Story Out and Recent News

Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm as

painted by Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann (1855).

My story "The Hand with the Knife" is now available at Mindflights. This story retells the Grimm's fairy tale of the same title about a young girl, her malicious brothers, and an elf with a magical knife. The original, which you can find here, is only a few paragraphs long. My version adds substantial new material and a much more satisfying ending (in my opinion at least). There's also a shape-shifting wolf/man who eats one of the minor characters and a ferocious, wild boar with a penchant for walnuts. Here's an excerpt.

"That's quite a knife you've got there, sis," said Aulden.

"What knife?" Cordelia tucked it among the billowing folds of her skirt, shifting her eyes between her brothers and the outcrop.

The brothers laughed, and while the younger pair held her to the ground and muffled her cries, Aulden wrung the knife from her hand. He examined the runes then tested the blade against a strip of leather that gave way without resistance.

"It's not yours," she said.

"I'm afraid it is, sis. I'm going to say hello to your elf friend. Keep her quiet." Aulden swaggered toward the low hills that marked the trail head.

Cordelia cried out, but the wind carried her warning in the opposite direction and a hand, thick and muscular from farm labor, muffled any further cries. When the elf's hand appeared, Aulden raised the knife and swung it down, a flash of silvery light. The knife sliced through the elf's wrist, severing bone and cauterizing flesh. The elf's deep cry swept across the heath, a cry of betrayal that no wind could divert, the cry of a soul stabbed to the quick. The scream stung Cordelia's ears, ringing on and on as tears welled from her eyes.

In other news, my story "Wilson's Thicket" has been accepted for inclusion in Beneath the Pretty Lies, an anthology from Wicked East Press. The anthology's theme is betrayal and revenge. "Wilson's Thicket" is a contemporary ghost story set in a small town. The protagonist is a junior high boy who witnesses the murder of a teenage girl. At the moment of her death, the girl's spirit enters the protagonist's mind and uses him to carry out her revenge against her killer. The question for the boy is when will her revenge stop?