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    Strange Horizons: a short story collection
    Strange Horizons: a short story collection
    Strange Horizons: a short story collection
    Ebook83 pages59 minutes

    Strange Horizons: a short story collection

    By Marie Brown

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    About this ebook

    Strange Horizons is a collection of short stories, ranging from science fiction, through horror, to queer love.
    Behind the Mask:
    The Mazuri were nothing but a myth, a horror story used to frighten children into good behavior. Or so Kevran thought, until he stumbled across one of their dead on a lonely asteroid, and his life changed forever.
    Death Park:
    Science fiction combines with paranormal horror in this short story set in the distant future, where everybody knows to avoid Death Park at all costs, but no one remembers why.
    They named it Death Park, way back before the wars. No one in living memory knew why they called it that. All anyone knew for sure that no one ever returned from that place. So everybody avoided it at all costs.
    But sometimes, the situation becomes desperate enough that even rumors of horrible things pale in comparison to the certainty of what awaits, and one must risk entering Death Park...
    Revenant:
    A creepy science fiction tale involving a bit of horror, a bit of romance, and a whole lot of revenge.
    One Night Stand:
    A chance encounter in a bar leads to a night of passionate awakenings and pleasure for a self-confident trader and an inexperienced soldier.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMarie Brown
    Release dateMar 3, 2019
    ISBN9780463444771
    Strange Horizons: a short story collection
    Author

    Marie Brown

    "Marie Brown has lived in many locations across the United States, but spends most of her time exploring the realms of imagination. Currently located in Colorado, her brief moments of free time are spent in front of her computer, frequently covered in cats."Blah.Yeah, okay, that's all true. But I'm tired of hiding behind a bland, third-person pseudo-bio, utterly lacking in personality.Hi! I'm Marie Brown, and I write a lot. I self-publish through Smashwords and Amazon because I got tired of getting "well-written, but not our thing" rejection letters. Because, you see, most of my fiction tends to include characters that are either bi or just plain homosexual, and despite increasing acceptance of human sexuality and its many variations across the world, heroes and heroines are still supposed to be straight.Well, mine aren't. So if you're brave, and you don't mind that the main character of a story either isn't interested in sex at all, or is quite likely to hop in bed with someone of the same gender, then give my writings a chance. Come explore my fantasy worlds, or my science fiction worlds, or even spend some time with an occasional random love story set on Earth.And by the way, just this once, I wrote this entire blurb without a cat on my keyboard.

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      Book preview

      Strange Horizons - Marie Brown

      Strange Horizons

      Marie Brown

      Smashwords Edition

      ©2018

      Smashwords Edition License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Table of Contents

      Behind the Mask

      Death Park

      Revenant

      One Night Stand

      *shameless self-promotion*

      Behind the Mask

      Marie Brown

      ©2013

      Table of Contents

      Part One

      Part Two

      Part Three

      Part Four

      Part Five

      Part Six

      Part Seven

      Part Eight

      Part One

      Yo! Check this out!

      The call came over the suit-to-suit radio on a public wavelength, so Kevran decided to investigate. He bounced smoothly across the gritty surface of the asteroid to land beside Rock. The big man was leaning over the edge of a crease in the surface, beside Jackyl. The two were staring avidly into the crack, eyes wide. Kev flipped his helmet beam up to high and looked in to see the wonder for himself.

      Oh. . . gods. . . he breathed.

      Laying there in the embrace of the asteroid was the body of a man.

      All right, you, back to work! Old Hardass, the supervisor, arrived on the scene with an aggressive bounce. Standing around ain't gettin' 'er done. What the fuck?

      Dunno, Hardass. Rock shook his head in bewilderment. Jackyl found 'im. Can't say's I make what he's doin' out here, no suit an' all.

      Is he one of ours?

      Not with that thing on his face, Kev muttered. There were two bars of black metal extending from temple to temple, framing the dead man's eyes like a mask.

      Who asked you, Feather? Hardass glared at him. He winced. He hated that nick, short for Featherweight, just because he wasn't some burly beer-guzzling ass-pinching lout of a brain-dead idiot. It wasn't his fault he was built lean and wiry.

      Nobody asked, but it's still true. You ever see anything like that on one of our boys? And just look at what he's wearing. That much leather would buy you and your mother both.

      Kev immediately wished he could somehow stuff those words back where they'd come from. Idiot!

      You leave my momma out of this, boy, Hardass growled, advancing a single menacing step.

      Uh, Boss? Rock came to his rescue. . . not for the first time. Rock was the one who'd let slip the fact that the crew called old Willie Hardass. Who'd have guessed the bastard would like it? Come to think of it, that had been another attempt to save Kev from a thrashing. Weren't you here for a reason?

      Yeah, yeah. The supervisor shot one last glare at Kev, then dismissed the matter from his mind. Get your asses back to work, y'ain't gettin' paid to stand around.

      What's it to you, man? You ain't paying us yourself! Jackyl tore his gaze away from the dead man to grin at Hardass.

      But if production drops, so does my commission. Now move it!

      Kev lingered as long as he dared by the crack, absorbing every detail of the body. He wasn't sure what was so compelling about it, but he was extremely curious about who it had been and how the body had gotten onto an airless asteroid in the depths of space.

      Kev finished out his duty shift with less than half his attention on mining. Questions about the dead man gnawed at him obsessively. Who was he? Where had he come from? Why was he dead? And most of all, what was that thing on his face?

      Kevran lagged behind when the shift was over. If he was lucky, he could grab another look at the man. . . yes, no one was looking at him. He slipped back to the crack, keeping one ear tuned to the activity arond the shuttle. Only a brief look, wouldn't want to get stranded here. . .

      The sound of gravel shifting was all the warning he had before blackness overwhelmed him.

      Part Two

      Typically, Rock was the first to notice Kevran's absence.

      Hey! he called, searching the crowded passenger compartment of the shuttle. Anyone seen Kev?

      Not since we closed up ops on the surface. Why? Ain't he here? Hardass craned his head about, searching for some sign of his least-favorite miner.

      A quick headcount showed clearly that Kevran was indeed missing. Hardass grumbled and swore loudly, but all could see the concern in his eyes.

      "I'll make a report when we get back to the fuckin' Zelda, and they can send out an S&R team. They're

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