Memory and Desire
**Before . . .** _Flash_ Darkness. Empty darkness. Thoughtless. Numb. Void. Wet. Damp. Rain. _It's raining . . . It's warm._ Someone there . . . _I love . . ._ **After.** I'm saying something, he thought...
That Weird Thing That Ana Knows How To Do, Part 2
"So, Ana, I was thinkin' . . ." Rial had that sideways look he got when he was coming on to someone. Ana set his tea aside and sat forward with new interest. "Oh, Ree, you mustn't do _that_," he said, grinning. The silver smiled back and snickered....
That Weird Thing That Ana Knows How to Do, Part 1
It was after school, and about two hours before evening meal, a good time for doing nothing. As they got older, their days got more and more regimented. This year they had another hour of study hall, and they had added tactics. Next year, more tactics,...
Nace's Story (a sneak peek): Six
**Six** Nace was becoming innured to the idea that he was never going to know who was coming down the corridor. He could tell when it wasn't food, but beyond that he was hopeless at guessing. Most of the time, whoever it was didn't even come all...
Nace's Story (a sneak peek): . . . And Lovers
**. . . and Lovers** "Oh, ye gods!" "Nace, take it easy. It'll be all right. You know it will be all right . . ." "I know! I know, I know, but I don't know . . ." It might not even be anybody. They might stop. Or it might be Sidro again. ...
Nace's Story (a sneak peek): A Season in the Sun; Dreams Within Dreams
_This is a bit of a test. I haven't posted here in a long while, and the formatting has changed. Also, I wanted to get some reaction to the first little bit of this. I'm trolling for compliments, I guess. I'm at kind of a difficult junction stoy-wise....
Nace's Story (a sneak peek): Friends . . .
**Friends . . .** "_--slave!_" "Listen, you . . . going to take more . . . up, stupid!" Nace faded reluctantly back to reality. He was tired, his eyes and body ached, and above all else he did not wish to wake to find what might be waiting...
The Bound Ones Final Draft: Before The Dawn
**Before the Dawn** "Gone," said the gray-green, unaware that he had given voice to the word that was making his head spin. The crowd had fallen to pieces soon after the climax of the spectacle. He had crossed the bowled floor, many times,...
The Bound Ones Final Draft: Gladiatrix
**Gladiatrix** Rhys was pacing. He folded his blanket neatly and stowed it in the corner, then he moved it away from latrine and up to the front of the cell. "Do you think . . . ?" he said. He decided the blanket would go better in a...
The Bound Ones Final Draft: Rage and Retribution
**Rage and Retribution** "It can't have been anyone else, the bites . . . He opened the old scars, all of them. I don't know why! Why would he . . . Why would anybody do that, Rhys?" "Oraz," Rhys repeated. His hands were curling into fists...
The Bound Ones Final Draft: Hard Lessons
**Hard Lessons** His head was buzzing, not unpleasantly. His vision had a shimmer to it that made everything seem just a bit unreal. There was . . . a hand. It was stretched out in front of him. It was tied. Following the twist of the rope made...
The Bound Ones Final Draft: Life After Death
**Life After Death** Sidro was limp, pitched forward on the floor, a marionette whose strings were cut. Beneath him, the puddles of their seed were mingling, not much from either of them, but enough. Rhys nudged him on to his back and cleaned him...