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Table of Contents

“A Fish Story”

Girl meets boy. Girl falls in love with boy. Girl tries to win boy’s affection by catching a gigantic flying fish. Silliness ensues.

This story was originally published in Realms of Fantasy magazine and was later reprinted in the anthology Fantasy: The Best of the Year 2007 (Rich Horton, ed.) from Wildside Press. This story also received an Honorable Mention in the Year’s Best Science Fiction, 24th Edition (Gardner Dozois, ed.).

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“The Man with the Seahorse Head”

What happens when a seahorse-man meets a mermaid? He gets custody of the children.

This story was the Regional Winner (for Canada & the Caribbean) in the 2007 Commonwealth Short Story Competition and was professionally recorded for broadcast throughout the Commonwealth.

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“Flatrock Sunners”

There are creatures in the river behind Danny’s house. They’re offering him friendship, love, enlightenment. All they want in return is his innocence…and possibly his sanity.

“Flatrock Sunners” was a winner in the 3rd Annual Black Quill Awards (Editor’s Choice: Best Dark Scribble category), awarded by Dark Scribe Magazine to honor works of dark genre literature from both mainstream and small press publishers. This story first appeared in August 2009 in the UK magazine Black Static Issue #12. It also received an honorable mention in the Best Horror of the Year Vol. 2 anthology (edited by Ellen Datlow).

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“Pelly Medley”

He was a field biologist studying seabirds on a remote island off the coast of Wales. Then a girl arrived on the island without a boat, bringing marmalade and honey and bearing the name of someone he knew from his childhood. Had he gone crazy from the effect of prolonged isolation? Or was she a fairy?

This story is original to Animythical Tales.

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“Bluecoat Jack”

Henry is a caretaker for the unloved and the abandoned–people he brings to his employer, Primrose Spring, who removes facets of their souls and sculpts them into works of art. Then one day, Henry falls in love with one of his charges. He belongs to Spring, though, and she won’t let him go for nothing.

This story appeared in Text:UR- The New Book of Masks anthology, edited by Forrest Aguirre and published by Raw Dog Screaming Press. This story also received an Honorable Mention in the Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror 2008 (Datlow, Link, and Grant, eds.).

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“A Sip from the Cup of Enlightenment”

Two teachers in a strange boarding school are infected by a mysterious plague that renders its victims omniscient.

This story will be appearing in the anthology Polyphony 7 (Forrest Aguirre & Deborah Layne, eds.) from Wheatland Press in July 2010.

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“Choke Point”

Would you sacrifice your best friend for the hope of romantic love?

This story appeared in Fantasy Magazine on December 28th, 2009.

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“The Bone Fisher’s Apprentice”

A girl learning water magic from a malevolent master attempts to use it to cure her broken heart.

This story was a Third Place winner in the 2005 Writers of the Future Contest, the largest and most lucrative short story contest for new writers in the field of science fiction and fantasy. It was published in volume 22 of the Writers of the Future anthology series. This story also received an Honorable Mention in the Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror 2007 (Link, Grant, and Datlow, eds.).

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“A Little Tea and Personal Magnetism”

George has a calling. He’s a philanthropist. A wordsmith. A lion-tamer. Three callings! But his deathly fear of mice (and female bosoms) and his unnatural obsession with Sir Isaac Newton may stop him from achieving the Greatness that his mother assured him was his destiny. Or maybe what’s really stopping him is that kitten named Caligula. Or that homicidal honey badger.

This story is original to Animythical Tales.

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“The Teasewater Five”

When Anna Lisa-Evans loses her only child, Midway, she creates lifelike substitutes for him in the form of miniature animals (The Teasewater Five), animated by her brother Marlow. Trouble is, they’re almost supernaturally annoying. And then she creates a replica of Midway who shows them that they are mere amateurs in the field of annoyance and disruption.

This story originally appeared in the anthology The Nine Muses (Forrest Aguirre & Deborah Layne, eds.) published by Wheatland Press and received an Honorable Mention in the Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror 2006 (Datlow, Grant,  and Link, eds.).