Martha.net

1. “Hark! What light through yonder window breaks?”

“Tossing a lamp through a window is not Shakespeare”

“Artistic License!”

“No, that’s more like Artistic Misdemeanor.”

2. The quad was quieter than she expected. Even with the oppressive herd of students gone for the summer, the teachers kept their same quiet rounds like clockwork soldiers. Continue reading →

1. “Most of the time when people say can’t, they mean won’t.” She gave him a measured glare.

2. The giant hare rousted itself from its nest with a chuckling grunt, stretching like a cat and showing off incisors the length of Yuem’s forearm. Wiam had met hares before, but never so close and never without his brother’s protection. Continue reading →

1. Behind the trembling twig-like fingers hid a face unlike any she’d seen before.

2. Normally shelter came first, then fire, then food—but they’d settled for two out of three for one too many days and even the strongest of them was starting to fade. She’d get in trouble for using her magic, but meat was more important than acceptance. Continue reading →

1. Dehydration is a horrible way to die, but teetering on the edge of dying of thirst is a worse way to live.

2. There are no horizons here, at least not the kind he’s used to. No trees, no mountains, not even the hint of a building to mar the uninterrupted line between the grass and the sky.

It’s decidedly unnerving. Continue reading →

1. Spaceships were giant sterile things, even crammed to the gills with refugees—hard vacuum solves a host of ills and even bedbugs need to breathe.

2. He was a man by night and a cat by day, when all common sense pointed to the curse having the opposite effect. Continue reading →

1. Morning comes much too quickly for comfort, the skies tumbling from deep purple to a clear bright blue as the twin-suns burn the cloud cover away.

2. Just because they knew the risk doesn’t make failure any easier to bear and We’re sorry for your loss echoes hollowly along the empty corridors behind her. They’ll be sorry the next time too, and the next, for as many empty condolences as it takes until she reaches their goal. Continue reading →

1. Dancing has always been the best way to raise the dead, but most cemeteries frown on raves.

2. ‘Because’ was never an honest answer, but Virginia quickly found that most people resented anyone pointing out their oversights. Thankfully those few that didn’t mind were often more than happy to continue the conversation, even if they gave her odd looks when they thought she wasn’t looking. Continue reading →

1. Fake gold nuggets aren’t as easy to make as she thought and her first few attempts attract too much attention. She learns from those mistakes and recalibrates the fabricator to produce less valuable, but less alarming currency.

2. Night falls abruptly as they take the first few steps down the path into the valley. The edge of the cliffs slice across the sunset in a sharp black line pitching the lead riders into darkness. Continue reading →

1. “‘Never bind a demon you can’t kill alone’,” his missing eye burnt red against in the darkness as he recited the Second Rule, “you forget such simple things, my master.”

2. The temperature swings are nearly unbearable, the heat during the day traps them in hastily built dens and the cold at night cuts to the bone. If they can’t find the tunnel entrance tomorrow there’s a chance none of them will make it back. Continue reading →