The Gate: Uncollected Anthology: Magical Research Gone Wrong Issue 37

by Jamie Ferguson

When Allie’s twin brother "accidentally" activates an ancient portal buried deep beneath a castle in Faerie, the siblings find themselves staring through the Gate into another world—one they've only read about in scattered, incomplete texts.

According to the few records that remain, world number 17 was the prison-realm of the Banished—exiled long ago for reasons no one remembers. Probably.

Cautious by nature and driven by responsibility, Allie intends only to take a quick look. But what begins as a reconnaissance mission turns into something much more complicated... and far more personal. Because on the other side of the Gate, she finds a world that isn’t abandoned, a people who have made exile into identity—and a woman whose presence upends everything Allie thought she knew about her own heart.

A standalone short story of magic, mystery, ancient tech, and unexpected connection—set in a world where opening the wrong door is always the beginning of something more.

25 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 1, 2025

About the author

I love to get into the minds and hearts of my characters, whether I'm writing about a saloon girl in the old west, a man who discovers the barista he's in love with is a naiad, or a ghost who haunts the house she was killed in—even though that house no longer exists. I want them to agonize over their choices, and I want what they choose - or don't choose—to matter. I want the reader to feel joy when a character succeeds, and to cry when they don't—just like I do when I'm writing the story.

I live in Colorado, and spend my free time in a futile quest to wear out my two border collies since I haven’t given in and gotten them their own herd of sheep. Yet...