Publication news! My science fiction short story “The Storyteller Stone” is now available in the anthology Strange Tales of Space and Time, and my fantasy short story “The Gods Old and New” in the anthology Whispers from the Iron Cauldron, both published by Burial Books.

Contents of the anthologies below, followed by teasers for each of my stories.

Strange Tales of Space and Time Contents

• “The Mimetic Puppet” by Dave Hangman
• “The Sentience Privilege” by J.M. Faulkner
• “Danger Ace” by Diana Parrilla
• “Vorn’s Pill” by John Leahy
• “Follow That Brain!” by Stephen Rhoades
• “The Secret of the Ruby Caves” by Z.M. Renick
• “Batch 619” by Bryan Holm
• “Red Orchid” by Barend Nieuwstraten III
• “We Need You” by Rebecca Karas
• “Here Comes the Sun” by Mike Bitanga
• “Kayfabe” by M. Stern
• “The Bone-Trawler” by Katie Frendreis
• “Beyond the Flesh” by Stuart Conover
• “Murder by the First” by Arlen Feldman
• “A Heist of Feathers” by E.J. LeRoy
• “Opa’s Praise” by Steven Mathes
• “Final Entry” by James Dorr
• “The Storyteller Stone” by Karl El-Koura
• “Steel Grey and the Seven Robots” by Annie Percik
• “My (Father’s) Face” by Jake Stein
• “Mother Carry Us Home” by Michael Merriam
• “Daywalker” by Kyle Muntz
• “Humane Thing to Do” by Dina Leacock
• “Big Stick” by Robert Walton
• “Fourth and Goal” by David Rogers
• “Rendezvous Fluctuations” by Andrew Akers
• “Zeppelin Pumped Full of Lead” by Katherine Hanifen
• “The Reveal” by Alex Tucker
• “The Time Traveler Stilled” by Nick Manzolillo
• “The Eternity Machine” by Graham Darling

Whispers from the Iron Cauldron Contents

And now a sneak peek at my stories:

The Storyteller Stone

by Karl El-Koura

Trembling, palms sweating, Tarek Camour opened the ornate wooden door of the royal suite at the top of the hotel built by the alien ship. Begging the tremors in his body to be still, he stepped into the spacious living room. The room by itself was about three times the size of the downtown apartment he shared with his parents in Ottawa.

Jessie Balysta stood at the opposite end of the room, silhouetted by the floor to ceiling windows. “You know,” she said, “it’s thanks to you I’ve been named ruler of all humanity.” Through the glass over her shoulder, he saw the alien ship, towering over the seemingly minuscule airport buildings and even this skyscraping hotel. That alien ship had bestowed ruling status and untold powers on his ex-girlfriend. It shimmered in the desert sun like a sparkling Fabergé egg that could contain two Vegas hotels stacked one on top the other.

“Is that why–” he began, but stopped himself, then tried to go on without the crack in his voice–“you dragged me all the way here? You couldn’t gloat over FaceTime, Jessie?”

Keep reading by buying your copy of Strange Tales of Space and Time.

The Gods Old and New

by Karl El-Koura

From birth they had been raised to despise the gods; from infancy they had been equipped with the power to defeat them.

Manupan, mighty of steel, could not remember a time before the twin swords were by his hands. He’d been trained, by the man they knew as father, to use those weapons as extensions of his arms.

Arupan, mighty of magic, whose first words were incantations. He’d trained from youth for his mind to use the power he breathed in, to form it into soundless spells, as unconsciously as his lungs used the other elements in the air to sustain his body.

And Sarupan, their sister, who had studied while her brothers trained, who had been given to read, in between her other work, epic tales of heroes and heavy tomes of dry strategy, who had played Kings and Queens with their father every night before bed until she could best him easily, whereupon they had progressed to more and more difficult games. In the god-killing hero their father Balastar had been asked to construct, Manupan was the right arm and Arupan the left, but Sarupan was the mind and the heart.

“We camp here,” Sarupan said, holding up her hand.

Keep reading by buying your copy of Whispers from the Iron Cauldron.