by John Xero His armour is detachment. His steed is the music he rode in on, the rhythmic, heavy thunder of hooves. His dragon is...

by John Xero “Don’t say it. I know you’re thinking it.” Ryan smiled broadly. “Thinking what?” Elliot knew that smile; it was infu...

by John Xero Sweat, soot, grime and beating, beating insistence. Oppressive heat and a fierce orange, bright in a room of darkness. A spa...

by John Xero “It is done, my lord.” His lord? How insincere. But then, if he could genuinely conceive of fealty he would be of no us...

by John Xero “I thought Private Jones was dead.” “He was. Is.” “Right, well, he’s looking remarkably awake for a corpse.” The...

by John Xero Burnt out, a building becomes an exposed corpse. Blackened ribs of brick and broken wood. Empty windows like dead eyes. Ghos...

by John Xero Find somewhere high, somewhere safe. Hide. The white noise of the monsoon-born storm transcended anything Simon had expe...

by John Xero Billy wedged himself as deep into the narrow crevice as he could, sweating, shaking. The beast couldn’t get him here. But it...

by John Xero The Dark Cartographer sat at his desk, mapping taboos. He had trouble, at first; one person’s taboo was another’s breakf...

by John Xero “For your price range, we got a real beauty.” The salesman smirked at Joe’s credit chip; he led him into the dim, flicke...

by John Xero A bloodcurdling scream split the night, sending shivers down his spine. No, no, no... It was the curse of horror: al...

by John Xero Spanish boys taste like honey. The child Delilah used to watch them from her window, playing football in the dust. Later...

“I’m not sure about this, Cindy.” Paul poked the greasy foam floating on top of the mug; the grey froth was flecked with blackish-green g...

His stomach convulsed rebelliously, a sure sign the ‘shrooms were kicking in. This time felt bad though; maybe he should have eaten less. ...

Captain Carter glared out at the steaming city. The men behind him traded nervous looks. “The situation has moved beyond ethics. Commi...

Cameron stirred the weak, amber liquid with a glass rod. He watched the granules going round and round in a tornado-like funnel. It was ki...

“Don’t bother with the passport. It’s fake.” He doesn’t check, just smiles smugly. He’s too young, too eager: immaculate suit, shi...