SHORT STORIES BY NIK BARNABEE
All of my short stories are free to read in their entirety, here on the site. Just click on the title link below and it will take you to whichever story you want.
It occurred to me recently (I'm slow, but I get there) that providing info about each story would help visitors decide which one they want to read (ok, ya know, if any), so along with the title links below are also a synopsis of each story, the genre (any and all that they fit into), the rating (my best guess - I don't have a panel of specialists pondering the decision), and the word count.
There ya go. :-}
AROUND THE CURVE
Horror/Speculative Fiction
PG
2300 words
On a dark, rural road, self-pubbed horror author Corinne Matthews is pedaling her ass off on a bicycle. Appearing around the curve up ahead, a furred, fanged, terrifying monster begins loping down the road toward her.
Corinne has only seconds to think of a way out. She's handled plenty of horrific creatures, when writing her novels.
If only real life had a BACKSPACE key.
.............................
SHADOWS AND SMOKE
Urban Fantasy/Speculative Fiction
7700 words
PG-13
Revenge can be sweet, as nearly century-old family matriarch Madam Iraska knows. And thus she shares her dark powers with her beleaguered great-grandniece.
Writer Wendy Holloway just wants some peace and quiet, so she can hurl some words and enjoy her life. So why won't next-door-neighbor Hoyt Bixby stop tormenting her?
There is little doubt that she'll use her newly-attained powers to try and stop him. The question is, can she control those powers?
..............................
POOF!
Sci-Fi/Apocalypse/Speculative Fiction
PG
3,300 words
A precocious four-year-old girl finds a device left behind by an alien spacecraft. When activated by her urges, it can open a vortex in mid-air, pulling people or objects into it and transporting them to a frightening, otherworldly place. What...or who...would you have made disappear when you were four?
...............................
POOF! 1.5: THE TRAIN (Not available at this time)
Sci-Fi/Apocalypse/Speculative Fiction
PG
2,000 words
Told from the point of view of the lone passenger who escaped when an entire train was vacuumed up by the strange alien device. Yet he's not safe, merely stuck between here and there, wherever "there" is, invisible to everyone around him.
...............................
POOF! 2: PRINCESS
Sci-Fi/Apocalypse/Speculative Fiction
PG
7,600 words
The continued misadventures of the four year old girl who possesses the most powerful device on the face of the Earth. An entire city has disappeared. When will this destruction end?
.................................................
MERRY DYSFUNCTIONAL CHRISTMAS!
Holiday/Snarky Humor
PG-13
3,700 words
It's Christmas Eve. Santa's new wife is hot, his reindeer have issues, and the elves know all.
..................................................
A ZOMBIE ATE MY CONGRESSMAN
Horror/Zombies/Speculative Fiction/Snarky Humor
PG-13
2,000 words
Smart-ass goth girl Layla Moran is one of the last survivors of a zombie apocalypse that has engulfed most of the world, including the White House and the U.S. Capitol. But, what the hell, watching on TV or from the roof, she's having a blast.
...................................................
SURVIVE
Horror/Holiday/Speculative Fiction
PG-13
2,300 words
An isolated farm. A seven-year-old boy. An abusive stepfather. A neighbor from a distant, exotic land who possesses mystical powers. What could possibly go wrong?
....................................................
FAERIES
Suburban Fantasy/Speculative Fiction
PG-13
850 words
Tiny faeries were never meant to be inside a kitchen. In the suburbs. Amid kids and cats and slamming doors.
..............................................
PARTY LIKE IT'S 2035
Futuristic/Dystopian/Social Commentary
PG
1,000 words
It's the 80th birthday of a man much admired by the few rebels left in a controlling society, a rare voice of his generation willing to pass along memories of the "Before" time, back when the government wasn't watching everyone, drones weren't constant eyes-in-the-sky, and those who yearned for freedom didn't have to travel through sewers to reach secret meetings (or a birthday party), risking incarceration in re-education camps (or worse). And what a gift awaits the about-to-be-octogenarian: such an ordinary item in our time, but for him a treasured memory.
................................................
THE HALLOWEEN TREAT
Horror/Holiday/Speculative Fiction
PG-13
3,700 words
A single tiny, wriggly, murderous creature is injected into one of countless chocolate-covered Halloween delights due to be handed out. Who will eat it — and be devoured themselves?
.....................................................
BECCA 01: ZOMS
Horror/Zombies/Speculative Fiction/YA
PG-13
1,600 words
Teenager Becca only vaguely remembers life before the zombie apocalypse. On her own, she has one love: books. And out there is a world of libraries and bookstores, most untouched, as if waiting for her to make them matter again.
.......................................................
MERRY MASSACRE
Holiday/Horror/Speculative Fiction
PG-13
800 words
Santa is coming, in his big red sleigh. Too bad there's a hungry, furry, monstrous creature also spending Christmas Eve up on the rooftops.
.........................................................
All of my short stories are free to read in their entirety, here on the site. Just click on the title link below and it will take you to whichever story you want.
It occurred to me recently (I'm slow, but I get there) that providing info about each story would help visitors decide which one they want to read (ok, ya know, if any), so along with the title links below are also a synopsis of each story, the genre (any and all that they fit into), the rating (my best guess - I don't have a panel of specialists pondering the decision), and the word count.
There ya go. :-}
AROUND THE CURVE
Horror/Speculative Fiction
PG
2300 words
On a dark, rural road, self-pubbed horror author Corinne Matthews is pedaling her ass off on a bicycle. Appearing around the curve up ahead, a furred, fanged, terrifying monster begins loping down the road toward her.
Corinne has only seconds to think of a way out. She's handled plenty of horrific creatures, when writing her novels.
If only real life had a BACKSPACE key.
.............................
SHADOWS AND SMOKE
Urban Fantasy/Speculative Fiction
7700 words
PG-13
Revenge can be sweet, as nearly century-old family matriarch Madam Iraska knows. And thus she shares her dark powers with her beleaguered great-grandniece.
Writer Wendy Holloway just wants some peace and quiet, so she can hurl some words and enjoy her life. So why won't next-door-neighbor Hoyt Bixby stop tormenting her?
There is little doubt that she'll use her newly-attained powers to try and stop him. The question is, can she control those powers?
..............................
POOF!
Sci-Fi/Apocalypse/Speculative Fiction
PG
3,300 words
A precocious four-year-old girl finds a device left behind by an alien spacecraft. When activated by her urges, it can open a vortex in mid-air, pulling people or objects into it and transporting them to a frightening, otherworldly place. What...or who...would you have made disappear when you were four?
...............................
POOF! 1.5: THE TRAIN (Not available at this time)
Sci-Fi/Apocalypse/Speculative Fiction
PG
2,000 words
Told from the point of view of the lone passenger who escaped when an entire train was vacuumed up by the strange alien device. Yet he's not safe, merely stuck between here and there, wherever "there" is, invisible to everyone around him.
...............................
POOF! 2: PRINCESS
Sci-Fi/Apocalypse/Speculative Fiction
PG
7,600 words
The continued misadventures of the four year old girl who possesses the most powerful device on the face of the Earth. An entire city has disappeared. When will this destruction end?
.................................................
MERRY DYSFUNCTIONAL CHRISTMAS!
Holiday/Snarky Humor
PG-13
3,700 words
It's Christmas Eve. Santa's new wife is hot, his reindeer have issues, and the elves know all.
..................................................
A ZOMBIE ATE MY CONGRESSMAN
Horror/Zombies/Speculative Fiction/Snarky Humor
PG-13
2,000 words
Smart-ass goth girl Layla Moran is one of the last survivors of a zombie apocalypse that has engulfed most of the world, including the White House and the U.S. Capitol. But, what the hell, watching on TV or from the roof, she's having a blast.
...................................................
SURVIVE
Horror/Holiday/Speculative Fiction
PG-13
2,300 words
An isolated farm. A seven-year-old boy. An abusive stepfather. A neighbor from a distant, exotic land who possesses mystical powers. What could possibly go wrong?
....................................................
FAERIES
Suburban Fantasy/Speculative Fiction
PG-13
850 words
Tiny faeries were never meant to be inside a kitchen. In the suburbs. Amid kids and cats and slamming doors.
..............................................
PARTY LIKE IT'S 2035
Futuristic/Dystopian/Social Commentary
PG
1,000 words
It's the 80th birthday of a man much admired by the few rebels left in a controlling society, a rare voice of his generation willing to pass along memories of the "Before" time, back when the government wasn't watching everyone, drones weren't constant eyes-in-the-sky, and those who yearned for freedom didn't have to travel through sewers to reach secret meetings (or a birthday party), risking incarceration in re-education camps (or worse). And what a gift awaits the about-to-be-octogenarian: such an ordinary item in our time, but for him a treasured memory.
................................................
THE HALLOWEEN TREAT
Horror/Holiday/Speculative Fiction
PG-13
3,700 words
A single tiny, wriggly, murderous creature is injected into one of countless chocolate-covered Halloween delights due to be handed out. Who will eat it — and be devoured themselves?
.....................................................
BECCA 01: ZOMS
Horror/Zombies/Speculative Fiction/YA
PG-13
1,600 words
Teenager Becca only vaguely remembers life before the zombie apocalypse. On her own, she has one love: books. And out there is a world of libraries and bookstores, most untouched, as if waiting for her to make them matter again.
.......................................................
MERRY MASSACRE
Holiday/Horror/Speculative Fiction
PG-13
800 words
Santa is coming, in his big red sleigh. Too bad there's a hungry, furry, monstrous creature also spending Christmas Eve up on the rooftops.
.........................................................