Puu walked quickly over the frozen ground. No sun yet, but his arboreal eyes didn’t need sunlight to see. He shook snow from his needles and pressed on.
Few animals lived [...]
Issue: December 2007
A Winter Solstice Sun
Cruel Enchantment, by Janine Ashbless
A little-known collection of twisted faery tales and paranormal romance.
At the Altar of Pan
He says, “Relax, baby. You worry too much.”
He takes my hand. I’ve been dreaming of him all my life.
He says, “You’re just my kind of girl.”
He flashes me a smile [...]
The Lunar Balloon
“I have a mother and a father,” she insists. But it’s difficult to believe her. Under a rust-red sky she ties a sapphire-blue balloon around her waist. “I need to [...]
The Cave of the Winds
Carlin stood on the mountainside and studied the cave entrance at her feet—a long, narrow slit of shadow between two sandstone slabs. Afternoon sun painted the stone gold, and scrub [...]
Wintertide Surprise
There wasn’t much to be done with it. It was supposed to arrive by five p.m. so Gary said, but here it be half past eight and every post office [...]
Desert of Sharp Sorrows
There was Myra and there was the sun, descending.
The sun hung low on the horizon, a blood orange crushed, its pulp smearing the sky, leaving a yellow and purple band [...]