Showing results by narrator "Suzy Jackson" in All Categories

When things go bad at home, sisters Eleanor and Mike hide in a secret place under Eleanor's bed, telling monster stories. Often, it seems those stories and their mother's house magic are all that keep them safe from both busybodies and their dad's temper. But when their father breaks a family heirloom, a glass witch ball, a river suddenly appears beneath the bed, and Eleanor and Mike fall into a world where dreams are born, nightmares struggle to break into the real world, and secrets have big consequences.

Caelia is the new Earth. That's what the Consulate told everyone, and against all odds Tora finally has made it there. She can't see the ocean from her cell in the Consulate's containment center, and she doesn't know what happened to the weapons her father died for and she's risked her life to save. But as she plans her escape, she runs into the last person she ever expected to see - her dad.

In an Empire run on necromancy, dead sorcerers are the lifeblood. Their corpses are wrapped in chains and drained of magic to feed the unquenchable hunger for imperial conquest. Born with magic, Arienne has become resigned to her dark fate. But when the voice of a long-dead sorcerer begins to speak inside her head, she listens. There may be another future for her, if she's willing to fight for it.

I knew from the moment I first saw her she was the one. The only girl I could ever want. The only girl I could ever love. She is light. I am darkness. She is innocent. I've done too much. She is good. I am bad. She is my every dream. I should be her every nightmare. We come from different worlds. She's...perfect. And I'm...not. Somehow she wants me anyway.

Carson High School seniors Scott and Davey don't have much common ground - that is, until all universes begin collapsing into their school. Soon the avowed loner and the mean-girl cheerleader realize that something is very wrong, and they're the only two who are aware of what's happening. Demon versions of their teachers roam the halls, a cowboy sloth appears sporadically, and some students randomly burst into flames while angry interdimensional counterparts of other students destroy everything in sight.

This short story is from the anthology Mitigated Futures. Twelve science fiction stories about the oncoming future, each of them representing a possible glimpse of what could be just around the corner... or much further down the corridor. These stories previously appeared in places like Clarkesworld Magazine, The Year's Best SF, Subterranean Magazine, and in various anthologies. They deal with the future of war, our climate, and technology's effect on our lives.

It’s been three months since Lila lost her father to suicide. Since then, she’s learned to protect herself from pain by following two unbreakable rules: 1. The only people who can truly hurt you are the ones you love. Therefore, love no one. 2. Stay away from liars. Liars are the worst. But when Lila’s mother sends her to a summer-long grief camp, it’s suddenly harder for Lila to follow these rules. Potential new friends and an unexpected crush threaten to drag her back into life for the first time since her dad’s death.

At an elite summer program, a teen girl gets sucked into a secret society, with deadly consequences. Protect the girls. Arlee Gold has always lived in the shadow of her successful mom; even after everything Arlee’s been through, her mother still expects nothing but the best. In an effort to get her daughter back on track after a less-than-stellar few school years, she’s enrolled Arlee as a legacy at Camp Rockaway, an elite college prep summer camp deep in the North Carolina wilderness.

Narda Pitkethly’s brother vanishes amid several clues in September 2001, near Sun Valley, Idaho. In the search for Jay, the family undertakes extreme measures to find him. This plunges Narda into a prolonged period of searching, not only for her brother, but for inspiration and meaning in her life, which ultimately leads her back to a world that makes sense.

Uly would rather watch old Westerns with his new girlfriend, Sallie, than get involved in his school’s politics - why focus on the “bad” and “ugly” when his days with Sallie are so good? His older sister, Regina, feels differently. She is fed up with the way White school-body presidential candidate Leona Walls talks about Black students. Regina decides to run against Leona...and convinces Ulyto be her campaign manager.

When a letter from her uncle Henrick arrives on Bryn Roth's 18th birthday summoning her back to Bastian, Bryn is eager to prove herself and finally take her place in her long-lost family. Henrik has plans for Bryn, but she must win everyone’s trust if she wants to hold any power in the delicate architecture of the family. It doesn’t take long for her to see that the Roths are entangled in shadows. Despite their growing influence in upscale Bastian, their hands are still in the kind of dirty business that got Bryn’s parents killed years ago.

Lizzy Swift is a senior in high school, emerging from her nerd chrysalis to become a social butterfly. She's dating Matt Ashley, the boy who's been out of her reach since freshman year. Her bold, reckless new friend Claire Reynolds introduces her to Center City Philadelphia - clubs, street life, and the eye-opening art scene. And her Ivy League ambitions take a back seat to nights of partying, dancing, and dating.

School's out, and the Daredevils are excited to spend all summer tearing up the track. The coaches have something special planned: The Austin league is heading to Dallas for a week of roller derby sleepaway camp! Tomoko has been camping with her uncle every summer since she can remember. She’s got all the gear and the skills she needs for summertime in the great outdoors. But roller derby camp isn’t in the great outdoors. It’s in the middle of the city. And it means meeting a bunch of new kids, which isn’t exactly a strength for shy, introverted Tomoko.

One true friend. Someone shining. That's all twelve-year-old Arie Mae wants. But shining true friends are hard to come by deep in the mountains of western North Carolina, so she sets her sights on a cousin unseen, someone who lives all the way away in the big city of Baltimore, Maryland. Three unanswered letters later, Arie Mae learns that a group of kids from Baltimore are coming to spend a summer on the mountain.

Knit me into a cocoon. Help me eat a burrito. Pretend to be a chair at my dinner party. Wrestle a Komodo dragon. Race me in a lobster suit. Author Kelly Mahon posts absurd gig ads online and shares the conversations she had with the brave souls who wanted the job.

Now part of the official junior roller derby league, the Derby Daredevils are ready to compete in their first tournament. Kenzie starts writing new game plays. Bree works on her speed. Tomoko sharpens her blocking skills. And Jules fearlessly hip checks everyone in sight. But Shelly isn’t sure what she’s best at. In hopes of taking home the tournament’s Star Skater award, Shelly transforms doodles from her sketchbook into extra-special gear for the Daredevils. But not everything works as well as Shelly imagined, and she can’t get the team on board.

Morgan was born with a hole in her middle: a perfectly smooth, sealed, fist-sized chunk of nothing near her belly button. At 16, she's tired of keeping her physical abnormality a secret. One night, after a lifetime of hiding behind lumpy sweaters and a smart mouth, she decides to bare all. At first, she feels liberated. But the fallout is more than she bargained for. A few photos snowball into a media frenzy, and suddenly she is desperate to get back to her own strange version of normal.

Best known for her role on the hit Comedy Central show Strangers with Candy, Sarah Thyre is an accomplished actress and writer. In this snappy memoir about growing up poor in the Deep South, Thyre relays vivid memories of her wacky parents, losing her virginity, and being infamously called "the family liar."

Bibi Blair is a fierce, funny, dauntless young woman - whose doctor says she has one year to live. She replies, "We'll see." Her sudden recovery is a medical miracle. An enigmatic woman convinces Bibi that she escaped death so that she can save someone else. Someone named Ashley Bell. Bibi's obsession with finding Ashley sends her on the run from threats both mystical and worldly, including a charismatic cult leader with terrifying ambitions.

When Martha decided she must have a pet, she marveled and mulled over what she should get. But much of the choices made Martha quite glum. Instead of magnificent, most were humdrum. And just as it seemed like it might be no use, she made up her mind that she must have one...moose! When Martha gets an unusual pet, she's delighted by all of the fun things they do together.