The Letter Hex: Six Flash Fictions, Taking The Epistle

By Mark Huntley-James

Six letters...
Paul Moore, master of magic and avoiding the apocalypse, has a life away from saving the world in Barrowhurst-under-Helltide, a life plagued with various tedious issues. His letters shed an insight into the everyday life of a master of the dark arts, from dealing with unhappy customers over a magical nose-job to advising local politicians on voting rights for demons.
“Dear Mayor Cornflower,
Our phone conversation got cut short... I thought I heard a scream of pain before the line went dead...”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mark Huntley-James
• Release date: Nov 25, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463734698

Book preview

The Letter Hex

Six Flash Fictions, Taking The Epistle

Mark Huntley-James

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Contains adult themes and language.

Written in British English.

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Cover based on stock images from pixabay.com

Published by Mark Huntley-James at Smashwords

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Version 1.0.0

Copyright © 2019 by Mark Huntley-James

All rights reserved

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Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to your favorite ebook retailer to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

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1. Letter Picking

Paul Moore, Master of the Dark Arts and demonic broker... there are three books explaining how he saved the world, but he does have a life away from defeating ruthless demons, insane djinni and adolescent boys high on magic and testosterone. So, from time to time, his letters come to light, written in frustration, annoyance, and sometimes blood.

Why does he write letters rather than sort these issues out on the phone? Talking is just a matter of words, and if you can’t see who you’re talking to, it’s hard to give them their full impact, the appropriately timed whispered incantation, or decisive sigils scratched into the air before their eyes. A letter is different. A letter is still words, but written down, like runes. Every magical practitioner knows that writing a letter is just like setting a curse, that the pen is mightier than the sword, that ink can be distilled from evil, and the paper it is written on could so easily be the skin of a virgin sacrificed after the X-Factor finals have aired.

Here they are, six letters, all perfectly harmless, and a number chosen as minimally supernaturally significant.

Just to be clear, a whole load of the smaller numbers have issues.

One – the evil one, a self-centred individual

Two – the minimum number of participants in any demonic contract

Three – trouble always comes in threes.

Four – seen any horsemen lately?

Five – if you don’t know that five is a bad number, best to stop reading now.

Six – see, harmless.

Seven – so, not especially significant, but there’s seven days in a week, so that’s something. If there had been seven letters it might have been safe.

Eight – OK, still fairly harmless. Things are getting quiet