C H R Y S A L I S

Short Stories, 2011

DON'T BE POLITE (1)

• Genre: Post-Apocalyptic (YA) 
• Prompt: "I hate polite people. Especially when they're murderers."
• Plot: Two teens promise not to be polite if it comes down to death by poisoning.

SISTER OF SALA (excerpt) (2)

• Genre: Horror/Mystery (Adult)
• Prompt: "The truth behind the smile..."
• Plot: A woman returns to her childhood home and discovers a long-hidden truth.

I PRONOUNCE YOU...DEAD! (3)

• Genre: Murder...not mystery (YA)
• Prompt: "I knew there were magic spells for THAT. I just never imagined buying one off eBay."
• Plot: What goes around comes around at this crazy high school party. An Evil Susan story.

MEANT TO BE (4)

• Genre: Contemporary (YA)
• Prompt: "The correct answer to 'no' is never 'please'. What a lazy, grotesque, sickening, pathetic way to get through life. Have some self-respect."
• Plot: This girl lives for being known as "the girlfriend"...and then gets dumped.

THE RISE IS HAUNTED (5)

• Genre: Paranormal (YA)
• Prompt: "You can't be 'the one' if you're dead...right?"
• Plot: After death, they can't move on - it's enough to drive a ghost insane.

IF YOU WON'T DO IT, I WILL (6)

• Genre: Futuristic...ish (Adult)
• Prompt: "Well, you certainly picked a fine time to go all happily ever after."
• Plot: Her love is so totally unrequited, he'd rather die than reciprocate.

 THREE WORDS (7)

• Genre: Contemporary (New Adult)
• Prompt: "It's an inanimate object. Inanimate objects don't have feelings. ESPECIALLY not this one."
• Plot: A young guy is determined to move away from the town where he grew up, if only to escape his dad's statue.

ELECTROCUTION (8)

• Genre: Contemporary (YA)
• Prompt: "If you think again, you might be disappointed."
• Plot: A 17-year-old girl is snapped out of her bored stupor by the arrival of...you guessed it, a truly intriguing guy.

WTF? (9)

• Genre: Supernatural (Adult)
• Prompt: "Why would you keep doing that? Of all the things you would stick in a bottle . . ."
• Plot: Joanna awakes to find herself in a very strange predicament indeed.

THE SKIES ARE BLUE, EVEN THOUGH THEY'RE GREY (10)

• Genre: Contemporary (YA)
• Prompt: "Stop reading these words before it's too late."
• Plot: You can't stop reading her diary...you just have to know why she did it!

MY SISTERS (11)

• Genre: Contemporary (Adult)
• Prompt: "If I keep your secret, what's in it for me?"
• Plot: A girl is hunted by a nasty killer, but at least she's not alone.

MAIM AND DESTROY...FOR YOUR SANITY (12)

• Genre: Supernatural (Adult)
• Prompt: "Do you know how many times God has wanted to destroy the world?* I think we must read the same newspaper.**"
• Plot: God gets bugged by Buddha and Justin Bieber. And Susan.

HUNTER (13)

• Genre: Supernatural (YA)
• Prompt: "Fall into the ocean. Revel in it."
• Plot: An ancient princess has come back from the dead to reap revenge on those who destroyed her and her family.

SANCTUARY (14)

• Genre: Post-Apocalyptic (YA)
• Prompt: "Come to me to feel my protection. Countdown to my revelation..."
• Plot: A solitary rebel races through deadly streets in search of sanctuary, and finds it in the most unexpected way.

SEERS (15)

• Genre: Post-Apocalyptic (Adult)
• Prompt: "And neither have I wings to fly."
• Plot: A dead and twisted world is all they know...at least in the visions of the future. But can they change things before that future becomes the present?

EMMALINE (16)

• Genre: Urban Fantasy (Adult)
• Prompt: "Women are like a different species or something."
• Plot: The Chosen One is an annoying whiner. No wonder she had to kill him. Only now her bosses are seriously pissed.

IL TUO COMPLEANNO (17)

• Genre: Urban Fantasy (Adult)
• Prompt: "This might not be the best time for getting philosophical."
• Plot: Lauren's not crazy - she knows she's not - but she's not quite all with it either. Soon it will be time to wake up.

DEATH'S PUZZLE (18)

• Genre: Supernatural (YA)
• Prompt: "I think you're my new favorite puzzle."
• Plot: She's got a tiny little crush on this really cute guy called Death.

MADE O' PLASTIC (19)

• Genre: Supernatural (Adult)
• Prompt: "And/ drip, drop, dripdrop/ they splatter from the arch in the wintry sky/ iron and angelic and rotting toward nothing."
• Plot: How would you feel if you were a plastic doll who never got sold and your fate was to end up in a dumpster being rained on?

MINTY SOMETHING TEA (20)

• Genre: Fairytale (Adult)
• Prompt: "I find myself drawn to the shadow domain."
• Plot: Somebody's trying to poison the lady - and you would too if your realm was ruled by her.

ALL WIPED OUT (21)

• Genre: Contemporary (Adult)
• Prompt: "There's only so much you can account for while doing dead man floats on the shallow end of the kiddy pool."
• Plot: Some people grieve in healthy ways, and grow as a person. Suze doesn't.

FOR REALS? OR FOR PRETENDS? (22)

• Genre: Contemporary/Military (Adult)
• Prompt: "I remember./ I wish I didn't remember./ Maybe if I wish hard enough, the memories will just fall away. Like the smell of old perfume dissipating. Like the innocence of white chalk darkening under the rain. Like the dying color of that crimson blood as he washed it from my hands."
• Plot: In the aftermath of battle, this guy hasn't really left the battleground.

YOU LOVE HIM (23)

• Genre: Paranormal (Adult)
• Prompt: "You love him/ You love him more than this/ You love him, and you cannot/ You can't resist."
• Plot: The kid's the chosen one and everybody wants him. She's only a trainee, but she's determined to have him.

JUST ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE (24)

• Genre: Paranormal/Post-Apocalyptic (Adult)
• Prompt: "Look, that's really cute, but it doesn't exactly go with bite marks."
• Plot: It's a world gone mad with zombies and banshees, but it's about to get even madder. Especially now that he's officially unemployed.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY (25)

• Genre: Supernatural (Adult)
• Prompt: "You'd think there couldn't be anything sinister about a flower shop. And you'd be so very wrong."
• Plot: Flower arrangements are so damn expensive - sometimes they even cost you your life!

CHANGE OF PLANS (26)

• Genre: Contemporary (Adult)
• Prompt: "Ohhh we're halfway there/ Woaahhh-oh! Livin' on a prayer." or "At least one of these things is a lie."
• Plot: A murderer goes to meet his beloved scarred penpal only to realise she's betrayed him.

SPECIAL SKILLS (27)

• Genre: Urban Fantasy (Adult)
• Prompt: "When the smell of gasoline hit my nostrils, I knew."
• Plot: Alice is in a disaster zone, held captive with her moronic fellow agent Hardwick, but she's soon to find out that that moron has at least a few tricks up his sleeve.

HANG GLIDER (28)

• Genre: Post Apocalyptic (YA)
• Prompt: "I hope you brought your hang glider. We're going to need a quick escape."
• Plot: A girl, one of the few survivors of nuclear (or something) holocaust, is waiting for a dawn that may never come.

LIFELINES (29)

• Genre: Contemporary (YA)
• Prompt: "I never invited you in/ But you are not a vampire."
• Plot: A teenaged boy from an abusive home plots his escape, but worries about leaving his (unrequited) love behind.

WUSSEY (30)

• Genre: Paranormal (YA)
• Prompt: "I knew something was very, very wrong when I found the wall of cookbooks in his kitchen. Not a single spine had been cracked."
• Plot: The weird kid at this school is weirder than anyone can imagine...but they're going to find out, in the ugliest way.

RED ON GREY (31)

• Genre: Contemporary (New Adult)
• Prompt: "They're not mutually exclusive. It's like how all blood tastes salty, but not all salt tastes like blood."
• Plot: Public shaming in front of the boy you love...versus setting your mother off into another breakdown. Tough call.

ATMOSOPHOBIA (32)

• Genre: Apocalyptic/Contemporary (YA)
• Prompt: "Any moment now, he's going to press the button. Are the cameras rolling?"
• Plot: Is the world really ending, or is it all in his head?

DADDY (33)

• Genre: Supernatural/Horror (Adult)
• Prompt: "I closed my eyes and reached into the class treasure chest. Uh oh. THAT'S not a pencil."
• Plot: It's not a monster, it's his son...and nobody's gonna get between this man and his son. Not even the wife.

蠕蟲 (34)

• Genre: Science-Fiction (Adult)
• Prompt: "The first time I walked into that classroom was also the last."
• Plot: Futuristic boot camp is just as crappy as current-day bootcamp, for Jory at least. But there's a possible out - becoming a test rat for the Interstellar Armed Forces!

GLORY (35)

• Genre: Fantasy (Adult)
• Prompt: "This could all be over in a matter of seconds... Should I or shouldn't I?"
• Plot: Kira's on the brink of death, but her magic, and her fury, will keep her going just long enough to reap revenge.

CASE O' THE CRAZIES (36)

• Genre: Apocalyptic (Adult)
• Prompt: "I know all the best places to hide. But there are certain precautions you need to take if you don't want them to smell you."
• Plot: Just because she's paranoid, don't mean they're not after her. Best way to hide? Cover yourself in mud.

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(updated Jan 3, 2012)