Havok Publishing

Mystery

Goodbye Sun

A yellow spaceship… Who woulda thought?
Green, yes. Gray even. And silver—definitely. But never yellow… And yet, there it is. The same bright, sexy yellow of the Porsche that emblazons his bedroom wall.
Dean cocks his head as he takes in the size of the thing, the bike he is straddling momentarily forgotten.

Read it now
S2 Mystery Monday featured image (season 2)

All Those Shining Lights

In the waning hours of Black Friday, a Yuletide spectacle appeared next door, in glittering LED glory. As Millie shuffled across the driveway to her warmed-up Buick, she used her hand to cover her eyes, wincing at the neighbors’ radiant display. She eased herself into the driver’s seat

Read it now
SS - Staff Saturday featured image

Threat Level: Cuttlefish

What’s a spy’s greatest enemy? Ask any red-blubbered agent in Her Majesty’s Sea Critter Service and they’ll give you the same answer.  

Stairs.  

I sighed and looked down my glasses at the long flight of marble steps awaiting me. Bubbly Christmas music played in the background. The ballroom was alive with sea creatures mingling.

Read it now
S2 Mystery Monday featured image (season 2)

Where’s Santa?

Christmas morning! And there, under the tree… Nothing.

Six-year-old Joey’s hopes deflated. “I wonder why Santa didn’t bring any presents.” He rubbed his eyes and peeked through a crack in the front door. The eastern sky was streaked with orange. Along the fencerow, pink and yellow tulips danced

Read it now
S2 Mystery Monday featured image (season 2)

Illusionary Friends

“Shape-shifter!”
The words echo in my ears, but this time, they’re not aimed at me.
I’m not a shifter, merely an illusionist. It’s people’s eyes who change, not me. We can take on a few characteristics of the animal, like super-speed, flight, or deep-sea swimming. And even if it weakens my other senses,

Read it now
S2 Mystery Monday featured image (season 2)

Blind as a Bat

Most students went home for the holidays, but not us boys at the Reformatory School for Troubled Young Monsters. We had to stay and face the longest, hardest exam of the whole year. That’s what we got for being little criminals.

The morning of the exam, I went to the library, 

Read it now
S2 Wacky Wednesday featured image (season 2)

The Man of a Trillion Faces

Before I give you my full report, let me clear something up: I really do have a trillion faces. Please don’t ask to see them or we’ll be here all night.

I’m aware I only show four faces on my website: one, me, Derek Organ, Private Investigator;

Read it now
S2 Mystery Monday featured image (season 2)

Whispers of Magic

My blood freezes. I know that tingling scent. The scent of magic. Magic long dead in these parts. But there… that flicker of tantalizing other. That otherness resonates within me.
I scan the crowded pub for possible sources. Sweat, the stink of unwashed bodies, mutton left too long over the flames

Read it now
S2 Mystery Monday featured image (season 2)

The Nose

Hot. Smoky. Sweet with an acidic tang. So fresh-from-the-oven it made your mouth water.

Ginger.

I groaned. So much for Aruba. There’s no way the boss would let me go out of town with a gingerbread man on the loose in Cityville. And after I’d just packed my new swim trunks, too.

Read it now
S2 Mystery Monday featured image (season 2)

A Sense of Guilt

Marshal Roland Chadwick pressed his nose to the desert floor and sniffed. A whiff of sulfur entered his nostrils, receded, and returned stronger. He snorted and coughed. The smell of hades wasn’t easily dismissed. But it came with the territory. Without it, he’d be out of a job.
He mounted his horse and rode,

Read it now
S2 Mystery Monday featured image (season 2)

Scent Across the Miles

Sherry held the letterman jacket’s collar to her cheek and inhaled deeply. Polo cologne, her first Christmas gift to him. The herbal overtones had always reminded her of spiced cider. Like him, it brought warmth on a cold winter’s night. A hint of aloe from his shaving cream to ease the roughness of life…

Read it now
S2 Mystery Monday featured image (season 2)

The Mysterious Scent of Cookies

As I stepped into my apartment, the aroma of chocolate greeted me. I hung up my coat and shook the weariness from my shoulders, while my mouth watered from the fresh, chocolatey goodness wafting from my kitchen.

Like cookies. Gooey triple chocolate cookies I’d eaten at Grandma’s house when I was a little girl.

Read it now