bigcloset

Fantastic Mars -11- Tongues of Mars

Seejay came over to us and kissed me on the forehead. I beamed at him and stood up so I could snuggle better and get another kiss.

“We’re going to be moving out in very short order, what should we do with the prisoner?” he asked after our mutual snogging.

“I’ve named her Dolly,” I said. “She’s got useful information, including stuff about who our avatars are, or were. I—I think we need to keep her.” For some reason, it felt strange to be offering advice t...

The Mermaid's Treasure Cover

I ran across this picture and felt that this girl looked like the character in Mermaid's Treasure so much that I just had to do a cover. And the story isn't even complete yet!

There will be more chapters posted though, probably one or two a week.

The Mermaid's Treasure -2-

I made incoherent noises for some time then O’Reilly knelt beside me in the sand and asked, “Are you well, miss?” His face was lit by the late afternoon sun going down behind me and past him I could see what I assumed must be the Atlantic Ocean. East. I could see several boats in the water and farther out to sea, what looked like an old tall ship, all sticks and lines with no sails visible.

Edgar and I had been pedaling north from St. Augustine, coming back from a ride into ...

The Mermaid's Treasure -1-

Another lost story found in an obscure corner of my hard drive. Is it worth finishing?

“We’d better hurry, it’s beginning to rain,” Edgar called to me as we pedaled along the path by the beach road north of St. Augustine. In fact, it had already been misting for several minutes but now rain came down in torrents so heavy the pavement almost disappeared in the wet grayness. To the east, the falling water made a hissing roar as it fell on the brush and swampland. 2018-05-22 20:10:50 +0000 UTC View Post

Fantastic Mars -10- Jewels of Mars

I put on the bracelets and anklets I had taken off our captive while the drama wound down. It felt so good—and having the gems close to my skin gave me a warm, comfy feeling. I decided the stones must be jade. They had about that color and went so nicely with my pale copper skin.

Seejay was watching everything while picking up discarded weapons. “This rifle is a repeater,” he observed. Then mentioned to Hote. “Pinkstuff’s tail is going to be a problem, she could undo her...

Curse You, Red Barron -2- The Court

Every time Red finished one drink, someone bought him another. Every time he thought he'd figured out which of the girls was most likely to go to bed with him later, the cast changed. He started drinking with Genevieve, Sylvia and Dondee but soon he shared a table and more boilermakers with Beatrice, Kandy and Zelda. After that, he met Wilhelmina, Ellesmere and Trixie. If he learned the names of the last three girls he drank with, he forgot them somewhere between his tenth and eleventh ...

Fantastic Mars -9- Warriors of Mars

The copper-skinned woman I held down with a knee moved suddenly, throwing me off before I could let loose my lightning bolt. Or maybe I chickened out on actually using it, I’m not quite sure.

“Get off me, you trifle,” she grunted, pulling a knife from her belt. 

Now, I had noticed the knives she carried but I hadn’t touched them. I didn’t know why I hadn’t and to be honest, I’m not at all sure what I was searching her for if it wasn’t to remove her weapo...

GLOOD! Story Challenge Preview

Ken Barrows read the instructions on the tube of GLOO! again.

GLOO! is a demi-permanent biologically active adhesive for the attachment of medical and theatrical appliances. Apply GLOO! Adhesive base to body surface in an even coat using included spatula-like applicator. Apply GLOO! Adhesive activator in a thin coat to corresponding surface of appliance. Press surfaces together and adjust placement as required. GLOO! Adhesive will begin to work as soon as surfaces touch but there ...

GLOOD!

This is an illustration for the Story Challenge for June. More info will be posted in early June. 

"Ken Barrows read the instructions on the tube of GLOO! again...."

Fantastic Mars -8- Voices of Mars

We got moving pretty quickly after that. 

Seejay led the way. His real life military training as an intelligence officer in the Army included infantry training and he was our natural leader as well. He carried his double-barrel at the ready, pistol, sword and knives at his belt and rifle slung across his back. He had the real sword, the one that looked like an old movie cavalry saber. 

Hote backed Seejay up, also carrying a double-barrel, with two pistols on his be...

Pretty Soldiers

Abel Crawford looked down at himself. He had legs again, and his right arm ended in a perfectly functional hand, not a claw deformed by the blast that had nearly snuffed out his life. His wounds had led to a lengthy but unsatisfying recovery until they qualified him for entry into the Pretty Soldier Project, the PSP.

The discovery of the Alien Artifact, aka The Suitcase from the Stars, had been a miracle for many wounded vets and active military. Amputations, scars, and disabiliti...

Fanstastic Mars -7- Lizards

Things got lively right at dawn.

Hote and Trike were sitting quietly, letting us sleep in while they discussed what their favorite choices were from the breakfast buffet at the Malagua casino when they heard the rushing sound of clawed feet on stone.

Big honking sword, pistol and spear at the ready, Trike covered the door with Hote backing him up on double barrel, all the while they screamed to wake us up. 

When Seejay and I came out of our “bedroom”, both of ...

Curse You, Red Barron

by Erin Halfelven 

Another unfinished story found hiding in the back of one of my drives, this one a tale of crime and punishment....

Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more,

The lucky Red Barron is keeping a score 

Eighty chicks cried and eighty chicks sighed...

But Red gave them all a very good ride!<...

2018-04-26 19:34:14 +0000 UTC View Post

Fantastic Mars -6- Dreams

“You make it sound like I don’t have free will,” I said.

He shook his head. “I don’t think that. No one made you run out in front of those bandits and distract them. You thought that up yourself.”

“Uh-not exactly,” I admitted. “I didn’t know I was going to do it until I was already moving.”

We both smiled. In our games, my characters were famous for sudden impulses that turned out either very good or disastrously bad. But they kept the games inter...

Bian -26- Hero of the Zero

“You’re publishing a newspaper? Here-and-now?” I boggled a bit.

We were still in the inner room at the inn, a fire in one corner, Kilda my servant sitting by the door while Lillakatye and I questioned Lord Kelvan Apdegrote, a slippery customer who had just admitted to publishing a newspaper called The London Tides, or Tyddingr ap Lundenna. Except we were in a world that seemed firmly medieval.

Kelvan grinned and nodded, laying the charm on thick. He played the lovable ...

Fantastic Mars -5- Names of Mars

It took us ten minutes to reach the vicinity of the rooms where Hote and Seejay had stashed the earlier loot they had acquired because Seejay had to approach every intersection alone and check out all the cross-passages.

“Can’t see a thing,” he complained at one point. “It’s really dark down here.”

I traded glances with Trike. Both of us looked at Hote bringing up the rear and apparently peering blindly into the darkness as well. It was dim and gloomy, but I could see pretty ...

Grandpa's New Ride by Katie Leone

Grandpa has an old ride, ancient, a relic really; when he decides to change it for a new one, his grandson Scott jumps at the chance to join him at the auction. A fun sci-fi romp by one of BigCloset and DopplerPress's favorite authors.

Moved here from the HatBox, also available through Amazon.

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Grandpa Tom is an eccentric old bat, but I love him. If e...

Fantastic Mars -4- Coins of Mars

I knew my magic had just healed the wound in Hote’s side and Seejay had called me ‘girl,’ again. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. It sounded dismissive, I’d known these guys for years, and they certainly knew my name. Then again, anything Seejay said seemed to have a strange effect on me.

Hote had been sitting up the whole time, but he tried to get a look at his side. “Maybe I can finish the job in a bit, now that I’m not bleeding and hurting.” Some raw flesh showed where t...

One Fairy Too Many

by Erin Halfelven

One Nightlight in the Window 

“This the right place?” asked Ferlihy. “1674 College Place Drive?” A large, three-story, faux-Victorian house sat in the middle of a wide lawn. Moonlight didn’t show colors well but the yellow house had white trim and the lawn was, of course, green.

“Must be,” said Moen. “Kid moved seven times since pre-school.”&nbs...

Diverse Reasons

Here's another story I found on my drive that is not finished nor is it likely to be. So fair warning, don't read this expecting an ending. I don't remember where I was going with this, if I had a destination. I don't know what the title means. The only thing I know that isn't in the story is what the truck at the end was carrying: paper.

Diverse Reasons

Rocky Petersen drifted through the water like a black ghost. The inky depths of the cold ...

Doctor Yin

This is another story I started a long time ago and never finished. I knew where I was going, still do, but never got the energy up to finish it. I couldn't post such a lame entry at BC but maybe if people see it here and encourage me, I'll find the mojo to do more with it.

Doctor Yin

Chapter 1 

I found the advertisement in the weekly throwaway paper. “Meeting girls too hard for you? We can help,” followed by a phone number.

I showed it to my buddy Gordon ...

One Fairy Too Many Cover

Illustration for an unfinished story I have lurking on my website. Every once in a while, I dig it out and work on it. Anyone interested in seeing some of it here?

Fantastic Mars -3- Magic of Mars

I felt a surge very like an orgasm travel up my body and out my limbs as Zandro’s banditos fastened all eyes on me. My tail helicoptered above my head. My nipples got hard, I felt juicy in a place I had never had before, I smelled violets and sandalwood, and I felt clean, oh so clean.

What the heck just happened?

I stopped in the light beam, staring down at myself. The dirt, blood, and shit our naked bodies had all been covered in had disappeared, and my coppery skin gleamed in the lig...

Jacks or Better by Donna Lamb

It started in the fifth grade.

I didn't like the rough way the boys played so I usually played with the girls. I got thumped by the boys a few times for this, but generally the girls stood up for me and prevented outright massacre. Things changed. That fall, most of us had turned ten and some of the girls had started to develop. With a birthday in October, my own development lagged months behind the other kids and I stayed small and skinny for another five years, anyway, but puberty had arrive...

The cover to Fantastic Mars

This is eventually going to be a kindle book from Amazon. I have more I want to do with the iconography of the cover but the original came from Pixabay and is under Creative Commons License by Benjamin Godard Photography. It's actually a picture of Monument Valley in Utah, compressed sideways with a red filter. But it makes a convincing Martian landscape. :)

Cover for first Bian book

This is the general mockup I've done for the first Bian book cover. The image is from Pixabay and is under a Creative Commons Free to Share license. I've done some stuff to it, cropping, color touch up, etc.

The Tide of Time

“Who are you?” I asked. “Where did you come from?” I spoke English. He had something of the air of an aging conman about him, and I didn’t know what kind of answer I might get.

He spread his hands as if apologizing. Big knobby hands that seemed to have done a lot of work. Perhaps I had been unfair with the conman label. “I am who you see before you, Kelvan Apdegrote,” he said. “An old man who has lived in this city for more than fifty years.” 

He smiled which made ...

Chicken Club

We did have lunch, or middagaten, in a private dining room behind the common room in the front building of the Green Gosling. The innkeeper himself poured ale and wine for all eight of us, though he looked a bit miffed to have our two hirelings eating at the same table. He didn’t water the wine like the serving girl had back in Molina, but Kilda did the task for herself and for me. Zenner took his wine straight and the others drank ale. 

Being small with a teenage metabolism, I didn’t...

The Reluctant Miss Pink

A Hatbox story inspired by Erin's Hired Girl

 by Donna Lamb

“Miss Pink? Miss Pink?” my boss called from the inner office. 

I pushed wads of pale curls away from my face and even pulled a few out of my mouth. Why did women have to have so much hair, anyway? I stepped to the open doorway and looked at him inquiringly. “Yes, sir?” I asked.

Randall Rushmore Rand the Fourth looked vaguely around his desk and made patting motio...

Bian -23- No Lunks

The Green Gosling Inn made a rectangle with one of the long sides on the street and the gate we had entered by in the middle. The walls of the compound held up two-story buildings surrounding a courtyard in the center. The street-side structures were a tavern and a stable. Next to the tavern, making the short end of the rectangle on that side, a kitchen building stood with baths alongside on the ground floor and two dormitories above it for women, I learned later. 

The constr...