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Astonishing Adventures Magazine

Astonishing Adventures Issues 1, 2, 3 and 8 all include short stories I’ve written.  I’ve included a short excerpts from two here. You can read them in full by downloading the magazines from the Astonishing Adventures web site or at the Dirk Dangerous website.

The Steward, the Kriegsherr, his Femme Fatale & her Brother

The Steward, the Kriegsherr, his Femme Fatale & her Brother appeared in issue 2.

Mountains and a three-hundred-foot drop terminate the short strip. The only amenities a shack and a stack of fuel drums; this isn’t a cosmopolitan airport. I normally greet guests in my stateroom. It gives me control and tells them who I am. Two warlords’ and an assassin’s heads in jars help. They don’t impress her; but she did sever two of them. The DC-3′s metal body catches the sunlight. It banks into its final approach. The finality illustrated by the wrecked planes at the valley’s bottom.

It bounces heavily on the strip.

Six hundred yards.

She throws its engines into reverse.

She’s fighting momentum.

Four hundred.

Too fast.

There’s not enough runway to get back in the air.

Three hundred.

The brakes aren’t stopping it.

Two hundred.

The wheels lock.

It’s skidding along.

One hundred.

A tire shreds.

Fifty.

It slews sideways out of control.

The Electron Jockey

Astonishing Adventures Issue 1 includes my story The Electron Jockey.

White. Everywhere white. It had to be a hospital. Nowhere else is as white. White walls. White ceiling. Crisp sheets. White of course. Bright white light through the window.

Only my bed in here. A private room? I can’t afford a private room. Flowers. Fresh fruit. I can’t afford health insurance. How am I supposed to pay for this?

Things started to come back to me. An accident. A job. Something had gone wrong. Most of the crew were dead. There was a rustle beside me. Turning my head hurt. He sat there beside the bed impassive. I recognized him from his poster.

“Good your awake. Well now your going to go to sleep again. Look into my eyes.”

I couldn’t stop myself. The neck brace held my head in place but I could have closed my eyes.

“I’m going to count back from three to one. When I reach one your going to fall asleep. While your sleeping you’re going to dream. You’re going to remember what you did from when you met Dale Hoover to the accident. Your going to tell me what you did. Three. Two. One.”