November 2024 – Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers

Bod by Sandra

Published by Sandra Lloyd Lewis on November 20, 2024

The door is partly open, and he can see the darkness behind it.

Hello?

No answer. He stands on the wooden porch for a moment, listening. Silence.

The invitation was for 7pm and its quarter past now, so he’s not too early.

Hello? He says, louder and he pushes the door, against the objection of the hinges.

The hallway is cool, and dim and he can see straight through to the kitchen where he can make out the corner of a countertop.

There are no lights. There should be lights, surely. Or if not lights, then candles, the signifier of a convivial evening, but this hallway has the stillness of an empty house. Half-light from the fading day seeps in. The air has an edge of dampness, as though the house has been uninhabited for a long while.

The Cuckoo – Part 5 – Additional Scenes. Janet

Published by Janet Johnson on November 19, 2024

Scene 5a – Part of Lucy’s backstory

It had been Richard’s idea to hire a Winnebago and take a trip into the Outback. Why would he want to put them all in danger like that, the snakes, spiders, dingoes, isolation and relentless heat? Rachel thought, but she’d seen the excitement of the adventure on Lucy’s face and had to agree, against her better judgement. She didn’t want to be the one who deprived her daughter of this experience and hated for it. That didn’t mean that she wasn’t worried, fussing about everything and preparing for the trip like it was a military operation. She let as many people as she could think of know their itinerary, stacked the van with enough food and water to keep an army alive for a month, far more than was needed for the week they planned, not to mention the mini hospital first aid kit and the litres of sunscreen.

From the music shop to the pub – Jason

Published by Jason Davies-Redgrave on November 19, 2024

With a sigh, Julie put down her shopping bags. In all her years she couldn’t remember seeing weather like it. An old newspaper streaked past and whacked into the side of a rubbish bin, pinned against the dirty metal for a moment before being pulled down the street. Julie turned to the elderly woman stood next to her. With a nod to the wildness on the street she said, “Have you ever seen the like?”

The call of the void. By Martyn

Published by Martyn Winters on November 12, 2024

The Gnome Office squad room is unpretentious; two ancient partner desks set at not quite right angles to each other, atop a threadbare carpet, which has seen better days, three one-way windows facing Number 8 Downing Street’s thronging protestors waving their “Gnomes Go Home” banners, and a surfeit of briefing papers covering every surface, each emblazoned with “Urgent: Office of the Prime Minister” and stamped in red with “PLEASE IGNORE – Office of Queen Flaxmain.”

The noise of disco music coming from the Serious Frog Office in the adjacent room seeps through the walls as a dull thrumming, just loud enough to create compression waves in Ironbell’s Bracken-Tea.

“Umros, could you ring the frogs and tell them to turn that racket down?” Inspector Camden Ironbell says as he plumps his flattened seat cushion for the third time that morning.

The Cuckoo – Part 4 – Janet

Published by Janet Johnson on November 5, 2024

“Where the hell are my keys,” Rhys says to himself, hunting around his flat.

He’d chosen a modern apartment block with a video door entry system, an open-plan kitchen-living room, two ensuite bedrooms, a large terrace, and underground parking, easy to live in but soulless. Rifling through the piles of papers covering most surfaces, he searches in the vain hope that he might catch a glimpse of his car keys, at some point soon, he’s already running late. A scratching noise from the kitchen disturbs his search.

“Oh God, sorry, Rufus,” he says, looking at a white rat with pink eyes staring at him from its elaborate cage, a labyrinth of tunnels and wheels, “I nearly forgot you.”

Reaching into the cage, he removes the food bowls, ensuring that Rufus doesn’t escape, and fills them with special nutty-smelling rat nuggets from a bag found under the sink and clean water. As he puts the bowls back, he spots his keys lying beside the cage.

“Rufus, you’re a lifesaver,” he says, grabbing his keys and smiling and waving at the rat as he hurries out of the apartment. Distracted by his food, the rat isn’t interested in Rhys’ departure.

Haven Part 2 by Jason

Published by Jason Davies-Redgrave on November 5, 2024

Emyr is a boy alone, cast adrift, a lone figure facing…

Energies rotate and build, turning and folding around themselves, a twist of melody here a spiral of incandescence there. The Harmonicus Universalis moves in stately time crystal sphere pushing itself over crystal sphere, sparks rain down from the heavens. Galaxies parade and dance, planets spin into eternity, the pulsars and quasars and magnetars burst with penetrating radiation, pushing life into the void like a virus.

An Eejit in the Archipelago by Sandra

Published by Sandra Lloyd Lewis on November 5, 2024

The space was humming with chatter and conjecture. ‘Order,’ Archmage Numnums murmured. Although he’d said it softly, the circular walls of the room and the use of his supernatural tonsils, meant everyone in the space was stupefied by the volume of the request. Silence reigned.

Archmage Numnums sat in the centre of the room and surveyed the Academy wizards, and servants, crowded on benches that rose around the central dais. He sighed; he had only just had breakfast, was already thinking of lunch and didn’t want this farce to go on any longer than necessary. He performed a regal wave at the Master to proceed.

‘Thankyou Archmage Numnums,’ said the Master of We’ll Be Having Words, giving an equally regal bow ‘We are gathered here today, to hear the case of the Demon…’

I am free by Zin

Published by Zin Shandi on November 5, 2024

In a charming twist of destiny, the British sky revealed its most vibrant blue, while the sun cast golden rays that illuminated the world beneath. Ottelia piloted her car along the meandering roads, her smile reflecting the warmth surrounding her, as the graceful notes of classical music floated through her open windows. Yet, the sun yearned for something more spirited—a melody to match its radiant exuberance. She pulled to the side of the road, her heart craving a tune that would sway with the sunlight filtering through the ancient trees that lined her route. Their towering branches stretched wide like…

Dark Sun: The Dawn of Earth’s Twilight

Published by Martyn Winters on November 5, 2024

Chapter 2: Part 1. The Explorers

They call it the Million Year Rain. It is the clearest example of how the Zjheek implement their plans: they plan for eternity.

To the Zjheek, eternity is not a long time, as one of their most esteemed philosophers, Arkmontic Adamant Halting, says, “Eternity is right here and now. It does not have anything to do with time. Eternity is the part that cuts out time. It’s an experience of the moment. If you do not get it now, you will never feel eternity.”

When the Zjheek decide upon something it is literally for now and forever.

Which is why, when the Exploration Group enters System 7992, surveys it, and finds a planet orbiting slowly around its primary within the zone which allows liquid water to exist, they are very excited.

“The planet is arid,” says astro-biologist, Tattooed Windpipe. She pulls her feathers back from her face, where they fell while peering into her long-range telescope, and refastens the agate clip she uses to hold them. Wiping her upper hands on the front of her tunic to clean off the oil from her feathers, she bobs to the mission leader, Taupe Colouration and waits for his nod of approval to continue.

The Winnowing by Sandra

Published by Sandra Lloyd Lewis on November 5, 2024

‘Arraignement and Triall of Nineteene Notorious Witches at the Assizes and Gaole Deliuerie, holden at the Castle of LANCASTER… Triall of Iennet PRESTON, at the Assizes …with her Execution for the murther of Master LISTER by Witchcraft.’

Mrs Williams sighed and put the book down. Those poor women. Their mistake was that they had been too open, too free with their craft, especially Demdike, who had cured people of everything from ingrown toenails to scrofula in her time. Of course, she had also lamed those that crossed her, but that was to be expected, and Mrs Williams was the last person to cast blame for that. People turned on them, driven by revenge and the puritanical twin-prick tines of Government and Church.

But that was long ago, no point getting upset.

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Month: November 2024

Chapter 2: Part 1. The Explorers