Castles in the Sky is a variety of short stories featuring; Dragon in a Zoot Suit, Pass Me Those Britches, Gum Balls, Hearts Desire, and many more. These stories are entertaining and perfect for short reads. There is something for everyone in this fantasy collection; humor, magic, darkness, and romance.
Excerpt from BETRAYAL:
He hungered. He ached. His hands quivered at his side. He wrestled with an irresistible impulse to steal the jewels displayed in the fancy store window. His only consideration was that he didn't want to go back to prison. Oh, no. Not prison. No, not there....Not with the rapes, the betrayal, and the taunting of his fellow inmates....
But the want...a raw need, urged him, enticed him, demanding release.
He tore his gaze away from the gleaming jewelry and glanced into the store. A solitary clerk stood on the other side of the glass barrier, his arms folded across his chest, looking harsh and formidable while he frowned at Mel. A warning flashed across his cold grey eyes. A 'move along now, bud; you don't belong here', warning.
Mel smiled at the man, knowing the visage of his broken face; a heinous trick of genetics, would cause the stuffy clerk to shy away in shock. Mel was not disappointed by the look of disgust on the clerk's face. Good, very good, Mel thought while fighting down and pushing back his anger.
It wasn't his fault he'd been born ugly. He hadn't had anything to do with it. Nature had betrayed him. Oh, sure, the rough life he was forced to live didn't help, but Mel was certain that one day, one day soon, that would all change. He was tired of being treated no better than a repulsive animal. He was tired of digging in garbage cans for his supper. He was tired of the stares and turned up noses of those he passed on the street. He'd find enough money and someone to fix him. His cleft palette would come first. Then he'd have his protruding teeth and sunken face done...some reconstructive surgery on the non existent chin...and then, maybe then, he could get a job, find a home, have a woman.
The lone clerk, nervous now, shifted back and forth from foot to foot at his station next to the precious case of jewels, and then walked away. The expensive gemstones inside the window beckoned Mel feverishly.
Gazing back at the stones, he stood transfixed by their brilliance. These expensive baubles could buy him dignity. This one last crime, then an exit to some little known island till the heat was off, and then...and then, life!
A large ring caught Mel's eye. It glowed as it reflected the sunlight, shimmered as though suddenly come alive. Mel squinted, peering closer. He gasped, although to others it would sound like a wheezing cough. A woman held her hands out to him from within the confined depths of the large ruby stone. Her hair was long and silky, waves of cascading darkness, her body, curvaceous and full, her eyes, round and filled with longing and a plea for release.
Mel flinched. Could she not see his repulsiveness? Could she not see his dirty clothes and ugly intentions? And if she did, why did she still beckon him? Perhaps she saw what lay beneath the horror? Perhaps she saw his soul instead of his visage? Perhaps she saw what he had dreamed others would see in him. But for now, a woman, a woman held her arms out in invitation to him! To him! Mel's heart surged. Hope flourished anew. He suddenly had a mission, one even more important than himself.
