HOUSE OF PAYNE INTERNATIONAL
The Archive: Stories
Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories
"The Witch's Child" -- Long ago and far away, a group of young children playing in the woods stumble across a helpless and injured goblin child, supposedly the spawn of witches. What should they do with it?"Virtual Blacksmith" -- A young cyber jock figures out a way to make real money in a virtual fantasy world: become the blacksmith.
"The Martyr : An Execution in Five Parts" -- On a colony on Mars a few hundred years from now, Chief of Staff Fowler is the guardian of a terrible secret: the Governor is mad. The only way to save the Governor's legacy now is to make him a martyr, and that's why Fowler brought in Costa.
"Long Pig" -- Somewhere in the Umolt mountains east of Haven, the northlander woman Helga and her compatriots seek treasure in an abandoned silver mine. Trapped by a cave-in, with light and food running low, old fears and hatreds surface.
"The Spirit Loaf and the Life Price" -- After sorcerous mischief leaves an innocent girl dead, four friends sit down to a meal with spirits to appease the anger of the restless dead.
"Open the Window, Close the Door" -- Of dreams and delusions, friends and enemies, doors and windows. A larcenous little madman named Chisaibu opens one door and closes another.
"Green-eyed Monster" -- Riding South through the Neverlands, separated from her roguishly handsome companion Lor, Helga meets an old man who tells her tales of love, deception, and death.
"Only the Dead" -- If life is "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing," then what is death?
Other Stories
"Desert Shield, Prairie Storm" -- During the tense December days of Desert Shield, Paul Bates-- football player, Baha'i, and all around good guy-- gets in a fight."Razor Burn" -- The story of my love affair with beards, and how I came to accept my father's authority.
"Grunts + Postures" -- My freshman year at BYU, a friend and I took a trip to a used clothing store in Salt Lake. This story is a fictional re-imagining of a different way things might have unfolded.
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