Havok Publishing

Science Fantasy

The Job Sounded Fun on Paper

“I understand your frustration, and can offer you a ten percent off coupon for any inconvenience this situation has caused.” I hold the glossy paper out in front of me like a shield. Judging by her pursed lips and battle stance—the kind honed in combat during multiple tours of 4 a.m. Black Friday

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Mending Dreams

I find my father standing on the balcony overlooking our courtyard, his arm drawn back, a trident in hand, aiming at my airship.
“This invention is worse than Icarus’s wings,” Páppa shouts.
“Don’t!” I drop my sewing. Strips of whalebone scatter on the floor. Instead of winding through my side of our U-shaped home,

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An Internship in Antarctica

“Don’t worry, I’m generally pretty good at this stuff,” Detective Thomason said, using a gloved finger to prod the corpse.
“Generally? What do you mean by that?” Sabrina couldn’t control the horrified look on her face as the detective started sniffing the body.
“Hmmmmm.” Thomason frowned. “I think it best to say this man

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Up in the Clouds

Whoever imagined living on a cloud would be comfortable is an idiot.
Now, obviously, I don’t mean a real cloud. Those are just water droplets suspended in the atmosphere. No. I mean the type of cloud children envision: big fluffy cotton balls where naked babies sporting soft, feathery wings hang out and play the harp.

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Mechas at the Earth’s Core

The mecha’s armor plating groaned as another giant twelve-legged spider slammed against it. I shoved back. My megabot’s left arm swung out, smashing the monster into the hard-packed snow. Two more spiders replaced it, stepping over the twitching remains of the first.
I took a step back. The mecha’s foot slipped into open air.

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Rebirth

“The giant python—she’s gone walkabout,” Steve stammered as I strode into the expansive Reptile Exhibit Hall.
I couldn’t run back into the drizzly night. Wildlife professionals don’t run, especially not the bloody founder and director of Australia’s Threatened and Extinct Animal Sanctuary.
And this big girl—my escaped snake—measured longer than five meters.

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The Fall of Troy

The sound of sobbing cleaved the war-torn air, assailing Hephaestus’s aching and stiff joints. It wasn’t just the grief rattling him—he knew that voice. And he’d never heard her cry like this before. Pushing off his cane, he propelled himself forward, increasing the pace of his uneven limp with every step.

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When in Roam

Gentle, green hills rolled before me. I raced across soft grass. Ancient white statues veiled in a delicate blanket of moss adorned the pastoral landscape. Behind me howled a wild horde of giant, chittering, angry, club-wielding prairie dogs bent on my destruction.
Eleanor Thornhail, what have you gotten yourself into now?
No matter what

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The Ghost in Stall Three

As a general rule, Reynolds didn’t go into junior high girls’ bathrooms. But when three corpses turned up in a school lavatory stall all in one day, he tended to make an exception. Plus, he’d been called in to investigate.
All the way from New York City.
Reynolds squatted in front of…

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Day of the Dancing Dog

Watching the one-yen coin tumbling seemingly endlessly midair, Ren Izumi said,
“Winner gets to update the signal tower’s hardware down on the planet. Fresh air after three months, ah! The loser has to stay here and overhaul the ship’s decrepit ventilation system. I call one.”
Himari Tanaka smiled. “Is that Toshiko-san’s lucky coin?”

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The Once and Future King Returns

SUBJECT: ARTHUR PENDRAGON
STATUS: ACTIVE
[INITIATING RELEASE]

Pale light pierces the darkness, tearing me from slumber. Every fiber in my body ignites with freezing fire.
Coughing, I wake with my face in the dirt, cold and damp beneath me as I struggle to lift my head. The light fades and I’m left…

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The Transylvanian Trouble

“Hold on—we’re crashing!” the bigfoot bellowed as he pulled back on the aircraft’s controls.
I tucked my wings against my body and gripped the armrests. Squatch was not our regular pilot, and it showed.
Again I wished that Gob and Flats hadn’t had to deal with the Werewolf Plague of 1346.

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