Alexa Grave

It all started with those darn shoes. Dorothy is stuck in Oz with a trio of off-the-wall, diabolical munchkins, intent on putting her on trial for killing the Witch. She's all for a little bullying, at least when she's dishing it out to the kids back home. But these munchkins go too far when they force her into the Witch's silver shoes and parade her down the yellow brick road like cattle to be judged by the Wizard of Oz. This story is also in the collection Born of Blood and Spells: 13 Dark Fantasy Stories & Poems.

A Short Story

Dancing in the Wind

To send souls off requires a spirit seeker to choke the ambition out of them... Lazarus curses the power he was born with. The power of a spirit seeker. And he curses the memories that haunt him – his sister rising from her grave due to his magic. Now, his mentor tasks him with sending off souls on his own for the first time. But his memories cause him to question why the spirits linger... And why his mentor deals with them so violently. There has to be a better way, and Lazarus intends to find it.

Do Not Go Gentle

Two short stories about a sea nymph with a bad attitude, a potty mouth, and the power of destruction. Immortal Woes Nothing like having a suicidal not-so-giant giant as a best friend. Unless you also have a couple of drunken fairy pests tormenting him about his small stature. Grinka's the lucky sea nymph who has both. Between comforting her friend and stopping the lewd fairies from taunting him with a suicide powder, her temper gets the best of her. And when it does, things explode. "Immortal Woes" received an Honorable Mention in Quarter 3 of the 2015 Writers of the Future Contest. Ode to Buses and Libraries Grinka has a maddening itch on the back of her neck. And the only place she can find any answers about her skin condition is at the library in the Immortal World. Of course getting to the library isn't easy, especially when riding the Immortal Express bus line. Between a lackadaisical centaur and the drunken fairy twins, it's a wonder Grinka hasn't exploded them all. Oh wait, she has.

Immortal Woes & Ode to Buses and Libraries

Fractured Fairies

I wonder if this is what a gnome tripping on unicorn hairs feels like. As usual, Grinka the sea nymph can’t catch a break. She simply wants to publish her novel. Unfortunately, Tamor and Tamara, the two fairy thorns in her side, mess with her computer. Too bad they’re immortal and can’t meet the same demise as the innumerable fairies in her book. If that isn’t enough of a plague, Grinka’s sister Raina pops in from the Immortal World, bringing the first immortal virus with her. And now, Grinka is quarantined in her room with the two fairy nitwits. Will she survive to hit publish, or will the rainbows and fairies win?

Bytes Bite, And So Do Fairies (Fractured Fairies, 4)

Lincoln Cole

J. Naomi Ay

Richard Crawford

Cora Buhlert

Griffin Carmichael

Tom Germann

Jaleta Clegg

A. E. Wasp

George Donnelly

Edward M. Grant

Jeanette Raleigh

J.T. Williams

J. David Core

Carmilla Cross

John D. Ottini

Bill Hiatt

Eli Nixon

Heather Biedermann

N. D. Iverson

A Flash Fiction Halloween Anthology

Monster Maelstrom

The woman’s skin blends into the gray of the bark, her body melded with the tree. And she weeps. The mage Jasp spent the last two decades shuttered away in his crumbling mansion, mourning the loss of his wife, Yetta – his guilt and a couple of stone-brained gargoyles his only companions. He intends to continue his self-inflicted solitude, until the calico cat Amber appears. A malicious mage is imprisoning women and draining their life force. Amber insists the great and powerful Jasp must save them. Jasp’s memory of Yetta spurs him to act. Making no promises, he follows Amber to the weeping women in the woods. But it’s not as simple as freeing them. It never is.

Edge of Sorrow (Fortunes of Fate, 6)

A witch who believes one of her own kind could never kill... In a world where people believe the crimson sun is a dead witch’s head and the witch hunter who killed her stalks the night sky, a witch who ventures outside of Haven risks losing her life. Tessa is one such witch. Like many of her kind, she hopes to help the people of Leera, not harm them, and she’s on her first mission to heal an ailing man named Jeremiah. But when she crosses paths with a witch hunter, instead of avoiding him like she knows she should, she succumbs to her desires and ends up in his bed. The local Enforcers believe a witch is behind Jeremiah’s sickness, so they call Bastian to town. He’s a young witch hunter who normally has a knack for sniffing out witches. But when he runs into the striking Tessa, she scrambles his senses. He’s inexplicably drawn to her and abandons his usually cautious nature. As Tessa and Bastian uncover clues about Jeremiah’s illness, Tessa has to face the possibility that another witch may have had a hand in the incident. And if Bastian learns she’s a witch, he may point his finger at her. Then her head will surely roll.

Mind Behind the Mind (Trinity Torn, 1)

A grouchy sea nymph who fancies herself a modern-day Scrooge. Bah humbug. Grinka's main goal for Christmas: survive without having to celebrate a damned thing. Between playing an elf to her mopey human-sized giant friend’s Santa and contending with the fairy siblings’ holiday revelries, she’s got her work cut out for her. And when some uninvited guests appear on her doorstep, she’s forced to face a party of all the people she ran from when she left the Immortal World. No thanks to that torture! Grinka plots to avoid the party, until she meets a handsome tree nymph who agrees to attend. Maybe, just maybe, this year Grinka will have a Merry Christmas.

A Very Grinka Christmas (Fractured Fairies, 3)

What’s a sea nymph got to do to get a vacation around here? That whole “life is a journey, not a destination” nonsense doesn’t hold water with Grinka. Especially when she books a flight to Vegas to get away from those two fairy nitwits. She doesn’t quite consider the aquatic ramifications of a sea nymph in the air. Nor does she plan on a chance encounter with her goblin ex-boyfriend, Hrelm. Seriously, what’s it going to take for Grinka to get to Vegas and gamble away her meager savings?

S.O.L. Air (Fractured Fairies, 2)

Drops of crimson and muttered incantations... the stories in this collection are Born of Blood and Spells. Short stories, flash fiction, and poems – thirteen tales of dark fantasy all written by Alexa Grave. Including This Is Where I Stand, Bloodstains, and Hair of the Dog, as well as: Sunset Street Be careful what you wish for. Stuck in her dorm room alone on a Friday night, Leah can’t imagine her loneliness getting any deeper until she pops a new game into her computer... and gets sucked into it. Trapped in a world of darkness and rain, she fears she’ll never see another living soul again. Until she meets Zach. He may be the balm for her heart she’s been searching for, but fulfilling her wish comes with a price. Is she willing to pay it? Cold, Oh So Cold Hearts of men as frozen as the kingdoms they live in. Hear the static of a radio? Feel the chill sink into your bones and refuse to leave? Then you must be in the three Ice Kingdoms of Chyraine. No matter where you turn, the icicles can be seen forming in the hearts and minds of all the inhabitants. Or being driven into their backs and throats by their enemies. Dancing in the Wind It all started with those darn shoes. Dorothy is stuck in Oz with a trio of off-the-wall, diabolical munchkins, intent on putting her on trial for killing the Witch. She's all for a little bullying, at least when she's dishing it out to the kids back home. But these munchkins go too far when they force her into the Witch's silver shoes and parade her down the yellow brick road like cattle to be judged by the Wizard of Oz. Bound Every book has a heartbeat. And some are louder than others. Leda loves her job as a college librarian – books are her friends, ones that take her to far off lands and who don't cheat on her like her last boyfriend did. But a strange incident with a student has her wondering if there's something more sinister about the books in this library. Of course, Leda can't confide in anyone about her suspicions – they’d think she's crazy. Is she crazy? Or does danger lurk in between the pages?

13 Dark Fantasy Stories & Poems

Born of Blood and Spells

A witch hunter refuses to embrace his magick, threatening to consume him from the inside out... Bastian shuns his witchblood – he’s a witch hunter, after all, and to prove it he hunts down the treacherous witch who betrayed her own kind. But denying his powers is a grave mistake, one which awakens a monster inside him. And when he finally loses control, he commits an act that he dreads Tessa will never forgive him for. Tessa battles with the memories and emotions her ex-lover Thane funneled into her, to the point where she’s unsure if all of her thoughts are truly her own. Her sudden rise to High Priestess, a new witch on the Council, and two conspiratorial Council members only add to her burden. She fears her mind will snap. And when events force her hand, unhinging her sanity even more, she risks losing herself completely. But a new menace on the horizon promises to strain both Bastian’s and Tessa’s fights with their internal and external demons – a prophecy from a tattooed apparition threatens to destroy all of Leera...

Ivan Djordjevic

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