Tag Archives: short stories

Fear or Be Feared: Fantasies by John Walters – Now Available!

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A teenage girl climbing Mount Olympus with friends becomes possessed by an ancient Greek god who uses her as an instrument of vengeance.

A young artist pursued by her abusive stepfather is recruited to join a society of people linked together by telepathy which exists completely outside the awareness of the present world system.

Paranoia overwhelms a young college student as reality and fantasy merge in the midst of a drug trip that he realizes a dark power may be controlling.

During the British Raj an American reporter discovers a hidden valley in the foothills of the Himalaya ruled by a lovely but sinister woman who may not be human.

In these fourteen weird, surreal, frightening, and fantastic tales, unwary people discover that the world is very different from what they imagined.

In print and for Kindle here:

At Smashwords in various electronic formats here.

Includes “Fear or Be Feared”, “The Disappearance of Juliana”, “Invisible People”, “The Elephant’s Eyes”, “War Horse”, “The Lady of the Lost Valley”, “The Ghost of Halkidiki Past”, “Wolf in a Cage”, “The Gift”, “Clouds Without Rain”, “Mendocino Mellow”, “Slice-of-Death”, “The Illuminations”, “The Customs Shed”, “Afterword: Deviations”.

Dark Mirrors: Dystopian Tales by John Walters – Now Available!

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When it malfunctions, a teacher discovers a microchip implanted within her forehead which was designed to eradicate her free will.  She determines to rescue the orphaned children in her care from a similar fate.

In the aftermath of a conflict in which all adults were killed or driven away by their progeny, children and teens roam the streets of a ruined city.  When they near the age of 21 they must play the ultimate game, snuff sport, to prevent themselves from becoming hated adults.  A lone grown-up who re-enters the city on a mission of reconciliation is captured and put on trial for his life.

The people of Earth are losing a war with aliens that they themselves provoked.  Every able-bodied person is being called up to fight, even prisoners.  A battle-hardened general enters a prison to recruit a woman who refuses to fight, but who may have a most unusual special ability that can turn the tide of the war.

These and other tales offer terrifying glimpses of Earth’s future gone wrong.

From the author’s afterword:  “When I postulate dark futures it is not to get you to despair.  When I hold up dark mirrors before your eyes it is not so that you will see the worst in yourself and do yourself in.  Far from it.  Some of our greatest illuminations come from deep dark prose.  Dark literature is not meant to overwhelm us.  It is meant to purge us, to provide catharsis.  It is a cleansing and purifying process.  We must be aware of the evil within before we can clean it out.”

In print and Kindle versions here.

In various elecronic versions at Smashwords here.

Includes “Dark Mirrors”, “Life After Walden”, “Generation Gap”, “This Won’t Hurt A Bit”, “Brown-Eyed Girl”, “Tasting the Forbidden Fruit, or, If This Is Hell Then Why Is Everyone Smiling?”, “Noah and the Fireflood”, “The Earthborn”, “The Perspicacity of Soaring Eagle”, “Afterword: Future Tense”.

Painsharing and Other Stories by John Walters – Now Available!

Now available!

This short story collection is now available in print and electronic editions.

After nuclear war, a survivor of the monster-populated ruins of Oakland California joins the crew of a clipper ship sailing the waters of the Pacific; a typhoon shipwrecks him on a tropical island whose inhabitants share a bizarre secret.

An unlikely team investigating the deaths of the crew of an interstellar spaceship near Pluto are confronted with a life-or-death conundrum stranger than anything they could have imagined.

On a distant planet the ultimate civil punishment is to be genetically deformed into an abhorrent beast and forced to live in the forbidden compound called Purgatory as slaves of the State.  When authorities arrest and condemn the woman he loves, a man determines to find and save her, even if he must descend into Purgatory itself.

These and other science fiction stories, some previously published and some original, are set on near and far future Earth and on distant planets.

Print edition is here.

Amazon’s Kindle version is here.

It’s also available at Smashwords in various electronic formats here.

Includes “Painsharing”, “Leilani”, “State of Grace”, “The Orpheus Equation”, “The Coma Killings”, “The New World”, “The Left-Handed League”, “Fearful Symmetry”, “Beyond Purgatory”, “Afterword: Here, There, and Everywhere”.

The Dragon Ticket and Other Stories by John Walters – Now Available!

Now available!

High in the Himalayas a young woman receives an extraordinary gift.  Beneath the streets of Calcutta a man discovers a terrifying presence.  In a palace full of sybaritic pleasures a demigod incurs terrible retribution.  On a far desert planet teeming with venemous creatures a woman searches for ultimate truth.  In these and other strange and wondrous tales John Walters explores the ramifications of human/alien encounter.

This short story collection is available at Amazon in print and electronic editions here.

It’s also available in various electronic formats at Smashwords here.

” Includes “The Dragon Ticket”, “Under Calcutta”, “The Golden Ones Who Work Miracles”, “Ceasefire”, “Star Over Babylon”, “The Touchstone”, “At The Edge”, “Clear Shining After Rain”, “Afterword: Concerning Reality and Fantasy”.