Sjan Evardsson

“First Rain” by Sjan Evardsson

For a century they had waited, silently imprisoned, safe in the ground. A century gone by without change, until….A pattering of rain began to fall. The drops gaining in size and frequency as the rare clouds finally let go of their precious cargo. At first, the rain beaded and ran over the surface of the fine, red dust. Soon, however, the larger drops pushed past the surface and the thirsty soil swallowed them down.As their hard prisons dissolved, they emerged, ravenous. There was no hesitation as they hunted down their prey. By the thousands...

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“Human Fuel” by Sjan Evardsson

Her father had always made it seem easy. Cora worked twelve to fourteen hours a day to accomplish what her father had done in eight or nine. Still, she wasn’t going to give up. His dream deserved to live on. “Human Fuel,” he’d called it; the farm, the brand, and the product itself. She lugged the bushel baskets of coffee cherries to the barn. She ran them through the masher to remove most of the fruit from the bean, then put them in a barrel and covered them with fresh water. That would ferment the slimy remains of the fruit and separate th...

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“A Quiet Tuesday” by Sjan Evardsson

At first glance, there was nothing to mark either the crossroads or the diner that sat next to it as unusual. A closer look would reveal that the roads seemed to shimmer and disappear in the distance in a way that strained the eye and led to headaches. The diner itself, though, was completely normal, though its customers were not.“Hey hon, welcome to your first shift. It’ll be busy.” Mabel, the blue-eyed woman of indeterminate age, with hair dyed a garish red against her lined face of pale pink smiled, deepening the wrinkles around her eyes ...

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“Nowhere to Go but Up” by Sjan Evardsson

There’s starting at the bottom, and then there’s whatever this was. Korin hadn’t expected to jump right into solving big cases, but this hadn’t even been more than a footnote and two-hour lecture at Quantico. She’d been pleasantly surprised on her first day on the job to not be expected to make or fetch coffee, make copies, pull files, or any other bit of drudge work. When she’d been given an assignment to a major task force right out of the gate, she figured it would be something she’d need to prove herself with. Korin took a break, walki...

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“Core” by Sjan Evardsson

“This isn’t science, you know, it’s a pissing contest.” Garvey gulped down the cold, bitter coffee, dribbling some into his orange beard.“A contest between whom?” Sarah asked, her RP accent, clear, pale pinkish skin, short dark brown hair, and bright green eyes out of place amid the roughneck miners.“Cutter and Frontier Fields,” Garvey answered, wiping his beard. His thinning ginger hair topped a permanently flushed face, heavily lined by weather and hard work. “Whichever one wins gets rich.”“I don’t give a shit,” Marla said. She pulled a ha...

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“Reversal” by Sjan Evardsson

The difference between an enchanted item and a cursed one is often one of perspective. Not discounting the truly cursed items that drive the holder insane or afflict with a deadly disease anyone that touches them. Those exist, but they make up less than two percent of all items currently labeled as cursed. Miriam held the silver ring up to the light. It was the more common kind of cursed item. Someone had decided at some point that its power was twisted in some way and labeled it cursed. She set the ring down on the counter, careful not to...

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“Do the Hard Work First” by Sjan Evardsson

In a cramped kitchen in a bar in Anchorage, Alaska, a slight, dark-haired woman with pale skin and bright blue eyes sweated as she turned out burgers, fries, and assorted bar snacks. Working the early shift meant she got the lunch regulars, and a few die-hard barflies, but she avoided the crowded, noisy nights. While the bar was ostensibly a “sports bar,” the large TV screens displaying whatever games were live couldn’t be heard during regular bar hours. During the day, however, they were tuned to cable news. As the bar was quiet it was eas...

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“Being Keith” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #105

Ethics be damned, Mara was going to do whatever it took to change minds. Mathematic rigor, scientific evidence, even repeated verification by experiment, none of these convince as well as personal experience. It was the quest to make the experience of one person available to others that led to the device in front of her. The real question, of course, was how well the device would translate the experience of her thirty subjects for the wearer of the halo. She’d try it herself, but she was already fitted with the prototype for the other half ...

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“Pretend” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #104

She was larger than life, her stride confident, her head high. She greeted everyone she passed, many by name. It didn’t matter whether they were security, mechanics, pilots, cleaning crew or just surprised, random strangers. “Kai,” she called with a wide smile, “see anything I should worry about?” “Nope. You were right on the reactor coils, though. I replaced ‘em all during the overhaul.” He held out a data pad for her signature. “Thanks. Not too expensive, I hope?” “Don’t worry about that, Edria. You’ve still got credit remaining with u...

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“Grab It Where You Can” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #103

She was in my dream again. Six feet of whippy muscle under pale ochre skin with a splash of deep brown freckles across her nose, one tusk chipped just enough that it was noticeable, thick, black hair pulled back into a ponytail. She wasn’t a beauty, small and thin for an orc, and kind of plain. Still, like every other time she showed up in my dreams, my heart skipped.I stood under the shower, both to wake myself and to clear the dream girl from my head. Orcs weren’t usually my type. In fact, the only girl I’d ever dated that wasn’t human lik...

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“Ex Servitio” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #102

Lil let out the smoke she’d been holding in, the buzz warming her brain. “I’ve always tried to do the right thing,” she said. “I know, I know,” Viv answered before taking a deep drag from the pipe. She continued, her words muffled by the clouds of smoke that carried them, “That’s why I know you’ll do the right thing now.” Lil ran her fingers over the patch on her sleeve; a seven-pointed star inside a circle, with the letters “CM” in the center. Below that, a patch with two parallel stripes crossing a third that sat at sixty degrees oblique...

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“Jo Said She Didn't Take the Book” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #101

“Jo said she didn’t take the book.” “So where is it?” They were both just over five and a half feet tall with medium reddish-brown skin, high cheekbones, and bright brown eyes. The identical sisters, distinguished only by the size of their puff hairdo, stood in the middle of the apartment. George, with the smaller puff, picked up a framed photo from the coffee table. It showed the identical triplets, Josephine, Georgiana, and Alice, better known as Jo, George, and Al, in matching bikinis on a beach in Oahu. The smiles were forced, as it wa...

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“Reeducation” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #100

I knew the day was going to be different when the guard droids came carrying clothes, rather than my daily meal. I’d been naked in my cell so long, subjected to hour upon hour of “reeducation” drivel over the speakers that I had some difficulty figuring out how to put the trousers on. The shirt bunched around my breasts uncomfortably and I considered skipping it but thought better of it. As I had learned, I bowed to the guard droids when they offered the clothes, and again after they motioned me out.What I had learned in my time in the solit...

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“Hello” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #99

Something woke me before dawn. I hoped it was a ship, but I couldn’t see any lights. Instead, I watched the sun rise over the ocean. Low chop, there would be no merciful breeze today.A whale breached and blew, and then another and another. If they were this close to the island on their migration, I knew there must be a shoal of fish out there. I readied my net and hoped they would drive the fish toward me.I waded out to where the water was just above my knees, the waves reaching just below my chest. How long I stood there, net at the ready, ...

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“Someone to Talk To” by Sjan Evardsson

Submitted to Contest #98

My mother used to say, “There’s always someone who has it worse than you,” and I used to believe it. It was so long ago, but I could still see how the sun made a halo of her blonde hair around her long, pointed ears, and her large, brown eyes seemed soft like velvet. The young woman across the table held my hand. “I know it doesn’t seem like much, but maybe tonight you’ll talk about it.” She was a human, maybe thirty, tops. Close-cropped dark hair, medium-brown skin and deep amber eyes. There was a mole on her left cheek that always caught ...

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