War Short Stories

As war rumbled through the heavens, the seas also boiled with battle. Poseidon was one of the first to succumb. Now, the alliance of evil gods turn their sights on the Inuit pantheon. Barely surviving the initial strike, the goddess Sedna seeks the sanctuary of the oceans and her old friend Jormungandr. She knows the Norse world serpent isn’t the evil people believe him to be.

Returning to the city that inspired his first prize-winning book, Lost in the City, Jones has filled this new collection with people who call Washington, D.C., home. Yet it is not the city's power brokers that most concern him but rather its ordinary citizens.

As a 41-year-old man confronts his own mortality in this collection's title story, he recalls his Spokane Indian father's chilling death from alcoholism and diabetes. Another tale features an eccentric salesman pursuing a married woman from airport to airport. And then there's the film editor who sees nothing wrong with altering footage to fit preconceived views - until he becomes the target of media distortion.

The war to end all wars - or so it is hoped. For generations battle broke the once-proud kingdom of Galifar. As nation fought nation, adventure was never far away from those eager to find it.

Hunters of evil, seekers of fortune, loyal soldiers, and those just trying to stay alive. These are their tales. The Tales of the Last War.

Running off to join the French Foreign Legion used to be every boy's dream of action and adventure. But for Lieutenant Bill Reilly - half Irish, half American, and like Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia, a Westerner at war in the desert - the dream has turned into a nightmare. And it all begins with the gruesome delivery of a severed hand…

The Chinese city of Shunkien is under siege, the Japanese military laying it to waste. In the middle of the city sits the American consulate, a fragile sanctuary packed with refugees, threatened not only by artillery, but by the ravages of starvation and cholera. 200 miles away, on the USS Miami, stands their only hope - Marine Gunnery Sergeant James Mitchell. As tough as Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan - and just as stubborn - if anybody can negotiate a crucial supply of gold and medicine through 200 miles of bullets, bombs and butchery, it’s Sergeant Mitchell.

Pilot Terry Lee has taught Bill Trevillian everything he knows about flying, enough that Bill's know considered the ace of American test pilots just as war breaks out in World War II Europe. Unknown to Bill, Terry's also taught his own kid sister, Kip, who's now almost as good a pilot as Bill and quite the looker to boot.

In the last days of pre-World War II China and the rise of Communism, Jim Dahlgren, representative of the Amalgamated Aeronautical Company, has had enough of the fatalistic brand of diplomacy from other nations that claim to want a united China, one that can resist invasion from without and treason within - but which refuses to intervene and prevent it's demise. When Dahlgren disappears - purportedly to find a mysterious aviator, the man called "Wind-Gone-Mad" - he ignites a series of actions which just may spell disaster.

Barto is a genetically engineered soldier in a future war. He has body armor, enhanced reflexes, and a laser lance as a deadly weapon, but he can kill with his bare hands as well. His entire life has been designed for combat, to kill and die on the battlefield, to destroy the enemy. That is all he knows. He doesn’t have to worry about making complex decisions. But when he is cut off from the rest of his squadron, freed from the constant drone of commands, he is confronted with the most terrifying crisis - the possibility of peace.

Meet Lieutenant Flint: hard-edged and muscle-bound, radiating machismo - a bull of a soldier. In the opposite corner stands Captain Turner: with his pencil mustache and tailored shirts, he’s a Trick Soldier - smart, crisply-dressed, and always at attention. They’re fire and ice, oil and water. Ten years ago and a thousand miles away, they attended boot camp together. They didn’t get along then...and they don’t get along now. Reunited in the Haitian jungles, in the midst of a fierce rebel uprising, they confront the most dangerous enemy of all - each other.

Josh and Tony aren’t any great shakes on the basketball court—but with the fate of the planet on the line, they’re going to have to step up. A short story from Guys Read: Other Worlds, edited by Jon Scieszka...

The Next Competitor: To win gold, figure skater Alex Grady must train harder than the competition. As for a boyfriend, forget it. The Olympics are only every four years—everything else can wait. So it's ridiculous when Alex finds himself checking out his new training mate Matt Savelli. Cold War: American figure skater Dev despises his Russian rival. Arrogant, aloof Mikhail is like a machine on the ice—barely ever making a mistake. He's also sexy as hell, which makes him even more infuriating.

American pilot Mike Malloy has learned his lesson: when you join the French Foreign Legion, it’s best not to wipe the floor with two French officers...no matter how richly they deserve it. And it appears he has all the time in the world to think about it. He’s been sentenced to five years in a Moroccan penal battalion - which is French for death sentence. But Malloy is about to get a reprieve...if he’s willing to fly into the heart of the Sahara and into the teeth of a Berber rebellion.

He’s a handsome American Lieutenant in the French Foreign Legion. She’s a beautiful woman who’s as fiery as the North African sun...and as mysterious as the far side of the moon. And she’s all his - bought and paid for in the village square. Put them together, and you’re sure to get fireworks.

Embittered by past failures and broken dreams, American fighter pilot David Duane believes in but one cause - his own. Europe is at war, and he’ll fight it for a price, selling his deadly flying skills to the highest bidder. Duane has come to the icy white wastes of Scandinavia to wage a private war in the skies. But he’s about to take off on a flight and undertake an unforgettable journey - On Blazing Wings - to a place beyond the imagination...leading to a revelation that will open his eyes and his heart.

The Japanese military has turned the once-thriving Chinese city of Nencheng into a reeking pile of blood and ash. And now the Japanese Rising Sun threatens to scorch the ancient - and oil-rich - Kingdom of the Silver Lake. Can the Chinese survive the onslaught? Do they have a prayer? The answer is about to fall out of the sky. He is The Falcon Killer.

Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Johnny Trescott is as smart, tough, and fearless as they come. But he’s about to lose everything - his boat, his freedom, and his identity. Johnny’s mission is to track down drug runners in the Gulf of Mexico, and he’s got his eye on the biggest fish of all - Georges Coquelin. But an SOS from a downed plane that’s sinking fast leads him straight to disaster. Coquelin springs a trap. Stranding Johnny and the plane’s passengers on a deserted island, the drug smuggler commandeers Johnny’s boat and his name.

American Ann Halliday is as fiery as the Sahara sun. And now she’s feeling some real heat, as the prize captive of the Berber leader Abd el Malek also known as “The Killer”. But Abd el Malek wants Ann alive - and in chains - subject to his every whim and fantasy. Dusty Colton, however, an American deserter from the French Foreign Legion, has a different idea, and he’s determined to give “The Killer” a taste of his own bloody medicine. The only problem is Dusty himself is wanted for murder.

Before he became an archmage to topple an empire, before he met the legendary Eradicator Xal, Saghir was born a free ratkin, living on the streets of Gateway, a perilous desert city at the edge of the Blasted Lands. Each month, the free laborers must pay their tithe in coin, or blood. Every ratkin in Saghir's tribe searches for something of value, lest their whole people be enslaved. Ruthless Corax, carnivorous scarabs, and worse infest the city. There are countless ways for a rat to die, and all it takes is one mistake. There are no second chances.

Winchester Remington Smith is a crack shot. Problem is, surrounded by roller coasters and merry-go-rounds, his talent is going to waste, knocking down ducks in a carnival shooting gallery. Win wants some real action, and he’s running off to join the US Marines to fight a guerilla insurgency south of the border. In the jungles of Central America, Win takes a different kind of roller-coaster ride. Quick and quiet, he’s now a runner. It’s a vital role, but he feels like a messenger boy, unable to put his rifle to good use.