A word of warning to you, dear reader. This one goes into dark places and, while it may get graphic, hopefully does not get too offensive. The plot locations and characters are all products of my fevered imagination but the named public buildings and events in Spain are real and can be looked up on your computer. It ends in a world we are living in now and I sincerely hope that, by the time you read the last chapter, we are back to near normal.

Marianne G

A Journey Always Starts With The First Step

Our intrepid Wizard Du jour is sheltering in place with Murphy, the love of his life. Things are quiet, the physical and magical worlds have paused, and the loving couple can finally relax and get down to business (literally). Unfortunately for Harry, nothing is ever quiet, or simple.Updated Contains mature themes, descriptions of sex, and transformations of all sorts. spoilers for all Dresden Novels.

Origins #1

Author’s note: This is the first in what might be a series of short essays about some of my favorite fictional universes. Today; we’ll take a look at the backstory of the Land, the world of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever.

The story of the Land, and the larger world that it is a part of, begins with a Creator. The Creator sought to make a living world, so first he used white gold and wild magic to forge the Arch of Time, as a place for his world to be made within, and a bridge of light to connect it to himself.

“Here you are, Palatine,” the adjutant declared as she opened the door. “I've taken the liberty of flagging the system to have every sister on TDS report to you.”

Bald
A Short Sory
By Maryanne Peters

Attached as a pdf to view the images better.

Adrian was away in Scotland doing on what he called ‘a fact-finding mission’, which left just Cliff and Maxine in the Office when the phone rang.

Maxine saw the caller ID and answered it.
“Oh, hello Mum. What’s up?”

“Why am I asking? Didn’t we speak for nearly an hour at the weekend?”

“No. I don’t think I am busy tomorrow night. It could work out pretty well as I’m due at a meeting in Devon the following day.”

“No, he won’t mind. He’s busy with a different project in Scotland.”

“What time and where and why?”

A cryogenic experiment, A brave volunteer starts to dream about being the opposite sex. Is it malfunctioning equipment or intentional or something entirely different all together.

Running
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Flicka
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

My father had left when I was not yet a teenager. I had only good memories of him, but our mother prohibited any contact between him and me or my younger brother. No explanation was ever given. Because any mention of him sent our mother off in tears or a rage (usually both) we simply never mentioned him.

Duty Demands
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Detective Sergeant Julie Rowntree and Detective Constable Trudy Terry had been thrown together by North Yorkshire Police to form a specialist team based in York. The main reason they had been grouped together was because they were considered to be a pair of oddballs that other teams did not particularly want to include, Julie because she was a transgender woman, and Trudy because she was labelled as a ‘man-hating feminist dyke’ even though it was not true.

My PC dinged indicating I had another email. It had been doing that all day so I ignored it. I'd wait as there were sure to be more. Several dings later I opened up my email and Christina's immediately caught my eye.

A cryogenic experiment, A brave volunteer starts to dream about being the opposite sex. Is it malfunctioning equipment or intentional or something entirely different all together.

Stanley walks around the cargo area of the C-17 they were flying in. Dave and Greg were investigating the IAV Stryker Rebecca sent along. The thing was equipped with an M134 GAU-17 Gatling Gun and plenty of ammo to go along with it. She also sent along with additional ammo for their weapons.

Kat checks her handguns to make sure they were in operational condition. She goes over her full body armor, making sure everything was in working order. Stanley noticed that their full-body armor had been loaded as well. On their shoulders, was their Golden Eagle symbol.

I had a momentary flash of anger until I realized what I had done. I had taken over and made decisions for her, decisions I wasn't entitled to make. A moment later we were apologizing to each other and laughing.

Since Devi didn’t come through the portal speaking Zyuni anymore, because the cabinet was in an apartment whose residents only spoke Stasari, Nidlaya had loaned her a language talisman, a gold necklace with a ruby pendant, which enabled her to speak and understand Zyuni.