Joe S

“Life is out there!” by Joe S

Khodak khan smelled the place before he saw it. It had the sulphurous stench of burning, like a chemical fire eternally ablaze. He had joked numerous times in his travels the place had given him his bad breath. The joke never stuck, but it may have been half true.Sodalen sweeped from the peak of the caldera, circling the great crater like a black stone crown upon the world. It straddled the volcano's craggy peak, a twisted ring of spires and pointed domes which gave the mountain a twisted kingly appearance. Amidst all the surrounding peaks, ...

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“Showtime!” by Joe S

“You see Petr” Karson said to the bound man who was most certainly not called Petr “it’s a simple thing these days. The play, the theatre, aaah even the fawning crowd. It is all naught wouldn’t you say?”  The man who was most definitely not called Petr mumbled something. Karson stopped his slow pacing, turning to pout at the bound little man. Petr tried to say something, the thick knot of torn fabric causing his words to devolve becoming a shining line of dribble.  “Pity” Karson pouted, suppressing a s...

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“A cold cold gift ” by Joe S

“A gift?” Maxwell stammered, the skin around his iron bound wrists numb from the cold. “Not from me Gods damn it. I didn’t order nought and definitely not from you!”  His tormentor smiled, the cold reptilian grin gleaming in the studies weak light. The man leaned forwards, one gloved hand tracing the outer edges of the crude package laid before them. Behind the tormentor the brazier light flickered, its meek light reaching out in starved desperation. Maxwell tightened his jaw at the sight, desperate trying to still t...

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“Bold Faced Lies” by Joe S

Submitted to Contest #121

“Thanks so much mister” said the little voice below him. “Thanks a lot.”  Phiker heard the tremble in her voice, the tell-tale tremble of the lower lip. He breathed deep, hoping the exhalation didn’t tremble as much as the girl's voice had. God but this was hard. So damn hard.  “He would have wanted it this way” Phiker said, blinking as a far of grav plate shot past, painting the rears of his eyes in neon stark light. Somewhere below the balcony someone was drunkenly cheering, the voice ...

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“In the rain” by Joe S

   Carter gasped, feeling the final wave of lactic pain strike his nerves in a whip crack of acidic temper Lightning flashed, haloing the surrounding mountains in venomous night light. Before him, straining up crooked exaltation, the tower climbed.    A soft pressure nudged at his leg. Carter stopped, leaning his weight upon the jagged stone to his side. For an instant a shadow stood at his shoulder, a ghost of an impression against the palm of his hand. The lightning flash stole the impression from his sleeples...

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“The Conscript Climb” by Joe S

Submitted to Contest #105

   “Quiet yourself, tanner-boy.”    Jensen froze at the harsh whisper. He craned his neck high, his eyes straining to see through the the fierce sun. sand and dust kicked up by the motions of the hunting party obscured his surroundings, burning his eyes, reducing the world above his head to a hazy burn of blurring images. Vague shapes clambered above him, heavy armoured shapes that moved across the shifting cliff face with feline ease. Jensen cursed under his breath, squeezing his eyes hard against the growing a...

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“The Water Thieves Dream” by Joe S

Submitted to Contest #103

   “Jacob lied to you” the wind told the water thief. “Jacob lied to you and now you will die.”    Hassan shivered despite the humid warmth. Above him the night sky split into a serpentine twist of sickly aerori. Hassan half crouched as he saw movement within the malignant stream, his breath escaping him in a hiss of fright. Already the new generation had developed their stories, filling in the gaps in their parents' knowledge of the Great Collapse. Despite his age, Hassan could not prevent the shudder of fear t...

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“Dragonfly Call” by Joe S

Submitted to Contest #102

   The birth was savage, brutal in its intensity. The womb of that savage rebirth shivered, the scars of predatory savages shivering beside the battered filth of the crystalisk proper. The being within struggled, fought, struggling for life and the actualisation of its potential.     At first the womb held. It shivered, the mothering protector for so long it knew no other means of existence. The reality of this act was as intimate and frightening to it as the very implosion of the world. It existed solely a...

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“The Hundredth Avenue ” by Joe S

Submitted to Contest #101

   The phase wall shuddered back into life with the grind of electric teeth. Sand and dust burst in miniature flame balls, their death throws driving an eye watering scream into the ears of all around them. Malek leapt at the sound, causing the water drum on his back to tug him violently towards the waiting guard.    “Watch it!” the guard snapped, quizzical eyes glaring down at the hunched water merchant. Malek righted himself, bowing his head profusely at the guard. The guards battered fire pike growled its ele...

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“The Red Feast” by Joe S

Submitted to Contest #100

   Hans laughed, causing a sudden eruption of gravied delicacies across the heavy oaken table. He doubled over, one hand dropping to clutch the warbling corpulence of his belly as the fat noble croaked in unrestrained merriment. The sailor before him gave a small smile as the old man struggled for breath, hoping he had managed to restrain the annoyance from reaching his eyes.    “And then-” Archduke Hans spat, hawking up the remainder of his last mouthful as he spoke, “and then what did the little lamb croak?” &...

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“Long Rites of Day” by Joe S

Submitted to Contest #99

   The gorge's name was Tybus. A crooked lesion of sun bleached sandstone and exposed shale, marked by the passage of a dead river bed. Yellow sunlight swallowed the gorge in its predatory immensity, locked leech-like upon the crooked stone like some eternal unavoidable predator, weathering the fissured rise of rock on either side.     A fitty place for endings.    Valen suppressed a shudder at the sight, closing his eyes to the oppressive sunlight glaring all around him. He breathed deep, fe...

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“Neptune's Watery Eyes” by Joe S

    Jenner gasped, her hand diving to cover her chest as the sled-car fired its engines. She watched the frozen vista beyond the cupola, her eyes never leaving the solid red door. Neptunes gale force screams fore past the rusting environ-seals, scratching a stinging head migraine across her mind.    “Sit down, damn it” a gruff gurgling voice came from the driver's seat, loud  in the sled-cars confinement. Jenner turned, red eyes sweeping the heavy set bulk of the man braced at the steering wheel. He wa...

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“Martian Honour ” by Joe S

Submitted to Contest #98

   Jhagan held himself rigid, forcing his vision to remain forward as the river water shuddered and screamed. He breathed in, tasting the salty tang of the deep sea, steadying himself deep within his awareness. Before him the old martian river wailed and roared as his adversary arrived.     The warrior breathed within the natural rebellion. Slowly, rhythmically he spoke, reciting the litanies and vigils taught to him since childhood. Tension bled from him, flowing down the steep river bank to mingle with th...

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