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    Ten Dark Enchantments
    Ten Dark Enchantments
    Ten Dark Enchantments
    Ebook63 pages44 minutes

    Ten Dark Enchantments

    By Daniel R. Robichaud

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    About this ebook

    Dark Enchantments are brief brushes with the otherworldly, where an encounter with the bizarre, the mystical, or the surreal leave the world we know turned slightly askew. Daniel R. Robichaud has made several forays into this mode of storytelling, and the Dark Enchantments series presents several of his best (and shortest) stories for fans and new readers alike.

    In this volume, readers will find the contents of Five Dark Enchantments and Five More Dark Enchantments for one low price:
    "Big Night for Daddy's Little Girl" tells the tall tale of a father's love for his diminutive daughter. She may have been born tiny, but she's got big dreams. Sometimes that's a good thing, and sometimes it's as far from good as heaven allows . . .

    "Dzimba Dzemabwe" tells the emotionally charged story of Mvuma, a father in diseased Zimbabwe. When an American doctor arrives with big promises, he is met with suspicion. Are his promises more than wasted air? Only a worried father can find out . . .

    To love and to have lost . . . This double-tap lies at the heart of many modern terror tales and ghastly yarns. It dwells in "Ashes and Nails," as well. This is surely a ghost story unlike any other. Here is a brief vignette that covers a lifetime, a short story that encompasses a love, which blossoms from hate, and the reminders that linger long after.

    Half-brothers separated by blood have the chance to unite without any differences. They will be one family, no longer divided. However, to do so they must give themselves over to an ancient native ritual. However, the "Hunter's Rite" has a price, and it will prove to be higher than either brother expects.

    In "Morning Glories," a married couple striving to revisit their youth. A special grotto awaits them, a nearly mystical place where this couple first fell in love. However, it is not only light that brings them to this place. This couple carries darkness. What glories will remain when morning passes?

    "Bootleg Images" follows a suppressed film dealer and her customer, as they try to stay one step ahead of the totalitarian law.

    "Dust on Crust" explores the future of sports, when a champion skier finds herself caught in an impressive and lethal wipeout.

    When a man finds himself in a strange world where headless horses run laps and vampires farm blood, he soon learns what is the most important victim "Of All the Things I've Lost ..."

    A mathematician find his life has gone "Pear Shaped" when the order he craves vanishes after a night's debauchery.

    The most unusual relationship revenge story is told when a couple meet at a bookstore and one of them finds themselves on the "TBR" stack.

    Daniel's prose is emotionally honest and compelling, his images are striking, and though the tales he tells are sometimes shocking, they contain equal measures of humor and humanity. Prepare to be bewitched by these dark entertainments ...

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTwice Told Tales II
    Release dateJan 28, 2014
    ISBN9781311646637
    Ten Dark Enchantments
    Author

    Daniel R. Robichaud

    Daniel R. Robichaud has lived in southeastern Michigan, central Massachusetts and southern Texas. He is a Rhysling Award nominated poet and the author of over one hundred stories, articles and poems, which have appeared in such markets as Shroud Magazine, Rogue Worlds, Goblin Fruit, Rage of the Behemoth, Green Prints, and WritersWeekly. Daniel holds degrees in both Physics and English, and his career path has reflected these passions. In addition to his numerous writing opportunities, he has been an Igor For Hire (aka a freelance research engineer), a substitute teacher, an automation engineer, and a neurophysiology lab manager. Daniel enjoys entertaining people with his words and stories. If you enjoy a good read, why not try one of his works? You might just love them.

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      Book preview

      Ten Dark Enchantments - Daniel R. Robichaud

      Ten Dark Enchantments

      Fabulist Short Fiction

      By: Daniel R. Robichaud

      This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

      Hunter's Rite first appeared in Werewolf, Issue 2, 2005.

      Big Night for Daddy's Little Girl first appeared in Wee Small Hours, August 2005 at www.Hellnotes.com.

      Ashes and Nails first appeared in AlienSkin, 2009.

      Of All the Things I've Lost … first appeared, in slightly different form, in Forgotten Worlds, 2: May/June 2006.

      Bootleg Images first appeared in Cinema Spec, ed. by Karen Romanko. Raven Electrick (2009)

      Pear Shaped first appeared in " I Am This Meat, ed. by Adicus Ryan Garton, James Maddox, and Rev. Brian Worley. Sussurus Press (2007)

      Dust on Crust first appeared in Golden Visions Magazine. Issue 1. January 2008

      Fiction © 2005, 2009, 2013 by Daniel R. Robichaud

      Cover Design © 2015 by Twice Told Tales

      Cover Art  © Elena Schweitzer

      Smashwords Edition

      Published by Twice Told Tales

      All rights reserved.

      No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

      Dedication

      A couple of these stories have dedications to specific individuals who (knowingly or not) helped shape the piece. These dedications occur after the individual story.

      However, the whole collection is dedicated to three quirky, wonderful people:

      my brilliant, talented and rather patient wife, Trista

      as well as two additional members of my found-family:

      Adam Nakama & Haz Harrower-Nakama.

      Table of Contents

      Dzimba Dzemabwe

      Big Night for Daddy's Little Girl

      Hunter's Rite

      Ashes and Nails

      Morning Glories

      Of All the Things I've Lost . .

      Bootleg Images

      Pear Shaped

      Dust on Crust

      TBR

      Further Reading

      About the Author

      Dzimba Dzimabwe

      I wish to share something with you, for it must be spoken aloud while voices remain.

      My name is Anesu, which is Shona for God has given. I am thirty-five years old, father of three sons and one daughter. If I live another two years, I will be the oldest man who ever lived in my whole family. If I am lucky and last three, I will become the oldest living man in Mvuma. If I somehow survive five years, I will then be among the oldest living men in the Midlands, if not the country.

      Zimbabwe's name comes from the Shona "dzimba dzemabwe, which means Houses of Stone".

      This house is not for living. This country is not for thriving. Once, Zimbabwe was wealthy. Now, it is sick. Our name becomes our tomb.

      When the American Doctor came some time ago, he seemed little more than a joke: Will the Doctor help us? some men asked and others answered, "WHO knows?"

      Once a prestigious member of the World Health Organization, the Doctor now headed a world spanning but private medical research company. He came to us, talking about SBIR funding and Phase II testing and things that mattered greatly to him but nothing to us.

      When he asked for our assistance setting up, many of our people proclaimed him useless. My seventeen year old daughter, Batsirai, asked, What aid can the Doctor offer us, when he cannot do for himself?

      Think on your name, I said, before you make such pronouncements.

      Batsirai

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