He Never Had A Chance
----------------------------------------- The room thickened, the air solidifying with radiant outrage. The King of Every Continent, Grand Ruler of the Surface and Conqueror Eminent, gave a nearly audible twitch of his leathery snout in the tension....
Diplomatic Immunity
Round the corner from the train station, two blocks ahead, and here he is. Quiet and inconspicuous in zoris and the shorts-and-blue-Hawaiian look so common in his hometown, the scrawny lizard hustles from mass transit and onto the little avenue he's...
The Day's Work
"Rise and shine." Eyelids the size of pillows move. A great sticky membrane peels back, showing the black eye beneath it, wet and unconscious. "Showtime." Unseen miles of artery and vein flex and bundle up, blood pulsing through...
Callie
There's a reason why New Maxis, California has a certain statue in one of its immaculate parks. The best statue in the park, at that, a sensible bronze with dozens of copper adornments kept gleaming bright in any weather. There's a reason why it's a...
Book Learning
Interrupt my sex story, alright, I see where you buggers are going with this. Don't see why I have to repeat something they taught us in eighth form, sexual history, but okay...you know I damn well expect royalties from this. It all started pretty...
Cobalt's World-Ending Premiere
Her business was genocide: targeted, thorough, unrepentant genocide that scrubbed sapients right out of their ecosystem substrates. She left the land opened for its latest and effectively original owners, freshly enriched with infusions of charcoal and...
Jilted
Jilted She could remember the monsters that just stalked her, faceless masses that pounded at her bedroom door and shrieked laughter. Even when the laughter stopped she didn't believe she was awake. Too dark to see anything, and her eyes were...