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Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Cherry Blossoms on the River of Souls by Richard Parks
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Cherry Blossoms on the River of Souls by Richard Parks
The monk nodded. “You’re not seeking music; you’re seeking an answer. I wondered if you understood that. Very well then, I will help you find Akiko. Yet whatever happens, afterwards you will leave this place. You don’t belong here. Do I have your word?” Hiroshi hesitated, but he saw no good alternative.
·beneath-ceaseless-skies.com·
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Cherry Blossoms on the River of Souls by Richard Parks
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Manor of Lost Time by Richard Parks
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Manor of Lost Time by Richard Parks
Now, please bear in mind that this was a new thing. I had been trapped in what looked like a pitiful little statue for the better part of five hundred years, and in all that time no one saw my prison for what it was. Driana did. She knew someone alive was trapped there, and she was curious. Frankly I was curious about her as well.
·beneath-ceaseless-skies.com·
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Manor of Lost Time by Richard Parks
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Bride Doll by Richard Parks
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Bride Doll by Richard Parks
The demon's power would diminish in the light of day. All we had to do was survive the night, but as the cold settled in, I began to wonder if it might not be better to take my sword and my chances with the creature. If we weren't killed immediately, at least maybe we could find some firewood.
·beneath-ceaseless-skies.com·
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Bride Doll by Richard Parks
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Lady of the Ghost Willow by Richard Parks
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Lady of the Ghost Willow by Richard Parks
I had little talent for poetry, but my instruction in the classic metaphors was probably no less extensive than Akio's. The poem was both an entreaty and a question; that much was clear. But what was the answer? One who might be able to tell me was beyond speech now and might be for some time, if not forever.
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Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Lady of the Ghost Willow by Richard Parks
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Ghost of Shinoda Forest by Richard Parks
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Ghost of Shinoda Forest by Richard Parks
Whether I was drunk or sober, Princess Teiko haunted my dreams. I had always assumed, if I drank enough that one day this would no longer be true, but there had been fifteen years of drinking after we parted, plus two more after her death, and now my optimism was quite exhausted. As this foolish hope had been all that I had to fight her with, there was nothing left for me to do tonight except the only sensible thing—I surrendered.
·beneath-ceaseless-skies.com·
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Ghost of Shinoda Forest by Richard Parks
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Tiger’s Turn by Richard Parks
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Tiger’s Turn by Richard Parks
On the face of the matter I had to agree. While the estate would technically belong to the Imperial Family, I had been assigned the position of steward—quite a handsome income. “Security is the greatest illusion of all, Kenji-san. As for my poverty, it was more of a problem when I was drinking. Don’t mistake me—I am not ungrateful. I am merely puzzled.”
·beneath-ceaseless-skies.com·
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Tiger’s Turn by Richard Parks
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - In the Palace of the Jade Lion by Richard Parks
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - In the Palace of the Jade Lion by Richard Parks
"Has death made you a demon, Lady? No! All who are mortal must die, but not all who die become ghosts. You did, and that is because your hopes and dreams as a living woman were so completely frustrated. Therefore, your defining characteristic is not death but rather an excess of the yin principle, which you would instinctively attempt to counter by taking my living energy. Your present condition is not fate but rather a condition, an illness. An illness can be cured."
·beneath-ceaseless-skies.com·
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - In the Palace of the Jade Lion by Richard Parks
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Snake-Oil Salesman and the Prophet's Head by Shannon Peavey
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Snake-Oil Salesman and the Prophet's Head by Shannon Peavey
Leaving Leo alone, with his brother's head. Leo stepped closer to the jar. Cary's white-blond hair floated up from his skull, the tips waving slightly. It looked like strands of spiderweb, or exposed nerves. "You still telling people things they don't want to hear?" He tapped on the glass. As if he might rouse it to speech.
·beneath-ceaseless-skies.com·
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Snake-Oil Salesman and the Prophet's Head by Shannon Peavey
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Here Be Monsters by Carrie Patel
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Here Be Monsters by Carrie Patel
With the seventh overcast night upon me, I’m beginning to wonder if it wouldn’t be easiest to put the flare gun to my head. I’m fixated on this thought, and on the feel of the cool brass in my hands, and the sand between my toes, when I hear a shuffling noise. I lean toward the edge of the hut and hold my breath until I’m sure of it. There’s someone coming along the beach toward me.
·beneath-ceaseless-skies.com·
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Here Be Monsters by Carrie Patel
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Mansion of Bones by Richard Parks
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Mansion of Bones by Richard Parks
Kenji began to chant. It might have been a passage from the Diamond Sutra; I was not pious enough to know one book of Buddhist scripture from another, but Kenji, despite his flaws, knew nearly all of them and could recite the appropriate passages at will. Which he was doing now. The shadow moved away from us toward the outbuilding as we stepped out onto the rear veranda, always keeping the structure to its back, or such I judged its back to be. It was hard to be certain with something so close to formless.
·beneath-ceaseless-skies.com·
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Mansion of Bones by Richard Parks
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Thieves of Silence by Holly Phillips
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Thieves of Silence by Holly Phillips
The song became a chant, slow and rhythmic as a sleeping heart. The dance wove together three women, then four, then one alone with steel in her hand. Zel dreamed on her feet, free of pain, comfortable with the prospect of death. The white bed, the rubied throat. Two of the sisters went away into the darkness beyond the ring of fire. When they returned, they bore a white ghost between them. A white-feathered ghost with yellow eyes that burned brighter than the flames.
·beneath-ceaseless-skies.com·
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Thieves of Silence by Holly Phillips
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Silk and Shadow by Tony Pi
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Silk and Shadow by Tony Pi
So well did Anansya tell the tale, little did I realize until too late that her ritual had already snared me, thrusting me into the tapestry of shadows. I became the hero laced with light, while my body sat mindless before the screen. The past had become present through Anansya's magic, the players and props conjured from my memories. I could feel an odd thinness to my flesh.
·beneath-ceaseless-skies.com·
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Silk and Shadow by Tony Pi
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Curse of Chimère by Tony Pi
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Curse of Chimère by Tony Pi
I walked down the aisle, passing frozen spectators whose eyes were riveted to the screen and weeping blood. I recognised the Mayor immediately by his bold muttonchops, and beside him, the actor Franchot Aucoin, whose lecherous exploits were as legendary off-screen as on. Both men were bleeding as though their eyes had been gouged out and pressed back in.
·beneath-ceaseless-skies.com·
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Curse of Chimère by Tony Pi
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - No Sweeter Art by Tony Pi
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - No Sweeter Art by Tony Pi
As a candy dog I lazed between two street-kitchen buckets. Through the legs of passers-by I glimpsed my real self resting at my stall. Next, I animated the sugar-horse. Nong had convinced an herbalist to hang my horse figurine under his ‘running horse’ lamp. I had worried about the flame but needed this vantage point covered, and so dangled the horse a hopefully safe distance under the lantern’s base.
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Beneath Ceaseless Skies - No Sweeter Art by Tony Pi
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Sweetest Skill by Tony Pi
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Sweetest Skill by Tony Pi
I needed to stall the Ten Crows Sect’s men. I asked the Golden Water River for leave to shape a water-hound from its substance, and in return I’d offer my candy dog figurine as tribute. It was pleased, and it pulled the caramel into deeper currents while granting me dominion over a vat’s worth of sugar-tinged riverwater.
·beneath-ceaseless-skies.com·
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Sweetest Skill by Tony Pi
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Crooked Mile by Dan Rabarts
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Crooked Mile by Dan Rabarts
Rosco guessed he’d have to handle the situation, what with the sheriff being away down the Mile and all. He stepped out into the main road that ran down the middle of Gutshank, population one-hundred-fifty-three, and rested a hand on the pearly handle of his revolver. Tried to look mean, like his Pappy would’ve done.
·beneath-ceaseless-skies.com·
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Crooked Mile by Dan Rabarts
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Punctuality Machine, Or, A Steampunk Libretto by Bill Powell
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Punctuality Machine, Or, A Steampunk Libretto by Bill Powell
JACQUENETTE: Monsieur Cartwright! Early?WHITLOCK: (aside) An identical response! Perhaps free will is a mere illusion. On the other hand, she's an automaton.(JACQUENETTE slaps him.)JACQUENETTE: How dare you employ such a term for a lady!WHITLOCK : How dare you eavesdrop on an obvious aside!
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Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Punctuality Machine, Or, A Steampunk Libretto by Bill Powell
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Mountains His Crown by Sarah Pinsker
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Mountains His Crown by Sarah Pinsker
The soldier shrugged. His look was almost sympathetic. They turned back toward the fields. I would have liked to tell them to take the road, to stop trampling our remaining crops, but I knew better than to rile them. The soldier's horse dropped the chewed flower stalk as they disappeared back between the rows.
·beneath-ceaseless-skies.com·
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Mountains His Crown by Sarah Pinsker
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Call and Answer, Plant and Harvest by Cat Rambo
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Call and Answer, Plant and Harvest by Cat Rambo
Today her sleeves are sewn with opals and moonstones and within their glimmer here and there on the left sleeve, glitters another precious stone, set in no particular order, random as the stars. Her skirt and bodice are aluminum fish-scales, armored though she expects no fight. Her only weapon is her own considerable wit.
·beneath-ceaseless-skies.com·
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Call and Answer, Plant and Harvest by Cat Rambo
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - By Appointment to the Throne by Alter S. Reiss
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - By Appointment to the Throne by Alter S. Reiss
The body couldn't have been there long; washers and cooks had been coming in, and there were deliveries. Sometimes waitstaff came in early, to pick up a little extra cash working in the kitchen. Or she could have been killed after closing the night before, and just dumped in the morning, or... or anything, really.
·beneath-ceaseless-skies.com·
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - By Appointment to the Throne by Alter S. Reiss
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Buzzard's Final Bow by Jason S. Ridler
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Buzzard's Final Bow by Jason S. Ridler
They ran through the tumbles and bumps, grips and leaps, Buzzard tossing and turning with Razor as she barely noticed, thrashing about to make it look real. And as they tussled on the ground, Buzzard snaking his python choke around Razor’s mighty furred neck, he spied the balcony. All the children were leaning over, pointing and laughing, ignoring Lady Astra, who smiled and nodded, then shoved Konrad hard through the stone rail—
·beneath-ceaseless-skies.com·
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Buzzard's Final Bow by Jason S. Ridler
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Forsaken Beneath the Stars by Jason S. Ridler
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Forsaken Beneath the Stars by Jason S. Ridler
The sack swung in his hand as he walked away. “I would take her with me to the guts of the earth. I sought death in the battlefield, and saw it in all but my fate. I was spared a warrior’s clean end. Now, the campaigns are ashes and lies. If you cannot help me find peace for Baysha, I will find someone to end me.”
·beneath-ceaseless-skies.com·
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Forsaken Beneath the Stars by Jason S. Ridler