Spiral Publishing's March Reads
Spiral Publishing's March Reads
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Spiral Publishing authors Kari Kilgore and Jason A. Adams have put together an exclusive bundle of four fiction stories set in March, and available this March at a special price! Check out the stories below, and be sure to grab your bundle of March Reads before it disappears at the end of the month.
And check back next month for your fresh batch of Spiral Publishing's Monthly Reads!
Since the transitional month of March brings all kinds of conditions, from snow to sun to flowers to thunderstorms, our special March Reads bundle brings a variety of stories.
Little Five: A Terminalia Story by Kari Kilgore
Barry Evans: An oddball in the oddest land of all.
A gray-suited accountant navigating colorful hair, crazy clothing, and questionable businesses.
After three months in Little Five, nothing surprises Barry anymore.
Until the day he meets a true stranger in town.
What happens when numbers meet magic?
An excerpt from Little Five:
Barry turned the corner toward his next appointment, so focused on getting into the shaded alleyway and out of the sun that he nearly walked right into another person. Instead of dodging away and shaking his head, probably swearing under his breath, Barry stopped in his tracks without even checking to see what he might step in. He turned around.
The man wasn’t wearing a woman’s dress or a black bodysuit or a shirt with some kind of obscene phrase on the front. He wasn’t nearly naked or dressed like a priest, or even another outsider in a business suit.
Barry watched a tall, impossibly thin figure walking slowly away from him, dressed head to toe in gleaming copper. His insane idea that the man had been wearing a breathing device of some kind made more sense now that Barry could see the two small black tanks on his back.
Barry also remembered a strangely bluish tint to the man’s pale skin, so pale that it was almost translucent. He could see from the back that he hadn’t imagined the man’s hair color. A spiky mane of every shade of purple stood up all over the stranger’s head.
The damndest thing was that color didn’t look the least bit unnatural to Barry’s grumpy, judgmental eye.
The End of the Rainbow by Jason A. Adams
Sometimes life goes down the toilet.
Andrew Fleming: ex-Marine, wanna-be writer, bathroom prisoner.
Until a mysterious visitor offers to free him...for a price.
Join Luchorpán Limited’s newest Special Operative as he embarks on an amazing new life.
Just don’t accept any special deals along the way.
An excerpt from The End of the Rainbow:
“Look,” Andrew said, desperate to get out of this unscathed and un-asylumed. “I swear I won’t write about leprechauns anymore. Whaddaya say?” He held out his right hand, hoping to seal the deal.
“Oh, I think not,” the leprechaun said, turning to face him. His voice had gone greasy, and he had a twinkle in his eye Andrew really didn’t like at all.
“Methinks you do deserve a deal,” he continued. “You’re obviously surprised to see me, so I don’t think you knew you were stepping on any toes.”
He began pacing again, hands clasped behind his back, head down.
“I’ve got it,” he said, rising up and looking Andrew in the eye. “Here’s the very thing. You’ll love it. I’ll release you on the condition that you work off your debt in my employ.”
The Definition of Crime by Kari Kilgore
An Appalachian Crime Story
Private Investigator Helen Hartsock returns home to the Appalachian Mountains.
Searching for a missing person hardly anyone misses.
She finds Martha Phelps: a woman with a mysterious past and fiercely loyal friends.
And a deep knowledge of the secrets the mountains hold.
Will Helen get answers, or regret asking in the first place?
Originally appeared in Mystery, Crime, and Mayhem Private Eyes
Also available in the Spiral Publishing Anthology Shadows Mountain Deep
An excerpt from The Definition of Crime:
A Mystery Almost No One Cares to Solve
Helen was determined to follow the path to wherever Rodney Blevins ended his days, no matter how it twisted or turned. Almost as determined as his family, even if no one else seemed to care.
She pretended to read and watched Martha load everything into one washer while everyone else was still busy sorting into two, sometimes three machines. All typical behavior for this crew.
But instead of standing around and chatting with her friends, Martha stared right at Helen.
Not good.
Then she walked over and sat beside her, which was worse.
"Figured I should introduce myself," Martha said, her voice quiet but a bit rough, as if she'd shouted a lot in her life. "Since we seem to have noticed each other for several days in a row now."
Resurrecting Ruby by Jason A. Adams
Sometimes, New Friends Help Old Friends
For decades, Ruby stood guard over the Holbrook land.
Then spring storms raged across the mountains.
When a piece of his childhood falls, Jesse grieves.
Will new friends help Jesse resurrect Ruby in time?
An excerpt from Resurrecting Ruby:
The big storm from yesterday had blown itself along down the ridges, but a breeze ruffled Jesse’s hair and sent a few leaves skittering across what little yard wasn’t buried under the tree.
Funny how a low sound like that can sound just like…
“Hey, now! Watch yourself, big fella!”
Jesse jumped so bad he near tossed the wheelbarrow clean down the mountain.
Straying from Her Human Lifetime by Kari Kilgore
An Ordinary House with a Deadly Secret
Sesha brings unusual skills to her job as a home inspector.
An ability to see and sense what others miss.
But one house keeps secrets even after she shifts into her true self.
Can she discover the truth before it's too late?
Part of Were-Creatures & Conundrums, an Uncollected Anthology
An excerpt from Straying from Her Human Lifetime
A Supernatural Level of Job Security
A shiver of anticipation let Sesha know her flesh and senses were more than ready to jump into the mystery, but that would have to wait until Natasha departed.
Mappers might be plenty familiar with their own skills, and willing to call in help from other unusual talents when they needed to.
That didn't mean they wanted to hang around to witness what those talents did when it came right down to it. And Sesha for one wasn't especially into show-and-tell.
At least not at work.
"I'll be glad to take a look," she said. "Did you get a feeling about any particular area on this plane of reality that I should focus on?"
Rather than looking guilty or trying to make up for feeling like she'd failed, Natasha grinned.
"I wish I could say I did. But the block or knot or whatever it is kept me from seeing that clearly. I do know how much you love a challenge."
Sesha grinned back, and in her excitement, she had to remind herself to keep her face on the human side of the equation.
The Book Store by Jason A. Adams
Some things need protecting more than others
In the not-so-distant future, the written word commands the highest price.
Enter Fred Tully, Senior Archivist of the Kyle Canyon Print Depository.
Fred once took a vow to do all in his power to preserve the contents of his realm.
Even if that means teaming up with the baddest warlord in the Great Basin.
Join Fred, Violent Violet, and the Nellis Thunderbolts as they teach others a lesson about respecting books.
“Get all the paper out of there immediately,” Fred said, worry clenching his gut. “And the machines as well.”
The two men walked on to the dining hall, where a wave of noise greeted them. Sylvia Eberhart and Jackie Delacruz were trying to calm the Transcribers, all youths in their mid to late teens, and all of whom were in hysterics.
“The ink smudged, and I barely touched it!”
“Paper kept getting stuck in the—”
“Beads of water all down my iced tea glass—”
Ted clapped his hands over his ears. Fred followed suit, shouting at the top of his substantial lung power.
“EVERYONE SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!!”
