Eighteen-year-old Nicholas Hammerstein is at the cusp of finishing high school in his hometown of Los Alamos, NM. He has a seemingly ideal life and is blessed with loving parents, a cute baby sister, and great friends. Nicholas is a gifted student and martial artist who has dreams of leaving for college at the end of his senior year. But, living in a world of Emergent humans, he will soon find his life turned upside down as his life and the fate of a kingdom hang in the balance. His future and theirs will be determined by how he navigates the drastic changes in his body and the magical and superpowered Mergent population he joins.

“How was work?” my Jada asked when her other self got in the back.

 

“Don’t rub it in,” other-Jada said. “Please tell me I get to have some nice memories to cancel the last eight hours out with.”

Trevor looked in horror at the gaping vagina before him, the same one he had impotently obsessed over and fantasized about for so many years, he couldn’t help but think: where had everything gone so very wrong?

We were supposed to be rehearsing. But there I sat for almost two hours waiting for everyone else to show up. I took the time to noodle out some practice, one of us had to at least. Claire and Nick are usually here before me, I was starting to get anxious. At least Tori is always late, but never this late. “■■■■■,” I said to myself, “are ya sure you just weren’t stupid and showed up the wrong day like last time?”

An alien abducts Sharyn, makes a cogent argument, and then proposes a change.

Eighteen-year-old Nicholas Hammerstein is at the cusp of finishing high school in his hometown of Los Alamos, NM. He has a seemingly ideal life and is blessed with loving parents, a cute baby sister, and great friends. Nicholas is a gifted student and martial artist who has dreams of leaving for college at the end of his senior year. But, living in a world of Emergent humans, he will soon find his life turned upside down as his life and the fate of a kingdom hang in the balance. His future and theirs will be determined by how he navigates the drastic changes in his body and the magical and superpowered Mergent population he joins.

I couldn't focus on my classes. The jars I'd stolen sat heavily in my bag, and I was certain that any minute the nurse would come and call me a thief. I wasn't sure what the punishment for stealing from the infirmary was, but it was probably worse than detention.

The Font

The internet is a wonderful thing, a veritable Font of Knowledge. It can give you hope, it can give you grief, it can inform you and dis-inform you with equal ease. I was born after it became used world-wide, and I never knew a time without it. I also had to bear the name picked out for me, whether I was a boy or a girl, I would be called Nimbus. They had decided that I would be their halo of light, blended with a flying broomstick. They had read the Harry Potter books several times.

When Robert’s wife’s body is stolen, Robert must discover where and who she is and get her body back. But can he succeed when Exmuritious Forrester, the CEO and owner of Transmigration Studios, decides to stop him? Who can Robert trust, when anyone could be anyone?

The road work was moving along nicely. The dead under directions from the living were clearing the streets of debris, slowly but steadily making a path to the granaries, armouries, warehouses, and hospitals. Soldiers in small groups, starting with former inhabitants of the city, were allowed to survey the various neighbourhoods. If they came back with some keepsakes, clothes, blankets or food, it was ignored by their officers, and another group was allowed to head out.

Joe’s Woman
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Joe surveyed his claim with some pride in the early evening light, the red earth of Western Australia made even more red by the final rays of the sun. The portable building they had lived in was still flattened on the slight rise facing Treasure Hill, but the screening plant and loader were now back to full operation after the dust storm of the previous month.

Freya's Heir

DISCLAIMER: I am not a canon author. I have added Mercy as the teacher of the flight class as a favor to a fellow author who helped me get started.

Chapter 12
The first thing they did was unpack. Jennifer said, "I see you got your stuff from Rogers Boutique. My folks considered it but decided it was a bit too pricey so I got some stuff from Under Armour's hero collection and the rest is normal clothes."

"Well I hope you don't mind having a roommate with a little more money?" Fred said. "I'm not any different than you."

The Light Between (Part 4 of 8)

by Erisian

Book 5

Chapter 12 - Challenge

With the clock ticking just past six we exited the 101 freeway a few miles west of where we’d visited the DPA earlier. From there we went south instead, passing into an isolated area against the hills complete with several small lakes as well as quite a few golf courses all surrounded by enclaves of houses better classified as mansions.

Unsurprisingly we went past these to a road marked “Private” to reach a higher plateau and its own sprawling complex that overlooked everyone else around as if to say, “You think you’re wealthy? Think again.”

It wasn’t until we passed the transition from paved blacktop onto grey paver stones forming a wide circle around a central fountain that I realized I had an issue.

This dress had absolutely no pockets nor did I have a matching clutch or purse.

Dangit.

“You do need something to wear to church tomorrow,” she insisted.

Eighteen-year-old Nicholas Hammerstein is at the cusp of finishing high school in his hometown of Los Alamos, NM. He has a seemingly ideal life and is blessed with loving parents, a cute baby sister, and great friends. Nicholas is a gifted student and martial artist who has dreams of leaving for college at the end of his senior year. But, living in a world of Emergent humans, he will soon find his life turned upside down as his life and the fate of a kingdom hang in the balance. His future and theirs will be determined by how he navigates the drastic changes in his body and the magical and superpowered Mergent population he joins.

I accidentally wrote this continuation of “It Started With an Opera,” through no fault of my own. Read that first, for context.

“Yes!” I said, and babbled on before I could lose the momentary burst of confidence, “I’m interested in —”

Playing Marbles for the Big Blue

01 Alban Invasion, Almost

By Jo Dora Webster

How will Rasctan make a name for himself on Alban Kai?

A sexy music video helps a boy reveal his true feelings about breasts.

___________________

I was sitting in my room doing the last of my homework when Mother disturbed my concentration. I suspected she wanted me to spend the rest of the evening with her. I had been looking forward to finishing the romance novel that I had borrowed from the young adult section of the local library. Reluctantly I wandered out to the head of the stairs where I could understand what she was saying, and sure enough I was right.

Forged in Battle
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

“Sometimes I can’t believe that I put up with this bullshit,” said Bo, feeling as mad as all hell. “So, you saved my life. But that does not mean that you take advantage. Even a lifesaver can be a stubborn dickhead sometimes, deserving of a good tongue lashing.” Bo’s tongue shot out.

I awoke to the smell of eggs and bacon, my dad's favorite way to start the day. I'd intended to stay up and wait for him to come home but I was too exhausted after the day I'd had.

I dreaded going downstairs to meet him. I didn't know how he'd react. We hadn't spent much time together since I came back home insisting I was now his daughter.

I knew I'd always been a bit of a disappointment. I never really enjoyed the same things he did. He'd tried to get me interested in football, he'd wanted to teach me how to properly handle and shoot a gun.

Somi knew when he could no longer fulfil his duties he would be euthanised. His unguarded saw had bitten him thrice over the years, but not badly enough for him to have been euthanised. The last time had cost him a finger, but since he had carried on working nothing had been said by his supervisor and he’d been allowed to live.

When he came to the conclusion that something powerful was preventing him from seeing himself he lost heart and tried to stop dreaming. Yet the dreams kept coming during the day, especially the dreams of the young women. It was in despair that he realised sooner or later they would distract him from his work and would cost him a hand and that would be his end.

Well behind schedule, the column reached the city of Kodor early in the morning, with frost still on the grass. The dead city looked far different than it had when Keir had last visited it over three hundred years ago.