Flashing Steel, Flashing Fire

The vivid imagination of Matthew W. Quinn has carried him far from our mundane world to places of mystery, wonder, and terror. Now is your chance to join him on ten adventures ranging from Dark Age Denmark to a world where North America and Europe face off against the Indian Ocean in a Cold War to the forgotten and frightening corners of our own present day...

COIL GUN-On the opening night of the Third World War, an American spaceport official plays off against an Afrikaner intelligence officer with the fate of the world in the balance. Previously published in PRESSURE SUITE: DIGITAL SCIENCE FICTION #3. This science fiction tale was judged the best short story of 2011 by ALTERNATE HISTORY WEEKLY UPDATE.

LORD GIOVANNI'S DAUGHTER-A scholar and adventurer must rescue his employer's daughter from the fierce Talassos, prince of the serpentine Naga. Paul Leone, author of the Vatican Vampire Hunters series, described this story as a fun blend of Robert E. Howard's sword-and-sorcery and Renaissance fantasy in the vein of John Whitbourn's novel POPES AND PHANTOMS.

NICOR-In this medieval horror tale, a teenage Dane on his first Viking raid encounters something fiercer than the Anglish. Previously published in HEROIC FANTASY QUARTERLY.

MELON HEADS-A pair of young lovers (and a trio of thuggish frat boys) in Ohio discover the monsters they thought an urban legend are very, very real in a tale combining equal parts humor and horror.

PICKING UP PLANS IN PALMA-An American spy infiltrates the brutal Afrikaner Confederation to retrieve vital plans, not knowing the terrible fate awaiting him. The story has also appeared in DIGITAL SCIENCE FICTION: COSMIC HOOEY.

ILLEGAL ALIEN-A group of undocumented migrants seeking the American dream encounter aliens of a different sort. This story also appears in the collection DIGITAL SCIENCE FICTION: OPERATIVE SEQUENCE.

THE BEAST OF THE BOSPORUS-After the destruction of the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Lepanto, Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha seeks power of a different sort, power that puts him at the mercy of powers beyond human comprehension. Cultural connoisseur Sean C.W. Korsgaard said this work captures the horror and style of H.P. Lovecraft so well it could have been written by the man himself. This tale also appears in DIGITAL FANTASY FICTION: UNCOMMON SENSES.

I AM THE WENDIGO-Many tales have been told about the wendigo, the man-eating fiend of the northern woods, but when has the wendigo ever spoken for himself? Previously published in CHIMAERA SERIALS.

LORD OF THE DOLOROUS TOWER-In a world wracked once by a celestial impact and then again by a fierce Dark Lord, two adventurous teens go treasure-hunting in the Dark Lord's tomb. This story has been purchased as a standalone by Digital Fiction Publishing and will appear in a future DIGITAL FANTASY FICTION collection.

WESTERNMOST THRONE-On the eve of the U.S. Presidential Election, a campaign rece...