Stories
Most of my stories are genre pieces—often fantasy, but very rarely “high fantasy” in the way of Lord of the Rings. Many seem to be other kinds of tales—mysteries, suspense thrillers, occasionally romances—in fantastic settings. I also have a lot of talking animals. Usually, animal-people.
The following work is available for free online, but that’s not all of my available work! Visit the For Sale page for more, including the transhumanist science fiction novel Kismet and the fantasy novella Indigo Rain.
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“An Orange by Any Other Name” sees the return of the eponymous protagonist of “Fixer,” now working as a private eye, hired to find out who sabotaged an old Florida citrus farmer’s land deal.
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“Saguaros” is a magical realism piece set in a world where coyote magic protects both the coyotes and their rabbit servants—but the magic is under threat, and the truth may not be what either the house’s coyote mistress or her rabbit housemaid believe. “Saguaros” won the 2018 Cóyotl Award for short story.
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“Fixer” is a furry noir story that originally appeared in, yes, a furry noir anthology, Inhuman Acts. A woman who’s worked as a mob “cleaner” is getting out of the business, but has one last job, which goes as well as such things usually do in stories like this. Inhuman Acts won the 2015 Cóyotl Award for best anthology.
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“Trade All the Stars” is a science fiction short. A young wolf totemic returns home to settle her adopted mother’s affairs after a violent tragedy, and faces an unexpected dilemma—and choice—with her little sister. Set in the same world as “Tow” and the novel Kismet.
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“Tow” is a science fiction short story about a totemic woman, a human transformed to have animal aspects, who’s just started a space salvage business. An attempt to buy used equipment brings her into unexpected conflict with an anti-totemic group—one connected to her past.
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“A Gift of Fire, A Gift of Blood” is a novella set in Ranea, originally published in 1991 and revised in 2013. This tale of a struggling artist who finds himself caught between the high society world of his girlfriend and the wildness of a vampire bat he becomes friends with is a little dark and gothic, but mostly romantic.