Table of Contents

  Foreword

  Stiletto: An exotic dancer struggles to make a living after encountering a murder-in-progress on the job.

  Cast: The world is increasingly run by robots, which grow increasingly human.

  Analog: An ex-Air Force pilot subsists after a weapon disables all modern technology.

  Weakness: Sergeant Ruocco hanged himself.

  My Beloved’s Eyes: We leave pieces of ourselves with our loved ones- sometimes literally.

  Reformatory: A juvenile delinquent and her roommate mature in the aftermath of a devastating assault.

  Capricorn: A man wrecks his life and chases fairy tales, while dealing with his young daughter's impending illness.

  Behav: Future terrorists recruit a past terrorist.

  Death Echoes: A detective communes with the dead to close their unsolved cases.

  Traveled Time: A man examines his life and choices, with the advent of time travel.

  Genetic Memory: A dog confronts his owner after gaining the ability to speak and reason.

  Darling, Wendy, M. A.: A girl saves her brothers from their abusive father by masquerading as a gang leader. From a 2009 series of shorts reexamining classic heroines.

  Eponine: Following her near-death in the streets of Paris, a young woman witnesses the birth of feminism and the industrialization of Europe. From a 2009 series of shorts reexamining classic heroines.

  Dorothy: Her fantasy was undoubtedly much happier than the reality of her injuries. From a 2009 series of shorts reexamining classic heroines.

  Cinderella Shoes: A man discovers a new side of himself after acquiring women's clothing.

  Green Thumb: A Department of Agriculture employee has a chance run-in with a farmer covered in chemicals. This short story was eventually expanded into a novel, Dag, now available.

  Dogs of War: Two Explosive Ordnance Disposal soldiers recover together, after nearly dying in an explosion. This story is part of a novella, Dogs of War, available for free to newsletter subscribers.

  Nexus: The crew of an interstellar star ship try to screw the alien species they meet before their corporate backers can screw them. This is the opening chapter of Nexus, coming summer 2013.

  Thanks From The Author

  Others Works by Nic

  Thanks From The Author

  You have my sincerest thanks for helping me continue writing. Below is a list of my other work. Some is available for purchase now, others will be available soon. I also encourage you to check my website for other projects of mine, including RSS feeds of stories that are updating weekly and to sign up for my newsletter, so I can let you know when something new is coming out.

  Nic feeds off your thoughts, attention and the odd crudely-drawn erotic fan-doodle. Feed Nic by leaving a review at your favorite e-tailer, or emailing him at [email protected] Additional contact methods and stalking opportunities are available at NicolasWilson.com.

  Other Works by Nic

  Available Novels

  Homeless

  Humanity has been decimated by a violent new species that nests in enclosed spaces, and slaughters everything unfortunate enough to come indoors. Mitch is a 'Wall Banger', an explosives expert who 'cracks' buildings, exposing them to air and sunlight to kill the invasive organisms. When a friend of Mitch's asks for help tracking down a murderer, Mitch recruits Cori, a 'Shadow Runner' who races through infested spaces to gather supplies and saleable loot. But this terrifying contagion isn't the only danger, as their world descends into a harrowing marathon against oversupplied militias, murderous gangs, self-righteous survivors, and all-out starvation.

  Banksters

  It’s a profitable time to be a bastard, one of the most profitable in history. Mark Dane intends to take full advantage of that and be the bastard at the top- if he can make his way past his fellow predators, through a concrete jungle of murder, sex, greed, and revenge. Ride shotgun with a sociopathic social climber, as he lies, cheats, and manipulates his way through the ranks of the fourth largest financial firm in the country, and revel in the bastard on bastard violence that follows.

  The Necromancer’s Gambit (The Gambit #1)

  The sheriff of Portland, OR’s magical community is known as Knight. His bosses run the mage government, called "the Gambit." On a rainy night, he recovers a mutilated body, tainted with dark magic and dumped at a local haunt. When the corpse is identified as a close associate of the Gambit, it threatens the safety of the community he protects, and those he cares about most. As the fragile peace amongst the city's magic-wielding factions disintegrates, Knight must track down a cadre of murderers before his friends are picked off, one by one- with each death used to strengthen the spells cast against the Gambit.

  Nexus (The Sontem Trilogy #1)

  Captain Anderson Grant of the corporate starship Nexus boldly explores alien worlds (and occasionally the alien women, too). Grant and his crew struggle with the company’s version of manifest destiny, as well as its attempt to coerce them through military force. They begin to question whether the largest threat to their mission and their safety will come from outside the Nexus or from the company that respects them more for their genetic possibilities than their individuality.

  Dag

  Dagney Morgan, a sarcastic Department of Agriculture employee with an affinity for paperwork, has a chance run-in with a farmer covered in toxic chemicals, and walks away with a genetically modified baby, along with the seeds of a conspiracy. Before she can learn how to change a diaper, Dagney and her makeshift family are thrown into an international web of corruption and intrigue, and hounded by murderous, artificial soldiers. Their only chance at survival is to expose a plot that stretches into the highest echelons, and could start both an international arms race, and a revolution.

  Whores

  In the near future, women's rights are eroding. Those who buck the system are hunted as gender criminals by the authorities when they're lucky, and rogue militias when they aren't. Alex Harmon, a newly minted gender crimes detective tasked with bringing recalcitrant 'feministas' to justice, pursues a woman cast into a resistance group by circumstance. The tactics of his peers and growing violence force him to question his goals and allegiances, as he finds himself dragged into a brutal guerrilla war for the minds and bodies of a generation of women.

  Selected Short Stories Collections ebooks

  Ghost Dust

  Cinderella Shoes

  New Corpse Smell

  Cockfight

  Analog Memory

  Save As

  Visit NicolasWilson.com for retailer availability.

  Adam West Naked, and other somewhat titillating journalism from Dangerous Ink

  A free ebook collection of all of the writing Nic did for the international arts magazine, Dangerous Ink, for the first time together in a single place. Out now.

  Coming Soon

  Sign up for Nic's mailing list to be notified when these titles become available.

  Nexus: Past Sins (The Sontem Trilogy #2)

  The sequel to Nexus, following our intrepid crew fleeing their employer's long arm, and initiating first-contact with alien civilizations. Tentatively due Summer 2014.

  Kindred Spirits (The Gambit #2)

  The sequel to The Necromancer's Gambit, in which Baldur and Knight face off again. Tentatively due Fall 2014.

  Sanctuary

  Five pets escape from the shelter to find a home out in the wild. Proceeds to benefit animal shelters. Expected mid-2014.

  Singularity

  A physicist investigates a temporal distortion, and how it might be related to a football player's progressive dementia at a remote rehab clinic on the Oregon coast. Out in Fall 2014, barring some kind of temporal distortion, just in time for the next NaNo.

  Next of Kin

  Police corruption led to a new initiative compelling the victims, or their next of kin, to track down those who wronged them, in front of an audience. Follow one unfortunate man into the seam
y underworld as he fights to solve the mystery of his brother's murder. Next of Kin is scheduled for November 2014, as Nic's annual NaNo (National Novel Writing Month) project. Its first draft will be serialized, daily, on Nic's blog. Stay tuned.

  Twist

  When Harvey awoke, his girlfriend and dog were gone, and his world was empty. In days, he hasn't seen a soul except for his dead, naked grandmother. As his reality crumbles, and he descends further into madness, Harvey is forced to confront the disturbing truths behind who he was, and who he is now. Most people don't expect to see a head in the toilet, but then, Harvey's not most people. Due early 2015.

  Lunacy

  The story of the first manned Mars mission, thrown off course when one of the crew is bitten by a werewolf. Very tentatively scheduled for late 2014, unless Nic’s dog eats it (and he’ll eat just about anything he can get his jaws around).

  The Collected Short Stories of Nicolas Wilson

  This collection contains all of the selected short stories collections, and will be available in paperback, too, unlike the Selected Short Story Collections. Out mid-2014.

  Nic's mailing list will keep you up to date on these titles, and ones we haven't announced yet.

  Boring Legalese

  You should stop reading. This is boring. It's the part of the book that's only here to prevent mean people from suing me. Unless you're a mean person, and then you should keep reading, and I hope you are bored. No, that wasn't very nice. Even if you are mean I don't want to bore you- it's the opposite of what I came here to do.