A Dragon’s Heart and Other Stories

Hello. 👋 This is an update about stories old and new. Fals' Fiction has been copied from Medium.com into blog posts. As of this writing, the accompanying header images are not always showing. I will fix those, add proper credits to the original publishers within the posts, and redirect the links on the Fiction page …

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Poetry | Gifts in Silk

© KateNovikova ​I have given you bows wrapping my body, faux silk printed by bots, so tiny, creating, spinning from liquid — the opposite of melting touch. Originally published in P.S. I Love You: Poetry Sunday.

Fiction | Sunrise Scales

That one (fantastical) fish in the sea. © mateusmiliano10 My former mate tried to twist out of my net. I don’t think he recognized me. Must have been my hairy legs. “Let go! Let go!” “Hmmm, nope.” I squatted in the shallows where he’d swam into my trap. He slapped his fish tail and man …

Poetry Published in Strange Horizons

My romantic sci-fi poetic prose titled "Space in Our Relationship" is in this week's issue of Strange Horizons. Editor Ciro Faienza also read this piece in the 26 November podcast! This was my first time hearing my words spoken by another person like this. Listening to that podcast is surreal. Charles Payseur reviewed "Space" at …

The Writer in the Corner: On Characterization

A writer in one of my groups asked how to avoid cookie-cutter characters. That got me thinking about the main characters in my flash fiction. It's what most of you know me for, I'm pretty certain. So, who are my characters on Medium.com? What do they do...? A creepy narrator commits murder of passion. [This …

Fiction | Butterfly in The Anthill

Lexi hits his limits during self-defense training in Aaron’s security center. © agsandrew “Ten more,” ordered Crunch. Lexi flexed his fingers. The motion set off a scream in the muscles above his wrist. His fingers were cramping in the open palm strike position while his tormentor counted. Crunch smirked, knowingly. The skin-tight biocyber suit Lexi …

Fiction | Mag’s Super Crush

My supervillain/-hero flash titled "Locked up, Tight" won second place in Scribophile's Through the Eyes of a Villain contest! The contest...

Fiction | Disconnect

Rana tries reaching out to her fiancée during a bad work day. image source: intographics   Message from RBytesSsnake — — — Calendia? Hi, my girl. I don’t know if you can read or hear this. It’s been too long since I messaged an external hive cell. You know I always… I mean you pick on me …

When the Rainbow Wins: Annual Awards

Annual awards are one of the incentives in the publication world for writers to experiment with stories and to ensure that work is well edited. Since I've started deliberately writing queer-centric fiction, I've been keeping on an eye out for awards focusing on stories featuring queer characters. While these stories could and do win big name awards, …

When Your Favorite Character Is Gone

It happens. You're reading along, maybe taking breaks to daydream about side-stories and what the author might show you next, when BAM! Your favorite character is dead. Or they leave for an unknown amount of time. Maybe they're put into a sleep that will last the remainder of the story. Their mind is wiped. In …