Lounge Lizard When a bird chirped nearby, Clara gestured with her chin, still arm-in-arm with Harry. “Hear that? That’s a piping plover. Rare to hear a shorebird this far inland.” Harry smiled as he patted her arm. “The Susquehanna River is a couple miles away. It runs all the way to Chesapeake Bay, so itContinue reading “Where the Winged Thing Waits: Chapter Four”
Author Archives: Nikki
Where the Winged Thing Waits: Chapter Three
Commotion Brick, Clara learned, was a luxury. Pulling herself out of the coupe, she brushed the wrinkles from her skirt and marched to her brother to extend a hand for a cigarette. He pursed his lips for a moment before he dug out his pack and lit one for her. She raised it to herContinue reading “Where the Winged Thing Waits: Chapter Three”
Where the Winged Thing Waits: Chapter Two
Proposition Edward ran his hands over his hairless upper lip before he lifted his glass for a drink. He missed his mustache, but yesterday’s close call had him nervous. Firebreathing was a fairly simple act, usually, but he’d been slipping as of late. Drinking more meant he slept poorly, but he couldn’t help it. ThisContinue reading “Where the Winged Thing Waits: Chapter Two”
Where the Winged Thing Waits: Chapter One
Presence Heat blistered skin and glazed over eyes; smoke choked the lungs, its currents pushed by a wind the flames themselves created. Disorientation. Pain. Fear. Adrenaline wasn’t enough to free the women from the fire. Not enough to drive most to break free. Tabitha stumbled through the inferno, coughing until her chest ached. Margaret’s handContinue reading “Where the Winged Thing Waits: Chapter One”
Where the Winged Thing Waits
A Vintage Horror Serial — Coming Soon There are places in rural communities where the trees grow too close together. Places where iron gates rust in the middle of the woods, largely forgotten, immortalized only in legend. Places where an asylum once burned… but the screams never stopped. This spring, I’m releasing a new serializedContinue reading “Where the Winged Thing Waits”
Religion as World-Flavor and Literary Engine in the Industrialized Series
Religion is one of the most reliable ways to give a fictional world texture. Not because gods or rituals automatically make a setting epic, but because belief inevitably touches everything: politics, language, identity, rebellion, survival, and even personal identity and mythos. In the Industrialized series, religion isn’t a backdrop. It’s the cultural engine that drivesContinue reading “Religion as World-Flavor and Literary Engine in the Industrialized Series”
Indie Book Spotlight: Reflections of Imperfections by Laura Rose
“Embrace your whole self and thoroughly bloom.” Reflections of Imperfections, a dreamy collection of poems, is truly nourishment for the soul. It’s raw, vulnerable, and celebratory all at once. From the short and deeply reflective Haiku for the emotions to the story-like saga of Body Story, this lovely read is a delicious indulgence from startContinue reading “Indie Book Spotlight: Reflections of Imperfections by Laura Rose”
Indie Book Spotlight: Siduri by JJ Vason
When death claims you, it seeks to cleave your essence from the mortal plane and cast it into the infinite other. Without an anchor, all that is you should dissipate. The cold you feel is the pull of the multiverse on your soul and when chaos finally claims you, there will be utterly nothing left.Continue reading “Indie Book Spotlight: Siduri by JJ Vason”
Indie Book Spotlight: Caves and forests by Any Pascual
I play with verses as if they were bricks. As always, Any Pascual’s prose delights with a delicious dive into humanity, this time intertwining it with lush themes of nature. The variety of topics she highlights and the flow from long poems to short is always so gripping, and Caves and forests is arguably herContinue reading “Indie Book Spotlight: Caves and forests by Any Pascual”
Indie Book Spotlight: Star Lost by Amy Marie Ayres
“Every social impediment prevented perpetual cash flow. The idea was that this would be beneficial to free enterprise for all, but anyone paying attention would see that the cash was flowing only one way.” Two AI stand in the middle of an empty office bullpen. It’s not a punchline… it’s part of the dystopian futureContinue reading “Indie Book Spotlight: Star Lost by Amy Marie Ayres”