Friday, April 26, 2013

"Small Creatures and Large" in IGMS #33

My fantasy story "Small Creatures and Large" is live at InterGalactic Medicine Show in their issue #33, released today. You can read a preview of the story here for free; reading the whole story requires a subscription to IGMS.

The subscriptions are $15 for six bi-monthly issues and with a subscription you will also have access to the complete back issues of IGMS, including my previous story with them, "The Flower of Memory" from issue #29.

The current issue also includes a very amusing story by Alex Shvartsman titled "Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma." (It's as funny as the title suggests it would be!) There's also a story titled "Thirteen Words" by J. Deery Wray whose "The Butcher of Londinium" was just announced as the winner of the InterGalactic Award based on a poll of IGMS readers.

So, I hope you'll check out the whole preview and maybe buy a subscription; I think it's worth the money. To whet your appetite, here's a preview of the preview, the first three paragraphs of "Small Creatures and Large."

Murzah thinks I don't know what he does at night when the rest of us are asleep. But I'm quiet and I've followed him before, gone to the dirty unused room in our orphanage that he sneaks to when the lights are out. I've watched him cobble together the bits and pieces of his creations. He thinks no one has seen the things he makes but I have and I love him for it.

He almost gets caught tonight going through the halls. An older boy, one of Mother Sharna's guards with his wisps of beard coming in, steps through a doorway which Murzah has just passed by. The guard will notice Murzah in just a moment. I run my fingernails along the wall to make a skittering sound, like a rat or some other vermin making its way through the night. The guard turns at the noise, looks my way. I am deep in the shadows and have crouched down small. He takes a step toward me. I hold my breath as he peers down the hall.

Finally, he shrugs and lets out a low whistle. Amirala, older than Murzah and I but younger by a couple of years than the guard, passes through the same door he had come out. He reaches out, strokes her cheek and runs his hand down her neck, her chest, to her waist. She smiles at him, leans in and kisses him, but she is looking my way and I see the smile is not in her eyes.

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