Five Stories: Volume One

By Shaun Kilgore

Five Stories: Volume One is the first collection of short stories by author Shaun Kilgore. Stories include: "True Calling," "Not A Chance," "Inheritance," "Death's Generosity," and "Moonlight."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Founders House Publishing LLC
• Release date: Jan 16, 2012
• ISBN: 9781465975768

Shaun Kilgore

Shaun Kilgore is the author of various works of fantasy, science fiction, and a number of nonfiction works. His books appear in both print and ebook editions. He has also published numerous short stories and collections. Shaun is the editor of MYTHIC: A Quarterly Science Fiction & Fantasy Magazine. He lives in eastern Illinois.

Book preview

FIVE STORIES

Volume One

Shaun Kilgore

Copyright © 2012 Shaun Kilgore

Published by Founders House Publishing, LLC

Moonlight, Copyright © 2011 Shaun Kilgore & D.B. Keele

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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For more information about author, Shaun Kilgore, please go to: ShaunKilgore.com

Table Of Contents

Introduction

True Calling

Inheritance

Not A Chance

Death's Generosity

Moonlight

About The Author

Introduction

This is the first of many volumes of original short stories that I've been writing (or finishing) in recent months. In some cases, the stories languished for months or years, waiting for the right time to be completed. It is a good mix of tales but the genre is predominantly fantasy. In this inaugural edition, I would be remiss if I didn't give thanks to one writer in particular for giving me the kick in the pants I needed to start down the road to indie publication.

Dean Wesley Smith has been in the business for more than three decades. He has written well over a hundred short stories and has also completed over a hundred novels over the course of his career. He's been a bestselling writer, an editor, and once owned a small publishing company. Other than all of that, he is like a mentor to me. Along with his wife, fellow bestseller Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and others, Dean opened up this whole new world of publishing for me and showed me the potential there was for a writer if they believed in themselves and dispelled some of the myths that have grown up around the publishing industry.

This first volume also contains the story Moonlight that I co-wrote with a fellow writer, D.B. Keele. I am grateful that I got to work with him and hope I see more stories from him in the future. Finally, I want to say thanks again and I hope that you enjoy these first stories. There will be more.

Shaun Kilgore

Danville, Illinois

January 16, 2012

True Calling

Richard was seething with inexplicable rage. Yet, he held his tongue, he bit his lip, even gritted his teeth to fine powder so he wouldn’t lose one precious shred of control. There was no opportunity to express his anger, nor an outlet available to channel his frustrations, so he paced around the small office he held on the forty-second floor until the carpet was nearly smoking. Richard tried to think of any possible way to avoid the disaster that was barreling towards him with each tick of the cheap plastic clock on his plywood wall, but no revelation came, no epiphany dawned on him with its white hot clarity, and there would be no shouts of Eureka! until they came and dragged him away in a straight jacket. No, no, it would happen soon. His secretary Margo would beep his phone or tap on his door and tell him in her droll, monotone voice, that they were ready for his presentation to the board members. She would ask, in a perfunctory sort of way, whether or not he, Mister Cassidy, needed a breath mint or a shot of cocaine to calm his nerves. Boy, she was a sarcastic one, that Margo.

Richard mumbled the words that were now illegible smears upon the crumpled index cards he even now carried with him. It wasn’t as though he was not used to making speeches or spearheading presentations. Richard Cassidy had been in the advertising business for more than fourteen years now and there was no one better in the entire firm. But none of that mattered now. Not today, maybe not ever. Richard felt his heart starting to beat stronger and faster and he was afraid that it was going to burst right out of his chest. A wave of nausea swept over him but he managed to stifle its messy effects in his throat. He made a mental note not to have coffee and doughnuts for breakfast ever again, even though he knew that it really shouldn’t matter if he was feeling like garbage. In a sad, sick sort of way, it was as things should be. Richard knew the truth of it and he winced as the twinge of another migraine began to establish itself in the depths of his left temple. The better to usher in his newest level of agony, he thought miserably.

Beep!

Mister Cassidy, sir, Mister Drummond is calling for you. The meeting is about to begin.

Richard wiped