“Waking Up Can Kill You Some Days” – An action/urban fantasy story by David Michael.
The Gray Angel is a hitwoman with a heart gold. She always gives the target a choice. Because everyone deserves a choice. Even a petty gangster like Dennis Karnof. (2100-word short story)
“Working Girl” – An action/urban fantasy story by David Michael.
Hitwoman the Gray Angel’s latest target is elusive businessman Neil Spencer Thomasson, who is staying in a high-rise hotel with an unknown number of armed guards. Fortunately, Thomasson has called in an escort for the evening, a woman who comes highly recommended and whose face Ange hopes he’s never seen. (1900-word short story)
“Wind-Up Action Figure On Her Day Off” – An action/urban fantasy story by David Michael.
On those rare Mondays with no new contract, the Gray Angel wonders if that means there is no one on Earth who deserves killing. She tries to remain optimistic, but she’s sure there’s someone out there who needs to be given the choice of a bullet to the brain. (3200-word short story)
Brain Freeze & Other Stories – A collection of eight Speculative Fiction and Slipstream stories by David Michael, with illustrations by Don Michael, Jr.
“Brain Freeze” – Crouched on all fours, eye nubs just over the edge of the curb, Boollf’s ear bones vibrated with the sound of the low churning, the sirens’s song, the goal of tonight’s mission…
“Callisto” – She came out of the hut and the butt end of a spear hit her in the face. She had only an instant to see the two men, strangers, one of them holding her boys, pinning the boys’s arms…
“Indian Summer” – Anna, hurting from the death of her best friend, isn’t ready to give up the gray gloom of autumn for the sunshine of Indian summer. But maybe more than just the sun has come back to her.
“Constellation” – The Great Bear looks down on the world and sees a woman, a mother like herself, whose children have been taken from her.
“The Perfect Hiding Place” – The house next door has been sold and the new neighbors are moving in. Do you think they’re religious? They seem to have a lot of kids. Do you think they’re hiding something? They look ethnic. Do you think they might be worth robbing? No, obviously, they can’t be *monkeys*…
“Selene” – Her village is burned, her beloved husband is dead. Only she can save her sons. The Moon bears silent witness as she runs through the night and the storm to reclaim what remains of her life.
“Nostalgia” – Two yellowing Polaroids, snapshots of a little girl at the fair. Two different childhoods separated by the death of her father. One childhood she can’t remember, ruined by the one she wants to forget. When her boyfriend’s “birthday surprise” turns out to be a date at the same fair, Sharon finds herself face to face with both.
“Evanescent” – She’s the girl you meet every year for the first time. She has red-gold hair, sky-blue eyes, and just a splash of freckles across her cheeks. She’s as young as you are, or as old. She dances in the rain and splashes in the puddles. She jumps in the leaves and spins with the wind. She steps out of the fog to smile at you, then disappears before you can ask her name…
“Effie Two-Five” – A new science fiction short story by David Michael!
Make a wish. Brace for impact. Find a vein and take a hit of the new–and highly illegal–wonder drug with the street name “Effie Two-Five”. You can be faster. Stronger. Anything you want to be–even a porno superhero. But be careful. Effie two-five has a serious learning curve. And you should have a lot of munchies handy. (8300 word short story).
“Evanescent” – A new slipstream short story by David Michael!
She’s the girl you meet every year for the first time. She has red-gold hair, sky-blue eyes, and just a splash of freckles across her cheeks. She’s as young as you are, or as old. She dances in the rain and splashes in the puddles. She jumps in the leaves and spins with the wind. She steps out of the fog to smile at you, then disappears before you can ask her name… (5400-word short story)
“The Perfect Hiding Place” – A new slipstream short story by David Michael!
The house next door has been sold and the new neighbors are moving in. Do you think they’re religious? They seem to have a lot of kids. Do you think they’re hiding something? They look ethnic. Do you think they might be worth robbing? No, obviously, they can’t be *monkeys*… (5500-word short story)
“Waking Up Can Kill You Some Days” – An action/urban fantasy story by David Michael.
“Working Girl” – An action/urban fantasy story by David Michael.
“Wind-Up Action Figure On Her Day Off” – An action/urban fantasy story by David Michael.
