Short Stories
Rich has written the many short stories. Some are published in anthologies. All of them appear in one of the following collections.
Magic and Melee is a collection of seven exciting fantasy adventures. From Last of Her Kind chronicling the epic battle of Asbith the last dragon and King Illium of Thalacia to Knight Training retelling the tale of the half-orc Shard’s fight against hatred and bigotry. Also included are the Horn of Horundring, a tale of greed and justice, Second Chances, a story of atonement and redemption, and the Cloax, a saga of an extinct race that once lived in Thalacia.
Sample story from Magic and Melee
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A collection of bizarre and strange short stories including:
- The Pen -- A magic pen brings success to a struggling writer, but at what cost?
- The Wayward -- Lost souls are all around us. What happens when they come for you?
- Pairings -- An old man's loneliness brings an unexpected woman into his life.
- The Box -- A wish-granting box suddenly appears. Where did it come from? Is it even safe to use?
- Glorious Food -- A bariatric procedure seems to have worked unless the patient gets a taste for blood.
- The Thing at the Top of the World -- What unspeakable horror lives at the North Pole?
Sample story from Strange Stories
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A collection of science fiction stories including:
- Mission to Centuri B, a first contact story where the very air intoxicates you.
- Timekeepers, a time travel mission specialist is hurt while observing an event and imprisoned. Can he find a way to escape and return to his own era?
- Gray's World and Return to Gray's World, a galactic empire discovers a world they cannot conquer.
- Carbon Footprint, enthusiasm for a product to do carbon capture goes a little too far.
- Day in Court, life on Earth is increasing hard and people are being drafted to colonize a new world. But some people don't want to go.
Sample story from Space and Speculation
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Fables and Fiction collects several general fiction short stories, fables, and children tales. In this volume:
- The Witch and the Farmer -- A farmer steals from a local witch and suffers the consequences.
- The Monster -- Mother and Father are having their first child; Madame Mercury says it will be a monster and to destroy it. They can’t and must deal with the results.
- The Karma Fairy -- Russell steals content from the Internet illegally, damaging his karma. He has only one chance, to delete the content and hope he finds the one thing he really wants: true love.
- English Major -- Rich is struggling in his freshman English class and lies to get through it hoping at last he’ll have proof he doesn’t belong in college. But his lies are convincing and he does not see what consequence they will have.
- Fairy Dust -- Eugene conceives a plan to collect fairy dust to change the world. However, the fairies who must adhere to this scheme have other ideas.
- Quantum -- Doug discovers the equation physicists have been longing for: a unified field theory. Only it gives him the Power of God and he can’t control it. Suddenly other universes threaten to invade his own. Somehow, he must find a way to save his universe.
- The Mouse with Cold Feet -- Henry must find a way to live in a house with a man and a hunting cat and still provide food for his wife, who is expecting a litter soon.
- The Curse of Centauri A -- Sometimes nothing goes right.
- The Old Man -- Forget the scythe and the reaper of souls; Death in the 21st century is high-tech.
- Service is its own Reward -- When all you have is faith.
Sample story from Fables and Fiction
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Tales Out of Turn is a collection of dark fiction featuring the following stories:
- When Only Murder Will Do -- Stan is at his wits end and plots the murder of his partner, Steve.
- Mourning Dove -- The cooing of mourning doves keeps Nicholson awake and gives him bizarre dreams.
- Encounter on the Village Green -- Monica goes out for Halloween and meets real ghosts and witches.
- Magazine Salesman -- A door-to-door magazine salesman attempts to sell his products to the homeowners in town.
- The Drones -- Joan is killed by hi-tech drones, leaving no evidence as to how she died. Someone must command them, but who?
- Dark Faires -- A woman is found murdered and the person who killed her claims it was self-defense; evil fairies came spueing out of her and attacking him.
- Dopplegänger -- A girl goes missing and is then seen repeatedly by her abductor, even though she is dead.
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Amazon in English and Brazilian Portuguese
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