“Ivy’s Tower” • by Gretchen Tessmer

Drum beats and black smoke fill the forest. The invaders are close. Too close.

Ivy’s Tower is all that stands between them and what they’ve come for. It’s just an outpost. The scouts say it’s built from white birch, knobby and porous, defended by a single woman. They’ll take it easily.

Ivy’s bow is drawn, foot braced against her tower ledge. Ten thousand strong approach.

The scouts were wrong. The tower’s not made of birch. It’s made of bones.

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Gretchen Tessmer is a writer based in the U.S./Canadian borderlands. She writes poetry and short fiction, with work appearing in Nature, Strange Horizons, Asimov's (forthcoming), The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and of course, previously Stupefying Stories, among other venues. For updates and upcoming projects, follow her on Twitter: @gretchentessmer

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▲ Return to Main Post

► “Ivy’s Tower” • by Gretchen Tessmer
► “Sending Love” • by Kimberly Ann Smiley
► “Lunar Ghosts” • by Sylvia Heike
► “Anagram Ed” • by Ron Ferguson
► “Trash-Talking Space Honky Trips Over the Finish Line” • by Brandon Case
► “Roadside Stand” • by Pete Wood