Havok Publishing

S6 - Casting Call

S6 Daily Genre Banner - TH

Words to Live By

Behind the shrubs would be a good place. The thought flitted through his mind as Andrei and his date walked through the dimly lit park.
The dinner had gone to plan. His petite partner had ordered the crab cakes as he’d encouraged her to, and he had smothered her with dessert and charm

Read it now
S6 Daily Genre Banner - WW

Churchwarden

“What a perfectly splendid location to attempt new and exciting crime!” Finneas Churchwarden—private investigator—straightened his blue argyle bow-tie. “Don’t you agree, Leon?”
“It’s Lionel, sir.”
“That’s what I meant.” Churchwarden jabbed his clay pipe between his teeth, chewing on the stem as he spoke. “Come, beloved colleague. Let us do the work

Read it now
S6 Daily Genre Banner - TT

Going Native

“Licenses, please.”
“Sure thing, Warden.” The hunter brushed back her curly red hair and leaned her rifle against a nearby pine. She patted the front of her camouflage vest, searching, turned out her empty pockets, and glanced at her burly partner.
The male hunter stuck up a finger. “Hey, maybe they never gave

Read it now
S6 Daily Genre Banner - MM

The Witness

“You can’t change anything, Tom. You know that.”
I nodded. No one could fight the laws of time travel.
“No matter how much you’re tempted.”
“I know!” I forced my breath to steady. Jacob was helping me, against all rules. All reason. He was not the enemy. “Sorry.” I swallowed. “No matter what,

Read it now
S6 Daily Genre Banner - FF

One Too Far

“Have you ever wanted to—”
“No.” Brix adjusted his brother’s tie, expression unchanged.
“But you could—”
“Don’t care.”
“What’s the point of being Captain of the Guard if you’re not going to use it to your advantage?”
When Brix didn’t answer, Moxly sighed and turned towards the mirror. His clean cut,

Read it now
S6 Daily Genre Banner - TH

Dust to Dust

First thing you have to do with a dead body is bury it.
The year was 1862. Yellowstone country. Where no explorer dared tread alone. Shovel in hand, I dug a grave for Darryl Evans and scooped the dirt over his corpse.
After a short prayer, I said my goodbye while an orange

Read it now
S6 Daily Genre Banner - WW

Elihu’s Light

Misael sighed. “Do you know where we’re going, Sis?”
Giah glanced up from her map to Misael, who stood beside her in the dark tunnel. Their torch’s flame cast wavering light on the stone walls and across his furrowed brows.
“Of course I’m sure.” Turning back to the map, Giah spun it right, then

Read it now
S6 Daily Genre Banner - TT

Forest for the Trees

Darren Gaskow patted the top of his servo-bot. “Well, Bertha, I think that’s all the ultranium that will fit. The hold is filled to the brim.”
The sturdy machine, as always, gave no reply.
“Seal the hold,” ordered Darren, “and then go close up the mine. We’ve got nothing to do now but wait.”

Read it now
S6 Daily Genre Banner - MM

The Watchman

If you’ve never had the misfortune of being tasked with finding a needle in a haystack, allow me to summarize the experience for you in four words: I’d rather eat dirt.
Regrettably, I don’t have that option.
Case 43b has been my strangest yet. The file includes a black-and-white photograph of a

Read it now
SS - Staff Saturday featured image

Mer-Child

Askos looked too quiet to be the home of a murderer. Perched on a shady hill overlooking the nestled cottages, Tula unrolled her seaweed parchment and gripped her squid-ink quill. Below her, a man sat by a stream fishing, a broad-rimmed hat sloped over his eyes. Humans harvest fish in fresh water, she wrote,

Read it now
S6 Daily Genre Banner - FF

The Path Home

It was a curious shop. Wedged between a formal wear boutique and an espresso bar its brick structure was weathered and chipped. Rusty chains held a wooden sign with a squiggly line running to a red X as the only clue to what one might find inside.
Well-dressed pedestrians hurried by never sparing

Read it now
S6 Daily Genre Banner - TH

The Ruby Cross

The sunken cathedral walls swallow me as I lower myself through the depths, past the missing roof, one hand gripping my tether, the other cradling my flashlight.
“Jamaica?” Rasheed’s voice crackles through my headset. “You got eyes on the rubies yet?”
Before I answer, I swing my flashlight across the cathedral walls.

Read it now