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Dragonfire Press - Kaye George

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72 pages

English

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Description

A compilation of horror, mystery, and urban fantasy short stories by Austin authors with a distinctly dark side...Featuring stories by Kaye George, Mary Anne Loesche and Steven Metze.

Sujets

Fantasy (canción de Mariah Carey)

Fantasy

Informations

Publié par	Dragonfire Press
Date de parution	01 janvier 0001
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780984657803
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0186€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

More Praise for All Things Dark and Dastardly

"A string of sizzling stories to stimulate yoursenses and
excite the nerves, especially when nightfalls."
- Edith Y. S. Harris
Artist and short story writer
www.eyshasfineart.co.uk

"Rough cut gems that twinkle darkly"
- Jack Bates, Derringer Nominee

"Keep an eye on these authors. You'll be seeingtheir names
for a long time to come."
- AJ Hayes, Featured author in the
noir anthology, Pulp Ink

"An appealing, eclectic collection of darktales, often served up with a twist of fantasy.
You won’t want to miss any of these ‘fun-sized’Halloween treats!"
- Karen MacInerney, Agatha award-nominatedauthor
of the Gray Whale Inn Mystery Series

ALL THINGS DARK AND DASTARDLY

A COMPILATION OF HORROR,
MYSTERY, AND URBAN FANTASY
SHORT STORIES
BY AUSTIN AUTHORS WITH A
DISTINCTLY DARK SIDE…

Published by Dragonfire Press atSmashwords
Copyright © 2011 by Steven Metze, Mary AnnLoesch, Kaye George
(This book is available in print at http://dragonfire-press.com/ )

All rights reserved. Without limiting therights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publicationmay be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system,or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic,mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without theprior written permission of both the copyright owner and the abovepublisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters,places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of theauthor's imagination or are used fictitiously. The authoracknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of variousproducts referenced in this work of fiction, which have been usedwithout permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is notauthorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademarkowners.

Smashwords Edition License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personalenjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away toother people. If you would like to share this book with anotherperson, please purchase an additional copy for each person youshare it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it,or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should returnto Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you forrespecting the author's work.

Cover photo by Christos Pathiakis
www.allthingswritng.blogspot.com
www.allthingsdarkanddastardly.com

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to Freda’s Seafood Grille for hostingAll Things Writing.

Thanks to Doug McIntire for bringing us alltogether.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

THE DRAGON'S TEETH
Mary Ann Loesch

COLOR ME BABY BLUE
Kaye George

ALIENS V. FAT BASTARD
Steven Metze

FEED YOUR SOUL
Mary Ann Loesch

YOU CAN DO THE MATH
Kaye George

BRAD AND LISA
Steven Metze

FINGER IN MY SOUP
Mary Ann Loesch

BALLS
Kaye George

BAYOU SCARS
Mary Ann Loesch

WEST TEXAS WAITIN'
Kaye George

THE LITTLE MONKEY THAT SHUSHED
Mary Ann Loesch

RETRANSFORMATION
Kaye George

SWAMP BABY
Steven Metze

EXTRA: SWAMP MONSTER, ORIGINAL
Steven Metze

THE DRAGON’S TEETH
Mary Ann Loesch

The legend began about two hundred yearsago.
Silas Westerbrook had tripped. If not forthat small misstep, it’s entirely possible he would have simplyadmired the clear waters of the river that a century later wouldbecome the life blood of Westerbrook Waterpark and moved on, neverknowing what a great find he had left behind. The dragon’s teethwould have remained buried in the fertile soil. Perhaps discoveredby someone else entirely.
But Silas bent down to see what had causedhim to stumble. He could make out two smooth, white rocks stickingout of the ground at an odd angle. He rooted in the black dirt,attempting to remove the rocks. After digging around the base ofone, he felt a sharp pain in his thumb. Blood seeped from a smallwound there and dribbled like syrup across the smooth white surfaceof the rock.
To his astonishment, the rocks vibrated,glowing a soft yellow as the blood sank into the porous stone. Evenmore curious now, Silas wished for a shovel. A thud off to his leftdistracted him, and when he turned, he discovered a small shovel inthe grass. Not knowing what to make of it, he studied the tool. Itwould definitely do the job, but where had it come from?
It must have been there all along, hedecided. He’d just…overlooked it.
Silas began to dig. A few minutes later,sweat dotted his forehead, but he’d uncovered two white rocksshaped like oversized raindrops. The points of the rocks wereserrated, and he realized they must be the teeth of some long deadcreature. As he ran a finger along the edge of one of the teeth, hecut himself again.
"Damn," he said, and wished for something tobandage the gushing wound.
A white cloth floated down from the sky,coming to rest on his bald head.
That’s when it dawned on Silas Westerbrookthat he’d discovered something unusual. He stood there a moment,letting the salty sweat above his lip dribble into his mouth as hecontemplated what to do. Instead of bandaging his bleeding hand, hegently placed the two teeth on the cloth and wrapped them up. Thenhe hurried down the hill toward the wagon that was a makeshift homefor his family, not realizing that his ancestors would be bound byblood to a legend.
***
Westerbrook Waterpark was always busy duringthe summer. Every ride had at least a ten-minute wait. Luckily, thepark had been set up so that while customers waited, they weretreated to a refreshing mist that trailed down from the tubechutes. In certain spots, small waterfalls spilled over the slides,which also refreshed the hot people waiting for their turn. All inall, it could have been worse and the anticipation of gettingdrenched on the ride was enough to make the wait bearable for mostpeople.
Carlos counted down the minutes until it washis turn to ride the park’s newest water coaster, The Dragon’sBreath. He’d had to wait behind a large older man who, judging bythe disturbing smell that kept coming Carlos’ way, hadgastrointestinal issues. He tried to breathe only through his mouthand not think about what was going on with the man, but it wasdifficult. This was why he didn’t like to venture out of his headtoo much.
Reality was stinky.
Most of the time, Carlos allowed his body towalk along on autopilot as he locked himself tight inside hisimagination. Bathroom, eat, sleep—the mechanics of life were easyenough and pleased Carlos’ doctors, teachers, and parents.
His lack of speech did not please them. Itwasn’t that he couldn’t talk; he just didn’t care to. The thoughtsin his head went too fast for his mouth to keep up so Carlosfigured, why say anything at all? Every now and then, he found somesort of middle ground where he could get the words out, but itwasn’t often.
Autism. His parents whispered the word, andCarlos knew that was the name of his condition. He liked to turnthe word over in his mind, enjoying the sound of it, the way thevowels and consonants ran perfectly together. Autism.
Some of the kids at school didn’t think theword was as cool as Carlos did. They joked about it, calling himstupid or retard. Yet, Carlos wasn’t bothered by it much. Half thetime the others spoke too slowly for his agile brain to evenprocess their taunts.
But that wasn’t true of all the kids.
Teddy Hill. With his average looks that madehim seem like a nice boy and his uncanny ability to fly beneath theradar, Teddy always managed to penetrate the veil in Carlos’ mind.He knew the right things to say, the right buttons to push, and theright way to punch Carlos so that the bruises didn’t show. Theseantics had been going since kindergarten, wearing Carlos down. God,how he dreaded running into Teddy Hill.
As if just thinking about Teddy could makehim appear, Carlos suddenly heard the voice of his nemesis. Slowly,he turned his head and ducked out of sight when he saw Teddyfurther back in the line. The woman behind Carlos had an ampleframe and, even clad in a much too tight swimsuit, she offeredplenty of cover.
"My old man says Westerbrook Waterpark isthe biggest rip off!" Teddy said. His voice carried over the soundof the rushing water and happy screams from the tube chute. "It maybring in the bucks this town, but it’s just a crappy, overpricedhole in the wall."
"Then why do you come here?" The girlstanding next to Teddy asked, crossing her arms and shifting in herpink flip-flops. They matched her pink bikini and would soon matchthe sunburn spreading across her face. Carlos didn’t recognize her,but figured anyone willing to hang out with Teddy couldn’t be anice person.
"We have season passes," Teddy said. "Andrip off or not, there’s nothing else to do during the summer inthis shit hole town, Emily."
"I like Westerbrook Waterpark," Emily said."I’ve come here every year, and I’ve never had a bad timebefore."
Something in the way she said the word"before" made Carlos think what she really meant was "beforenow."
"I hear this new ride sucks," Teddy said,and a few heads turned his direction. "My friend A.J. went on itand totally thought it was awful. It’s not even a little bitscary."
"Maybe you should wait at the bottom forme."
A couple of other people in the line noddedin agreement.
"No. You’re such a girl. I know you’ll bescared. That’s why I’m here to protect you." Teddy draped an armaround her shoulders and gave her blonde hair a tug.
"Whatever," Emily said, rolling hereyes.
"The only cool thing about this ride is theteeth." Teddy pointed to the ride’s entrance, which was fashionedlike the face of a dragon with its mouth wide open. Two gleamingwhite teeth hung over the narrow slide where water propelled agreen raft up the chute and inside the dragon. Carlos stared as twoyoung kids in a raft shot into the dark tunnel as if the dragon hadjust swallowed them. "Those are the famous dragon’s teeth of SilasWesterbrook."
She squinted up at the