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Strangers from the South: Short Story Collection
by Forest Woodes
Before Ashwyn found a boy in the ruins of a massacred village, he wandered. An Albah ranger from a dying people, Ashwyn has spent centuries trying to reach the rising sun, only to be pulled west again and again by unfinished history. In A House Made of Clay, a missed sailing season strands the pair in an ancient river city, where a series of ritual murders leads them from temple gardens and royal halls to something that should have remained buried with the dead. In Children of the Wastes, passage west comes at the price of guarding a caravan through an expanding desert. There they encounter a forgotten branch of Ashwyn’s own people, an ancient rite he does not understand, and a vision of a world that will one day continue without him. And in Ever Circling, what begins as a voyage across the Green Sea becomes a struggle against something far more indifferent than monsters. Shipwrecked and alone, Ashwyn must decide whether there is any reason to keep walking at all. Three linked stories cross ruined civilizations, dying landscapes, forgotten gods, ritual violence, and the deep history beneath myth—ending where Strangers from the South begins.
The Last Glow
by Charlene Zammit
All her life, Elizabeth has felt the Earth whispering at the edges of her mind—calling, pleading, waiting. She learned to ignore it. She learned to pretend it wasn’t real. But when a dream of a glowing creature draws her toward the forbidden forest of Luminwood, ignoring becomes impossible. Guided by a robin and haunted by visions she cannot explain, Elizabeth is thrust into a journey of self‑discovery that reveals the ancient history of Luminwood and the strange, powerful bond nature has always held with her. As the Heart Tree awakens and the forest stirs, Elizabeth must uncover why the land remembers her… and what it expects her to become. But the forest does not wait. Its patience is thin, its magic restless, and its secrets demand to be answered. Elizabeth must hurry—because the last glow of Luminwood is fading, and she may be the only one who can save it.
Down the Memory Aisle
by Wannabe Writer
Some endings don't happen when we say goodbye. Sometimes they happen years later, in the most ordinary of places.
THE NURSERY RHYME
by info
She was standing on the gravel shoulder, caught in the beam of the headlights. No jacket. No shoes. Her clothes torn in a way that had nothing to do with fashion — broken — dirty — terrified. She was staring at the car the way people stare when they've been waiting for something — anything — for a very long time. The window rolled down. "You okay?" He stole it from them. The Nursery Rhyme was never meant to be anything but beautiful. He will use it — he will make it his own and they will feel every single word that comes from his lips. He will make sure they feel it — to their core. He smiled. This is going to be fun!
Big Medicine
by Reilly Conall
Book One of Medicine Wagon It's 1880. Connor Lynch woke up hanged, half-dead, and out of ideas. As it turns out, that's actually a great resumé for surviving Apache County. He can't remember his name. Everybody else seemingly remembers what he did, and they've got opinions about it. A one-eyed rustler wants him dead. Again. A mysterious tracker patiently follows a debt only blood or a stolen hat can settle. The Widow in Black with the best table at the Grandview Hotel looks at him like he owes her money, while trying to place his face. Which would be less awkward if she wasn't his wife, unknown to either one. There's a wagon fulla things that shouldn't really work but they do, a preacher lady who fights as well as she prays, an undertaker who applauds gunshot wounds like a magic trick, and a mystical page that hums whenever the dead decide to get up and finish an argument. Medicine Wagon is a Weird West serial about a man with no past, a town full of people who won't let him forget it, and just about enough gallows humor to survive ‘em both. Big Medicine is Book One of Medicine Wagon.
Witless witness- short stories from the sidelines of history
by Luke Smith
These are a collection of original shorties story set during an era defining event. How would you react if you were consumed in your own troubles? Maybe I'll illuminate an event you never heard of, or or cast it in a new light
The Lesser of Two
by Chris Swallow
The story of a wayward elf, who found his way to a land of sea and salt, where memory is a currency, and sometimes, the hard choices are the lesser of two.
The Story of Everything
by Yaroslav Zolotnikov
So, kid. Want to become a legend? Not particularly. Have you ever wondered about your place in this life? Krolik, an adventurer for hire, has too. And somehow, he finds himself caught up in a story involving ancient mysteries, space pirates, and an incredible power capable of changing lives. Now he must face an absurd, dangerous, and cruel world. Ideally, he’ll overcome a whole bunch of obstacles and find himself along the way. But simply surviving would be nice too.
True Colors
by author.elizabeth.sawtelle
Delilah knew fae were tricksters and liars. They existed beyond the Sychar's walls, passed the half-Giant guards, and off the mountains, yet when they came into Sychar to trade, Delilah always looked twice before someone ushered her away. When her mother decided Delilah's future and a fae man offered an opportunity of escape, she had a question to answer. Can Delilah trust a fae?
Wardess
by CC Liclican
Once upon a time, the young wardess Asteropa meets a prince and falls in love. Unbeknownst to her, this sets in motion a chain of events that will lead to their child changing the kingdom… forever. (unfinished serial work)
First Last Chance
by B. E. Lunetois
“What you wanted, lad, was palace intrigues with poison and daggers, maybe you get to wave around your fancy little sword in a rooftop duel at the end of a long chase, hey? Turnabouts, betrayals, all that fun stuff? But here on the Ten-Thousand Seas it’s mostly war. Mud, guns, and bombs by land; salt, guns, and torpedoes by sea.” The Stone Unfurled is a long, flat world surrounded by walls of golden ice, covered by the Ten-Thousand Seas, which are speckled with many islands whose inhabitants must make their way in a beautiful but harsh world. For the spoiled young governor who controls one of the tiniest islands this world has to offer, the extent of that harshness is about to be fully revealed. Thrown into a chaotic war between diverse factions, he must learn to make his way in the company of two women who are almost as frightening and dangerous as his enemies. Follow Arlo Haradin-Harkon on the first step of his slow transformation from a vain, bratty dandy to a swashbuckling hero in... First Last Chance Trigger warning: This book contains a lot of graphic violence and at one point they say the title out loud.
Welcome to Calloway County
by Vesper L. Rayne
Welcome to Calloway County, where the lake monster is named Karl, the sheriff has a 94% closure rate, and seven ducks are wanted in connection with several acts of petty theft. When Alpha Ryker Nightblood Moonfang meets Janice Kimball in the chicken-feed aisle of Local Supply Store #412, he knows immediately that she is his fated mate. Janice knows that the bag is heavy and the enormous vibrating man beside her appears to need a snack. Ryker has spent 847 years inspiring fear, commanding warriors, and practicing a Smoulder powerful enough to make the moon itself submit. He is entirely unprepared for graham crackers, rewards points, chicken bonnets, or a practical woman with a Joann’s card who expects him not to make things weird. But Ryker isn’t the only ancient, powerful creature being quietly dismantled in Calloway County. A six-hundred-year-old vampire develops complicated feelings about a cashier named Becca and her watermelon gum. Sheriff Dwight Smithers meets a redheaded woman who laughs with her whole body and knows the lake monster personally. Meanwhile, a weary store manager signs his divorce papers, a moon goddess begins drinking margaritas, and the ducks remain outside all known celestial jurisdictions. Told across ten interconnected episodes, *Welcome to Calloway County* is an affectionate satire of paranormal romance—and a genuinely tender story about strange creatures, practical women, unexpected love, and the ordinary kindness of being seen. Some things, apparently, are eternal.
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