Description

A daughter’s journey through her estranged father’s word-woven world. A revolutionary poet and the brave new world he is freed into. Two scientists struggling with the immoral demands of an intergalactic war. An eminent detective investigating an alien’s disappearance on the flagship of the Galactic Mediocracy. An ER intern treating the largest patient he — or anyone — has ever seen. A ghost cat hell-bent on revenge. A traumatized young woman regretting her exorcism.

Twenty-four very short stories running the gamut from space opera to horror, from epic fantasy to near-future SF, from grim to light-hearted, from serious to silly.

This collection showcases the wide range of flash stories by Floris M. Kleijne that were published over the years, and includes two that have never before appeared in print.

• Sample A dragon's nature: The dwarven raiding party find not the dragon they expect, but a mere goblinette guarding the hoard they covet. This will be a piece of cake… or will it?
• Sample This is killing me: What if suicide pills were OTC, but contained a counselling AI?
• Sample A Cold Welcome: What if, after death, love and empathy pass over, but hatred and vengeance remain, as a black soul tethered to the site of its murder?
• Sample Pop And The Pirates: An asteroid, a security detail, a band of pirates. And a traitor.
• Sample Ashes to Ashes: There are things worse than losing your child. Getting her back is one of them…
• Sample A Memory of the Future: What will the corona crisis of 2020 have done to commuting? A mother and a son look back.
• Sample After We Buried The Hatchet: When they buried the hatchet, peace finally came to their family gatherings. But what kind of peace?
• Sample A right angle to here and now: A story about mourning a dear friend, and moving on in an unexpected direction.
• Sample All The Spiders: They overthrew the regime together, the People’s Poet and the resistance leader, but at the price of a terrible betrayal. Does the end justify the means?
• Sample The Case of the Vanished Kirbari: On the flagship of the Galactic Mediocracy, a Kirbari prisoner has inexplicably vanished, and only the famed detective Mycroft Greysel can find them again.
• Sample Echoes: As her grandfather’s mind deteriorates, scares from all the horror movies he’s watched seep into his waking life. But are the scares just in his mind?
• Sample Encroachment: On a remote planet, scientists Joel and Olivia struggle to make their seed colony work, as their crops succumb to the Gray Decay. Their marriage is on the verge of collapse. But are they confusing cause and effect?
• Sample The Last Rider of the Apocalypse: The Riders of the Apocalypse fled, and Porcaleo, the last surviving human, followed. To take his vengeance, he must destroy them…
• Sample An oasis of amends: They’re going to melt. Both of them, North and South. The question is: can we let them melt where a gazillion gallons of freshwater will do some good?
• Sample Summit Attempt: Reaching the summit of the unscaleable Spire for the glory of the High God is simply a matter of not giving up. Or is it?
• Sample Resigned: When Maria accepted the marketing job, she didn’t expect the trans-galactic commute to be such a bitch.
• Sample Out Of The Bag: All through their abusive childhood, their cat was their only friend. And even after its death, it’s got their back.
• Sample Frog Soup: Hell hath no fury like a coder scorned.
• Sample Hooked: ER intern Olaf wants to prove to his girlfriend he’s cut out for the job. Treating the wound in a giant’s forehead, however, may not be the best choice.
• Sample Pain Tolerance and Resistance to Corrosive Substances in Four Specimens of Exomalaclemys Oharensis: When the war effort asks scientists to commit torture for science, truth clashes with compassion.
• Sample Pining For My Demons: She remembers the exorcism. But is life without her demons any better?
• Sample The Frown: La Joconde’s smile was not so much enigmatic as smug, betraying her glee in the secret buried between Leonardo’s death and her countenance frozen in paint. But what if that secret ever came out?
• Sample Fragments Of A Falling-Out: When your life jumps around at random on your personal timeline, how do you resolve a marital argument?
• Sample A Fragment for Father: Her father weaves worlds with his stories. His fans worship him. She doesn’t; his weavings have caused her nothing but pain. At his 75th birthday party, in one of his own word-worlds, will she finally confront him?