Original Fiction

Quickie

NC17 | Complete

"On his way home Francis notices a boy standing on the subway platform, a dozen feet away.

"Slim and tall – nearly as tall as Francis himself – shoulder-length blond hair. If it's a bleach job it's a good one; he's blond in a way that Francis can't remember seeing in anyone older than five or six. The strands that fall past his ears are the colour and texture of cornfloss. Most of the rest is caught back in a short ponytail, with a sequined pink scrunchie that looks borrowed from a kid sister or a juvenile-minded girlfriend. Against his hair the colour shows embarrassingly bright. "

The only non-fantastic modern-day story of the lot to date. Based on an anecdote told by a friend of a friend about a boy I semi-fancied in college.

Revels

NC17 | Complete

"Makoyo balances on the edge of the stone wall and lets himself drop, landing noiselessly in the flagstone-paved courtyard below. After a moment he stands up on his two feet and draws his feasting robe over his shoulders. He has carried his sabre with him, and fastens it to his sash.

"A fountain bubbles in the moonlight. He is in a garden, one of many such walled spaces of greenery connecting the villas adjoining the palace. The air is heady with the odour of clambering jasmine. Beneath it Makoyo smells topsoil, incense, cooked meats, and – faintly – a salt tang he has learnt to associate with the sea."

Otherwise known as "the Invisible Cities fic" (as in Italo Calvino). A supporting-character PWP interlude from a fantasy universe I've been constructing for ages.

Witching Hour

R | Complete

"Back then," said Yukio, "I hated summer vacation, because my mother would send me to the countryside. She's never liked me underfoot though I suppose I can't blame her, since she works at home and I was such a noisy kid. No matter how I begged her to let me stay in Tokyo, when the first day off rolled around there I'd be on a bus to my grandparents' place out in the middle of nowhere.

"My grandmother was a bit deaf, and my grandfather's legs weren't in great shape. Every night they watched television and went to bed by nine. They treated me pretty well, I guess, or at least they didn't much care what I did. The downside was that there was nothing to do. [...]"

Bittersweet gothic magic realist fractured fairytale. On some level I was aiming for Murakami Haruki, I think.

Reunion

R | Complete

"For the first few weeks on Alba Venne dressed in layers: woolen stockings and quilted silk jackets and rivers of sable fur, long gloves and tall boots. The attire was necessary, as much for form and semiotics as the function of the outdoor ceremonies that marked his arrival, but he could not get comfortable. The least physical effort while bundled up caused him to overheat, which caused him to sweat and itch maddeningly in public, but remove any of his bulky outer garments and straightaway he was chilled. He had to show his face to the crowds, and the bitter air chapped his lips and made his eyes water. It was as well he did not care to appear lordly; charisma was difficult to achieve with a perennial runny nose."

Christmas-themed cod-SF. Not so much a pastiche of Dune as a pastiche of early Terry Pratchett making fun of Dune.

Closed Circuit

NC17 | Complete

"Sasha woke slowly. For minutes he allowed himself to drift in and out of a light doze, too lazy and comfortable to open his eyes. It had the flavour of luxury, as if he'd been sleeping for longer than usual already. Sleeping and dreaming. His limbs were slack with REM-paralysis and barely felt there at all. He wouldn't be able to move freely even if he made an effort to rise, but the thought caused no anxiety. He reached for the dream again: it slipped over the edge of consciousness and was gone. Something about a key—

"It was not entirely dark in the room. Had he left the bedroom lamp on? Or was it morning?

" 'How do you feel?' said a soft, familiar voice. Sasha's lashes fluttered, and he opened his eyes."

Cyberpunk huis clos thriller; corporate espionage and master/servant dynamics. At the time I had been recently bored out of my mind installing Windows upgrades and security updates, and it shows.