Mouseferatu: Rodent of the Dark » Short Stories

Railroad Spikes

Ari Marmell — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:50:46 +0000

“Railroad Spikes” appears in Tales of the Far West, an anthology of short fiction set in a world that… Well, I’ll let them tell it:

Imagine: A fantasy world, but not one based on Medieval/Dark Ages European culture and myth, but rather one based on the tropes of the Spaghetti Western and Chinese Wuxia. Add steampunk elements. Mix well.

A fantasy world that’s The Gunslinger meets Storm Riders meets Deadwood meets Afro Samurai meets The Wild Wild West meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets Django meets Brisco County meets House of Flying Daggers and more.

A fantasy world that’s explored through a constantly-updated website, a tabletop role-playing game, a web series, artwork, fiction, comics and much, much, more. A fantasy world that is shaped by its own fan community.

This is Far West.

This anthology is published by Adamant Entertainment, and edited by Gareth-Michael Skarka.

Credits: Sole author

Cover by Rick Hershey.

Notes: My own story, “Railroad Spikes,” is a borderline horror tale that I can best describe as Saw meets The Great Train Robbery. Yeah.

Also, I’m sharing a table of contents with (among many other worthwhile names) Dave Gross, Matt Forbeck, Chuck Wendig, and Scott freakin’ Lynch! *fanboy quiver*

Availability:
• Amazon.com
• Barnes & Noble.com
• DriveThruFiction.com

The Purloined Ledger

Ari Marmell — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 01:12:29 +0000

“The Purloined Ledger” appears in Broken Time Blues, an anthology of urban fantasy and other tales set in the roaring 20s. This anthology is published by Absolute XPress, and edited by the Jaym Gates and Erika Holt.

Credits: Sole author

Cover art by Galen Dara.

Notes: The title of this short story is a deliberate homage to Poe’s “The Purloined Letter.”

The main character of this story is a guy about whom I intend to write a great deal more in the future. Hopefully, you’ll like him at least half as much as I do.

Availability:
• Amazon.com

Twenty-One-Oh

Ari Marmell — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 23:45:37 +0000

“Twenty-One-Oh” is my contribution to the Foreshadows project, a combined short story anthology and musical soundtrack.

Credits: Sole author

Notes: If you’re interested in being part of the “Kickstarter” program for the book, you can earn yourself a whole bunch of nifty little perks. Click on over for details.

Tithe

Ari Marmell — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 23:48:09 +0000

“Tithe” appears in Human Tales, an anthology published by Dark Quest Books, and edited by the illustrious Jennifer Brozek.

Credits: Sole author

Notes: My first short story sale to a non-RPG company.

You can now see the entire table of contents for the anthology.

Availability:
• Amazon.com
• Barnes & Noble.com
• Indiebound.com
• Powells.com

The Ogre’s Pride

Ari Marmell — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 22:20:30 +0000

“The Ogre’s Pride” was published in Spectra Pulse, the e-newsletter for Random House’s Spectra imprint.

Credits: Sole author

Notes: This story was written as a tie-in to my novel The Conqueror’s Shadow. However, you needn’t have read one to enjoy the other.

The story is no longer available from the Pulse website–it is, after all, a monthly e-zine, and April is over–but I’ve made the story available here. (The link takes you directly to the PDF.) Although it says “Continued from Spectra Pulse” in the document, don’t worry; what’s in the document is the entirety of the story.

Before I Wake

Ari Marmell — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:27:32 +0000

“Before I Wake” was published online as part of WotC’s Digital Initiatve.

Credits: Sole author

Notes: This a Ravenloft tale, but only marginally; if you know nothing of the setting, it won’t hurt your appreciation, and in fact you almost certainly wouldn’t even know there was anything that you didn’t know. (Um, so to speak.) It’s also my attempt at the pastiche of H.P. Lovecraft. (Not that I tried to imitate his writing completely; I don’t think I could. But the writing and, in particular, the dialog is more like his than anything else I’ve written.)

The Flight of the Righteous Indignation

Ari Marmell — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:26:09 +0000

“The Flight of the Righteous Indignation” was included in Tales of the Last War, an anthology of Eberron short stories published by Wizards of the Coast.

Credits: Sole author

Notes: My first published fiction in the Eberron setting, and indeed for WotC as a company.

Pyre

Ari Marmell — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:25:27 +0000

“Pyre” was published online as part of WotC’s Digital Initiatve.

Credits: Sole author