrong, and you get stuck somewhere you really don...
I ran away from home to find a better life -- not be forced into one. You can call me picky, but a girl likes to be asked if she wants to work for you, not coerced -- and Odyssey should know better. Now, I have to find a way to kick free -- of Odysse...
Life’s not fair, when you have to find a fiancé or risk setting your kingdom up for a fall. It’s not fair, when your dead lover comes to call, assassins in his wake, and your dead maid by his side. And it’s really not fair, when everything hap...
“The world turns differently for each of us, and we have no choice but to take its hand and dance the next set of steps.” (Argyllis, 2017)Harper disagreed. Rescuing pixies from drug-runners, and working alongside unicorns and elves was part of he...
I stayed off Mack's radar for a good three months, or so I'd thought. Maybe he was just letting me run. He found me, kicked my backside and hauled me right back on board. He'd been doing that on and off for the past twelve months. Problem was, Odysse...
Nothing ruins a good cup of kaff than a spider teleporting on board… and these were in the six-foot-business-suite-and-tie range, carrying blasters and a sense of entitlement like you wouldn’t believe. They gave me a job to do, and held my ship h...
All I had to do was disappear. That was it: disappear and stay out of sight. Hard enough with Abs running an auction for the last location she left me, but then I poked the Depredides communications network -- and everything else looked downright eas...
When my mother told me to run, I ran. I ran all the way to the river and then stopped -- because the river was a frightening place, and forbidden by the raiders who came to take their annual toll of settlers. Faced with the choice of being taken, or ...
Once a space merc, now a singer, Taran keeps her identity as a siren secret. When spacewolves join the audience at her current gig, she knows what they’re looking for. The only question is can she slip away, before the wolves and her past can c...
When Harper goes after a lone unicorn without back-up she’s breaking every rule, and none. The only questions are: will her partner get to her before things go totally to pieces, and exactly how much havoc can one lone unicorn and a P.O.S. offi...
From runaway to space adventurer and retrieval specialist, Jocelyn Cutter has come a long way. This omnibus collects the first three books of the Mack ‘n’ Me ‘n’ Odyssey series chronicling her journey. Taken from the human tra...
“They’re just kids,” he said.“You won’t need your blaster,” he said…“It’ll be easy…”Yeah, and when I saw Mack next he and were going to have a little chat about what was easy and what ...
Snow, trolls, dustrunners, blackmailing werewolves, and mercenary elves…From the sun-drenched outback to the snows of a distant world, Mathilda Mathieson is in trouble. Dodging a drunken promise to a werewolf while trying not to coerce the love of ...
Captured by the space wolves and held aboard their battle cruiser, Miguel doesn’t think things could get worse—and then he discovers he’s sharing his cell with the very two psychopaths he’s been trying to avoid. Dragged into t...
I was doing okay, right up until Mack arrived, with Delight and Pritchard in tow. Retrieved for a rescue mission, I was in more trouble than I knew, and, as if that wasn’t enough, Mack had an agenda of his own. Well, of course, he did…Join Cutter...
A relic from a near-forgotten war, an escaped concubine, and planetary annexation. When Mack's hunt for a crashed war ship goes terribly wrong, Cutter and the crew find themselves embroiled in the politics of rebellion, inter-species warfare and inte...
Judge, jury and executioners—the lizardine are holding court and all humankind stands before them. They'll bring us to heel, or they'll destroy us all…and they have the means.Getting their emissary to the courtroom and then home again sh...
Dragons. Every dragon piece I've written to date, is in this collection—and some can only be found in this collection. Whether they're burning towns or bringing down starships, offering shelter or indulging in politics of the state, there's a d...
Bite his friend—and be branded a criminal—or let his friend die, it's a decision that has Oliver and Lewis running for their lives—and not just from the Lunar One Justiciars. The job went south, their client wants them to join up or...
Exiled by their pack—and on the run from one justice system, two vindictive companies, and a vigilante cruise-line company bent on bringing them in, Oliver and Lewis take a contract to get them off-planet and away from their pursuers. But all i...
A poem for every day of the leap year, drawn from the fantastical, the future and the fallout from real life—and written for dreamers everywhere. While most are set in worlds of imagination, there are a few whose roots are buried deep in the di...
Pixies, trolls and urban policing, things got interesting when the Otherworld renewed its connection to ours. A new suite of crimes sprang into existence overnight…and a new breed of officer had to be found to combat them. This volume brings to...
Stow-away, Odyssey agent, trouble-maker, rogue, Cutter's life's been interesting no matter which way you slice it—and now it's been put into chronological order so you can see what piece of mischief occurred when, in relation to the bigger adve...
A spymaster's apprentice, a warrior from the Lands of Ice, and a high priest of the goddess of the night. A wizardess who can tap the realm of magic, and three apprentices of notable power. A king suborned by an ancient god. With a dar...
Made hostages for a world whose international leaders didn't know how to behave, we ended up on a new world, one we have to make our own, where every step of civilization has to be earned, all over again. It's meant to be a world to hide the secret o...
Odyssey is everywhere and nowhere, a set of vigilante mercenaries masquerading as a cruise line company, they do their best to keep the worst of the elements in the universe in check. Whether it be protecting the original inhabitants of newly discove...
Not everything goes bump in the night. Some glide sorrowfully through castle halls and others stalk the dark, looking for prey. From monsters who died long ago and still walk our world, to creatures who herald death, to those mourning the loss of a k...
From 6-words to 1,000, and from werewolves to wizards, these pieces of flash range from an imagined past to an imagined future, exploring new heroes and old, and trying to understand where some of the traditions of today, might fit in a time when man...
Governing a colony isn't easy. I mean, I should be in my last year of school, stressing over exams and annoying my parents, not on some distant planet as a ransom for my world's good behavior. Instead, I'm running a colony of five, while doing classe...
Outmaneuvered by the girl they rescued, and running from an angry wolf pack, Oliver and Lewis must also stay ahead of the law, the bounty hunters, and two angry mega-corps, as they try to solve a years'-old mystery. Can they stay free long enough to ...
Missing colonists found. Check. Treaties signed. Check. Request for assistance received. Che—What? With New Haven missing two colonists in suspicious circumstances, it's up to Mitch and I to find them. Something about the Heritage and us having...
From the personal to the impersonal, from times of kings, to the modern era, battle, its causes, and attempts to make peace has been a major part of human history…and so have those who've lived it, survived it, and tried to come to terms with ...
A scouting mission that uncovers more than expected.A rescue mission gone awry.A ploy that preserves a race and brings humanity to its knees.And a plague.And this is just the start of what Oliver and Lewis's scout team must overcome.Can they do that ...
A fantasy short story A city under siege.A dragon under cover.Five kings lost to time.And two orphans running for their lives.Hunted by invaders, Valan races to find his sister before those seeking them. What is it about their past that has an e...
A science-fiction short story incorporating: A downed ship.An AI sentience in jeopardy.A hostile take-over in action.When Peony sneaks out to make sure the crashed ship's AI is okay, she has no idea of what she, and her charge, are going up agai...
Being a bodyguard isn’t easy, not even when you’re the seventh son in a long line of seventh sons, not even when the magic comes when you call -- and especially not when the man you are protecting is a treacherous, lecherous spoilt son of wealth ...
Every year the fish come down from the stars, and every year Faulknor hopes they come for him. Well, this year he’s tired of waiting; this year it’s his turn to do the seeking. This year, he’s going to catch himself the fish of his ...