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Online Fictionby Alan Smale
I've recently found myself writing a lot of alternate history,
twisted history, secret history. The first two stories featured
here definitely fall into that category.
Fossil Fuels     [ First published in "Realms of Fantasy", February 2009 issue ] "Fossil Fuels" is a secret -- one might even say 'underground' -- history, set in the north of England between the two World Wars. Buried(!) along the way are some of my own personal thoughts about how we perceive the future, as well as how we treat the past. But having said all that, it's basically an adventure story.
I note in passing that "Fossil Fuels" is still eligible for award
nominations.
    
"Fossil Fuels" on the Web
A Trade in Serpents     [ First published in "Realms of Fantasy", August 2007 issue ] "A Trade in Serpents" is set in eighteenth-century England, a little before the American Revolution. And that's all I'll say, except to note that the quotes attributed to Benjamin Franklin are all genuine.
    
"A Trade in Serpents" on the Web
Quartet, with Mermaids     [ Online, at Abyss & Apex, Issue 25, First Quarter 2008 ] "Quartet, with Mermaids" is set in the present, though it was written a little further back in my own history of trying to think about traditional fantastical topics in a grounded, real-world way.
    
"Quartet, with Mermaids" on the Web
Bridges     [ First published in "Dark Regions", May 2001 ] "Bridges" is the oldest piece here, in terms both of its protagonist and how long ago I wrote it. And yes, it's a vampire story, although more accurately it's a gentle meditation about two people who pass in the night while traveling down their own -- rather different -- roads. It's still one of my favorite shorter stories.      ( Removed, pending its reprinting in "Best New Vampire Stories, Vol. 1" from Books of the Dead Press. )
And if you want more, I have more.
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