“He Came” by David MichaelShort Short Story (1200 words)
Police respond to an emergency call at the house of known religious fanatic, William Revell, to find the floor, every wall, every window, even the ceiling, splattered and smeared with blood. “He came,” Revell says when he’s asked what happened. “He came…”
Available on Amazon!
Gunwitch: A Tale of the King’s Coven by David MichaelNovel (Rose Bainbridge, Gunwitch Book #1)
In 1718, in an England that might have been, the law found Rosalind Bainbridge guilty of witchcraft. In lieu of execution, she became Private Bainbridge of the 101st Pistoleers.
A gunwitch of the King’s Coven.
Twenty-four years later, dishonorably discharged and working as a scout on the Amerigon frontier, Rose’s past comes looking for her. A summons and a request from the officer who saved her from the hangman’s noose. A reunion with another veteran of the 101st, someone she never wanted to see again. And a meeting with the Misses Janett and Margaret Laxton, the daughters of the man who pressed her into service as a gunwitch.
Reluctantly, Rose agrees to take Janett and Margaret to their father at Fort Russell. No one knows the swamps around New Venezia better than Rose and her bloodsister, the enigmatic Chal. The trip should take only a few days.
But there’s more waiting in the swamps than mud and mosquitoes. War and betrayal threaten Rose and the girls, while an ancient, unspeakable evil pursues them all the way to the walls of Fort Russell.
Published by Four Crows Landing.
Available in trade paperback and ebook formats at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple iBookstore, Kobo, Smashwords, and more!
Brain Freeze & Other Stories by David MichaelCollection
Eight Speculative Fiction and Slipstream stories by David Michael, with illustrations by Don Michael, Jr.
“Brain Freeze” – Crouched on all fours, eye nubs just over the edge of the curb, Boollf’s ear bones vibrated with the sound of the low churning, the sirens’s song, the goal of tonight’s mission…
“Callisto” – She came out of the hut and the butt end of a spear hit her in the face. She had only an instant to see the two men, strangers, one of them holding her boys, pinning the boys’s arms…
“Indian Summer” – Anna, hurting from the death of her best friend, isn’t ready to give up the gray gloom of autumn for the sunshine of Indian summer. But maybe more than just the sun has come back to her.
“Constellation” – The Great Bear looks down on the world and sees a woman, a mother like herself, whose children have been taken from her.
“The Perfect Hiding Place” – The house next door has been sold and the new neighbors are moving in. Do you think they’re religious? They seem to have a lot of kids. Do you think they’re hiding something? They look ethnic. Do you think they might be worth robbing? No, obviously, they can’t be *monkeys*…
“Selene” – Her village is burned, her beloved husband is dead. Only she can save her sons. The Moon bears silent witness as she runs through the night and the storm to reclaim what remains of her life.
“Nostalgia” – Two yellowing Polaroids, snapshots of a little girl at the fair. Two different childhoods separated by the death of her father. One childhood she can’t remember, ruined by the one she wants to forget. When her boyfriend’s “birthday surprise” turns out to be a date at the same fair, Sharon finds herself face to face with both.
“Evanescent” – She’s the girl you meet every year for the first time. She has red-gold hair, sky-blue eyes, and just a splash of freckles across her cheeks. She’s as young as you are, or as old. She dances in the rain and splashes in the puddles. She jumps in the leaves and spins with the wind. She steps out of the fog to smile at you, then disappears before you can ask her name…
Available as an ebook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple iBookstore, Kobo, Smashwords, and more!
“Effie Two-Five” by David MichaelShort Story (8300 words)
Make a wish. Brace for impact. Find a vein and take a hit of the new–and highly illegal–wonder drug with the street name “Effie Two-Five”, and your dreams will come true. You can be faster. Stronger. Anything you want to be–even a porno superhero. But be careful. Effie two-five has a serious learning curve. And you should have a lot of munchies handy.
Available on Amazon!
“Secondhand Coffin” by David MichaelShort Story (2500 words)
A coffin isn’t always a final destination. It certainly wasn’t for Lacey. Murdered, Lacey spends her days as the unseen occupant of a showroom coffin. At night, though, when the lid is closed, she is once again wrapped in a rug and covered with cement, reliving the horror of her death. Until the night another body is dropped into her coffin.
Available from Amazon!