Fiction
• "Rappaccini’s Crow" by Cat Rambo.
"Doctor Rappaccini has a pet crow named Jonah. He says he raised it from a chick, but I have trouble imagining Doctor Rappaccini patiently nursing anything, tucking a blanket around it to keep it warm or feeding it mealworms and apple shards. If he has such a faculty for tenderness, he doesn’t exhibit it towards any of the patients here."
• "Crossroads and Gateways" by Helen Marshall.
"Dajan faced east, as he did every morning, greeting the Sun with a toothy smile that split the creases of his face. His spear was planted in the sand beside him, gripped by a fist hard and calloused. The wind tugged at the bright red cloth that hung from it. The sand dunes seemed smooth as elephant bones in the morning, limned in a brilliant gold. Brown and gold—the colors of the desert. Dajan’s colors."
- "Almas" by Josie Growler
- "The Children of the Waterworks" by Paul Miller
- "The Cookie Maker" by Tom Howard
- "The Fox" by Nancy O'Toole
- "The Glass Lamp" by Cynthia Fucci
- "Grace" by Maureen Bowden
- "The House in the Desert" by Rose Strickman
- "The Queen Moon on her Throne" by Lawrence Buentello
- "The Queen of Storms" by Robert William Shmigelsky
- "Room 116" by Joyce Frohn
"In the damp bedroom Victor Ripon sat hunched over his desk, making last-minute corrections on the ninth or tenth draft, he couldn’t remember which, of a letter to the one person in the world who might be able to help. Outside, puppies with the voices of children struggled against their leashes for a chance to be let in from the cold. He ignored them and bore down."
Audio Fiction
• At Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "How the Wicker Knight Would Not Move" by Chris Willrich. Fantasy.
"At the Wicker Knight's feet Kverna faced the foe. "I do not hate you," she said to them. "You are as you are. Maybe Perfection has no choices. It is this thing behind me I hate. Leeching our hope, and returning nothing. At least without it we will meet our fates as human beings.""
At Forgotten Classics:
Now up through chapter 29, this is a serialized reading of the classic "lost race" adventure fantasy by the author of King Solomon's Mines and She. Eleven chapters to go, all should be available at the same link. [Warning - there are likely many unenlightened views in the story]
"Nay, I know not. You came out of the folly of your heart, to satisfy the desire of your heart. Listen, that tale I told you is true, and yet I did not tell you all the truth. Beyond that cliff live a people of great stature, and very fierce; a people whose custom it is to offer up strangers to their gods. Enter there, and they will kill you thus."
The e-book is free here and the original illustrations are online here.
"Iceland was the perfect place for a secret military operation. We thought of it, but so had the Martians — ages ago . . ." First published in Fantastic Adventures, Sept. 1950. Text version here.
Gaming
"Avaricious Template" by Steve Russell
“I am rich beyond the dreams of avarice.” So says the avaricious frog
in the treasure room.
"Choose Your Own Adventure" by Liz Theis
The Pathfinder game is a branch of interactive fiction. Liz teaches you
how the RealmWorks tool can help you put more of the interactive in
your game.
"The Relunctant Bandits" by Creighton Broadhurst.
Well, this encounter is with the Relunctant bandits! An encounter
that could be played for laughs as well as screams.
"Mini Quests by Survive RPG offer compelling 2 page adventures that are great for a one-off session, convention play or for use as a side quest to your campaign. Mini-Quests is designed for any D20 fantasy system.This is a special Min-Quest double feature that includes KOBOLD CAPER and REVENGE OF THE KOBOLD KING. The characters are hired to recover missing livestock and end up in the middle of a war...with kobolds. No, this is not a comedy. Will they surive?"
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