Today was a little light, by design. But I did get the back copy started for the Open Wounds Universe short story and novella that I was talking about. I've posted both of them below for to whet your appetite.

These are very likely to change a little before I finish up the rest of the process, but the gist of it is certainly there. And, I would only tweak things a little.

First though, I have a bit of the opening snippet for my next story. I'll find out what this means over the next couple of days.

Magician, def.: one who takes advantage of the opportunities, fortune, luck, etc. that are made available; alt., one who knows which way the wind blows.

San Angelo, a Short Story of Open Wounds

Way out west, where the wild wind blows, A young woman has been told it's time for her to go out and make her way in the world. When Megan finds Tony D'ags, a Righteous Man whose job is to protect and champion plain folk when they seek justice in the Empire, she doesn't know just what she's gotten herself into. Her mentor seems like such a simple man, and his crew a funny collection of misfits brought together from all corners of the world.

Their first night in San Angelo, Megan finds out that Tony, his crew, and now Megan herself, have greater responsibilities than political representation. They owe their lives to their hosts, and there are bandits out there ready to take them.

So tonight, eating food given to them in joy, playing with children and listening to the elders list their complaints to her mentor, Megan learns the first lesson of being a paladin.

What do you do, when the wolves on two legs come howling? What do you do when men who are more animal than not decide they're after the children you protect, and they'll do anything to get them? Where do you stand?

San Angelo is the first in a series of shorter works set in M.K. Dreysen's Open Wounds Universe. Here, Megan meets Tony D'ags and begins learning what the Empire means to people who don't have a position in it.

and Badlands, a Novella of Open Wounds

When Megan and Tony D'ags and crew came to San Angelo, they were surprised to find that the sheriff was an old acquaintance of Tony's. Not quite a friend, not quite an enemy, the whole situation was odd enough to keep Megan and the rest of the crew on their toes. Even Tony didn't really trust the sheriff and his cronies.

When they found out the sheriff was crooked, and that they'd set themselves up with a little black market operation on the side, nobody was surprised.

When they found out that the sheriff, the town, and now Tony and his crew were about to be dragged in to be sacrificed to something from the outer darkness, an evil being from beyond too hideous for human comprehension...

Badlands is a novella set in M.K. Dreysen's Open Wounds Universe, the second in a series of shorter works. Here, Megan and Tony continue as apprentice and mentor, and Megan discovers for the first time that there are things stalking the Empire, indeed humanity itself, from outside space and time.