Short Stories by Bill Blume
The Bounty
Ayleen Torr travels the galaxy on a quest for revenge, but before she can get the blood she's owed, she needs the means to survive. To earn enough coin, she chases down a bounty on Antares III. Just as she's about to catch her target, she finds herself turned into the one on the run. If she doesn't find a way off-world in a hurry, getting paid will be the least of her problems.
The Hand on the Wall
When Art awakens to discover his left hand missing, he soon learns that isn't the worst part. No one, including his wife, remembers him ever having a left hand. His determination to prove something stole a piece of him and to get it back turns into an obsession that threatens his marriage and his job. Only one person believes his story. A one-handed mural artist named Heidi reveals the thing that stole Art's hand did the same to her two years earlier. The more he learns about the monster tormenting him, the more his life spirals.
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Zombie Walk
Every October, people in Richmond dress as zombies and descend on Carytown for an annual shuffle up and down Cary Street, but when a pair of vampires learn the walk will be taking place at night for the first time, they decide to get into costume for a chance to feed in public without anyone being any the wiser. One of Gidion’s friends is also taking part in the walk, and unless he can figure out which of the hundreds of zombies are really vampires, his friend might go from playing the "walking dead" to just plain dead.
An Eye for Reading
Belinda Middleton is about to lose her job at the county library. Just as she thinks she won't find new work elsewhere, she's invited to interview for a position overseeing a private library. Her meeting with the mysterious Leonard Ward reveals what makes this library unique and that what he really wants from Belinda might kill her.
The Big Sneeze
Dragons have an innate need to hoard. Some keep this urge in check, gathering stamps or books, but when the infamous Dug decides to hoard all of the allergy medicine in England, things get ugly. Now, a city full of dragons are fighting back a firestorm of sneezes. If Special Agents Windsor and Kensington don't find the Dug's stash of drugs in time, then London burns!
Dracarge
When a gremlin is found murdered on the runway at Heathrow Airport, a pair of dragons must hunt down the killer. Special Agent Windsor and his inept partner Kensington’s investigation leads them to an infamous assassin, a conspiracy between humans and gremlins, and the truth behind all mechanical mischief gremlins cause.
Crossfire
The middle of the 21st Century, society has abandoned oil and nuclear resources in favor of a return to steam and the search for more efficient sources of power. A conspiracy by Russian terrorists threatens the rise of plasma energy. Davin Cross, an ambitious CIA analyst, risks his career to stop terrorists and an explosion that could incinerate all of London.
Bitter Pill
Miss Sharpe is a killer for hire, the Jade Dagger, an artisan of death. Yet when called on to find an immortal in the city of her birth, she finds herself unprepared for what she discovers, as she is plunged into her own terrifying past and future.
Waist Deep
In the wake of the world's end, Dale has survived the leviathan of the seas and the wraiths of the Desert of Fire, but what he finds in the wastes of the Ice Lands might finish him. His hunt for a shadowy beast will lead him to an ancient evil hidden for eons within this frozen hell.
Borrowed Shadows
Many hide their secrets in the shadows. For teenager Daniel Black, his shadow is the secret. He's one of a small number of people born without a shadow who had to borrow one to stay alive. His shadow belonged to an ancient samurai named Feng.