Winged, With Sharp Teeth: A Short Story

by Peter M. Ball

There have always been lands not mapped in an atlas, and they have always had need of champions. Steve just wishes the crocodile wasn’t recruiting his boyfriend to be one of them. 

They had chemistry right from the first date, but Steve’s never been comfortable with the idea of he and Duke of them together. Steve's idea of a good life involves great books, a warm fire, and a nice glass of red. Duke’s idea of a great time involves adrenaline, excitement, and plenty of travel. Their love seems tricky enough even before the flying crocodile arrives, trying to steal Duke away to a magical land in need of a king and a hero.

Duke always swears that he’s not going to go, because love is the grandest adventure of all, but the crocodile is persistent and Steve has his doubts…and those doubts only grow when they move in together and their relationship gets serious. Steve must figure out what he really wants, and what he’s willing to sacrifice to get it.

What he and Duke have is definitely love, but is love enough to resist temptation?

Winged, With Sharp Teeth is the first short story in the Short Fiction Lab series from Brain Jar Press—home to stand-alone short story experiments in fantasy, science fiction, horror, and fabulist literature. This experiment has been filed magic realism; flying crocodiles; relationship stories.

26 pages, Paperback

Published November 19, 2018