New story in print
It starts like this:
Poor old Appollonios! His happy, wine-soaked dreams gave way to an awful pounding in his head, as though some very large bird were pecking at his temple, peck peck peck! He awoke from the fog to discover that, indeed, a very large bird was pecking at his temple. With a grunt, he flapped his arm to shoo it away, but the bird was back in an instant, peck peck peck.
“Oh, go away!” Appollonios cried. “Stop bothering me.”
But the bird would not go away. It flittered away from his hand only to return right away, its huge black beak pounding at the poor old man’s head. Angry now, Appollonios summoned the Fire within him. He did not mean to harm the bird, of course, only to frighten it off, but much to his surprise the bird threw up its wings and a gust of wind rose that parted the flames to either side.
“Aha!” the bird croaked. “So you do have Fire within you!”
It's available in Elemental Magic, which can be purchased from Amazon in paperback or Kindle edition. Page 23.
This story follows what seems to be a recurring theme in my mass-market publications: "Birds can be dicks."
Poor old Appollonios! His happy, wine-soaked dreams gave way to an awful pounding in his head, as though some very large bird were pecking at his temple, peck peck peck! He awoke from the fog to discover that, indeed, a very large bird was pecking at his temple. With a grunt, he flapped his arm to shoo it away, but the bird was back in an instant, peck peck peck.
“Oh, go away!” Appollonios cried. “Stop bothering me.”
But the bird would not go away. It flittered away from his hand only to return right away, its huge black beak pounding at the poor old man’s head. Angry now, Appollonios summoned the Fire within him. He did not mean to harm the bird, of course, only to frighten it off, but much to his surprise the bird threw up its wings and a gust of wind rose that parted the flames to either side.
“Aha!” the bird croaked. “So you do have Fire within you!”
It's available in Elemental Magic, which can be purchased from Amazon in paperback or Kindle edition. Page 23.
This story follows what seems to be a recurring theme in my mass-market publications: "Birds can be dicks."