Cacachatol - Peter Barrett
"Confidence, thought Isbana as she rode into the village of Meruga, is everything. Die with a confident expression on your face, and your killer will wonder what posthumous revenge you've arranged for him.
But despite the smile on her face, Isbana was annoyed. She didn't like it when priests put ideas into peasants' minds that changed the way things were supposed to be.
Still, the priest would get his desserts later. Just now, she knew he had to maintain the attitude that all was normal, hence her sunday best. She picked at imaginary lint on her maroon doublet, then rubbed an equally non-existent speck of mud from her thigh-high leather riding boots. All the while, she smiled as though the world was hers.
"
Fringe Dwellers - Robbie Matthews
""So, you're a werewolf, then?"
I sighed. "It shows that much, does it?"
"It's quite obvious to the knowledgeable observer. Especially at this time of the month."
He was a friendly looking guy, middle aged, chatty. His ornate robe instantly identified him as a practicing sorcerer. He finished writing out the cheque, and handed it across.
"I wouldn't have thought you would be working on a full moon."
"I try not to. But, we're short-handed. You know how it is." "Well, thank you for being so prompt. I've been waiting for this."
He took the package from me, and vanished back inside his flat.
I hate working during the full moon. My palms itch, I keep sprouting fur in odd places, and I have to fight down a strong urge to rip out my customers' throats. Mind you, this last has little to do with my condition - I often feel that way.
"
Perfect Parasite - Carol Normarhas
"Marli Kitrane came down from the moon.
Her footsteps echoed on the green marble floor, which reminded her of the sea she hadn't seen for over a decade. The young man beside her, her guide through this labyrinth of corporate decadence, stole occasional, sideways glances at her. At ninety-three she was tall and straight, her bronze skin as soft and unlined as an infant's, her cheekbones elegantly angled beneath her almond shaped eyes. She laughed inwardly, at ninety-three she was perfect, beautiful, desirable and so damn healthy. Burgeoning with life.
"
The Sasquatch Winter - Les Petersen
"In winter, some men grow crazy. They become snipers, hunting amongst the refuse of society for that one shot that will lift their cares from their shoulders. Dark schemes burn within these kinds of men and if their blood was freed into the frigid environment of winter, it would steam like salvation, filling the world with a cloud of copper-tasting vapour so dense that any onlooker would flee in terror.
Standing on the snow covered jetty watching the red amphibian aircraft cough its way back out onto the lake and leaving long scars in the reflection of the mountainscape, Adam Flea knew this better than most. He shrugged deeper into his jacket and turned his eyes away from the lake, towards the heavens where the last of the blue sky was disappearing behind the rolling blanket of cloud coming up from the south-west. He wanted to be away from Bear Lake.
"
Claw - Paul Ryan
"A warm breeze fluttered the curtains screening the bedroom window and I inhaled the scent of cut grass. Waxed floorboards gleamed in the moonlight. An armless chair, dresser, and bed crowded the far wall. Sliding boxwood panels screened a built-in wardrobe next to the dresser. A corpse lay on the bed.
Tangled sheets, black with congealed blood, tumbled over the edge of the bed. The body was so mauled I could not tell whether it was male or female. Ragged slashes in groups of three or four had torn the skin - head, chest, belly, legs, arms - nothing was spared. Deep bites gaped wetly in the torso. It looked like the kill of a big cat or a bear. But cougars, mountain lions, and grizzlies didn't roam the night in Inglesberg, New York.
"
Flap - Antony Searle
"Minutes after I met Ian McIntosh at the train station he was trying it on.
"Beautiful car," he exulted, "just feel that." We went around the dirt corner like a rally, sliding and kicking up clouds of dust. I braced myself and wondered if a passenger-side air-bag was among the excellent qualities of Ian's Mercedes. "Really screwed the guy I got it off. Couldn't make a deal to save himself. Didn't know how." He contrived to brush his hairy knuckles along my thigh as he changed down gears. "You ever, uh, screwed anybody in a deal, Deborah? Mathematician like you, must have a head for figures?"
I made a point of meeting his wife Dominique and learning the names of his children as soon as possible.
"
Happy Birthday To Me - Alison Venugoban
"Dr Deever glanced at the clock; she'd no idea it had gotten so late. Yawning, she decided against wrapping Evcopee's present tonight.
Picking up the wrapping paper, ribbon, and video game disk that was Evcopee's "birthday" present, Dr Deever opened her office safe. Sitting inside were sundry confidential papers and Dr Deever's working copy of the master disk that would eventually enable Evcopee to access the lasers of the satellite defence network.
Dr Deever smiled to herself. Evcopee was developing well, indeed faster than the team could reasonably hope; however it would be some time yet before its software could be trusted with the laser network. There was still a great deal it needed to learn first.
"