Cover art for the Dragon Soul Press cyberpunk anthology “Surge”
If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.
I am pleased to announce that Dragon Soul Press has accepted my novelette “Dollface” for their cyberpunk anthology Surge.
Here’s the description from the original submissions call:
Photo credit: Goroyboy
“Aren’t they pretty, Eva?”
She kept the name the nuns gave her. She had little in common with them, but they made occasional allies in her fight to take the children away from the depravity of the streets.
“Of course they are, Malika. Where did you get them?”
“The old man said he was closing his cart for the day and they wouldn’t sell.” The six-year-old waif nodded vigorously.
Eva trusted few men, but she had been watching the vendor for months with an eye that sought evil. So far, she had seen nothing from him to threaten her children.
“I wanted to give you something as pretty as you.”
Eva smiled weakly and was brought closer to tears than she wanted to be. A child of the streets herself, although now an adult, she bore a multitude of invisible scars and some physical. Suffering from rape at age three, she could never bear babies of her own. Yet her shelter was full of the laughter of all the children she would ever need.
I wrote this for FFfAW Challenge 163 hosted by Priceless Joy. The idea is to use the image above to inspire the creation of a piece of flash fiction between 100 and 175 words long. My word count is 174.
This is part three in a small series that starts with The Downfall of Eva and continues with Whatever Happened to Eva. I’m trying to give her a happy ending, but as you can see, even healing leaves behind some scars.
For more stories based on the prompt, visit InLinkz.com.
Lover and the wild @ deviantart
Eva had lost count of how many men she’d slept with, but then this was never about keeping score. She rarely encountered Asmodius, her own seducer, the master incubus who launched her on this sad and lonely path of revenge, since she had fallen so deep into her own abyss, she required little encouragement to continue the descent.
She didn’t travel alone, however. There were a trail of formerly virtuous, noble, and even holy men left in her wake, spiraling down into Hell with her. She never felt sorry for them, no matter how piteously they pleaded with her, how they would lose everything, their wives, their children, their careers. It didn’t matter.
The seductress wasn’t responsible for them falling into her trap, only for setting herself out as the bait. She was the temptation, but the sins were on them.
Depiction of a succubus – found at Ask Mystic Investigations
The Sensualization of Eva was said to be from a Hellish source, her virtue up until that time being considered above reproach. But he was charming to the extreme, if insincere, resulting in that faraway look in her eyes, she being unable to resist his allure.
She had come to the convent a charity case, and Sister Margaretta quipped that the poor child seemed all jangled up by abandonment, poverty, and living on the streets. Eva stayed and took her vows, though a debilitating flip in her personality and intentions had recently resulted in her breaking every one.
Finally, she erupted in a sinful and scandalous rage and walked out, a radical among the obedient, the monastic, and the celebate.
In the months and years to come, Eva would be accused of being a succubus, luring proud and virtuous men to their downfall, but she was only a woman, albeit one trained by Asmodius, the archetypal incubus. But was it truly him, disguised as a Priest, who caused the downfall of Eva within the confines of the convent? Or was it being sold by her mother into slavery at three, murdering her abusive master and “husband” as he slept at five, and then living for the next six years on the streets, surviving as a prostitute and thief? Sometimes, your past never truly leaves you, it only waits.
I wrote this for Wordle #192 hosted at Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie. The idea is to use at least 10 of the 12 words below (which can include variations) in a poem, short story, or other creative work. I used all 12:
- Flip
- Insincere
- Erupt
- Sensualization ((n.) to render sensual)
- Hellish
- Faraway
- Resist
- Radical
- Jangled Up- Generally refers to the state of being both upset and confused, but can be used for either one of them alone
- Charity Case
- Debilitating
- Archetype
Yes, my tale is dark. That’s just the direction the words took me.
Eva’s story continues in Whatever Happened to Eva?
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