Copyright © 1990 Richard R. Kennedy All rights reserved. Revised: March 30, 2002 .

Fiction Samples  

Atlantis Regained

There was a mermaid unlike any other. Mermaids are sleek long-haired beauties that like to be together, frolic and swim the seven seas. This one had a round, chubby, happy face, which too often was transfigured to long, sagging and sad by the cruel wagging tongues and flapping fins of her sleek cousins. These lovelies of every sailor's dream called her Walrus because of her overbite and lumpy size. They would have nothing to do with her and would not allow her to accompany them when they followed the ships, lest the maritime let her into its dreams and ruin the legend of the beauteous maidens of the sea.

From New Fantasies at www.lulu.com/rrkfinn/

Chow Down Easter Morning

Just before Easter of '45 we were on our way to Okinawa, of course, we didn't know it then. We were playing poker over a mountain of ammo and under an LCT chained topside. Though cramped and suffering neck and back pain from being so hunched over for hours at a time in this Charybdis, we claimed territorial right to this sleeping quarter and poker haven as there was no space below deck. The China Sea was kicking up its usual fuss.

Vincent's Moment of Truth

A thin book under his arm, Vincent, a youngster of about twelve cut had through a wooded path on his way home from school. Since the early grades he had taken this route instead of the school bus. It was not his nature to join the pandemonium on the bus. It was an extension of school, which, when breaking from it, he wanted the calm of his own nature's space. Ordinarily, except for severe inclement weather he would bolt from the school and head for the wooded trail. For weeks, however, he did take the bus; he could not force himself into the woods since the last time. On this Friday afternoon he was drawn to it again.

Piltdown

"Yep, Jeff's a kind young man. Ugly, I grant you, but you pay it no mind when you get to know him." The marshal grinned good-naturedly.

"I won't grant you that, marshal," Cressie said with subdued petulance. "I might look good but I can't equal what's inside him."

"Aw, I know, Cressie. I know he ain't so ugly when you get to know him....Still, I don't see you datin' him any."

"That's because I see him as a brother." 

More in Sundry Short Stories   at www.lulu.com/rrkfinn/

  from Angel Queen

Ellen's mother, as warm and loving as her daughter, took to Charlotte as a moth to candlelight. Upon Charlotte's arrival nearly a month ago and having dunked her thoroughly in a tub, she made her a makeshift dress immediately and took measurements of her tiny feet and sent a work order to the shoemaker. She would have loved taking her to the shoppes of nobility to drape her in the finest clothes, but because of her daughter's caution, she was content to make some purchases and bring them home. If something did not fit she would cheerily pick up the scissors and sit down at the hand loom to make adjustments, which was always because of Charlotte's rare petite size. One shopkeeper commented that had he not known that the princess was on the trip, he would have bet she was shopping for her. 

Medieval Fantasy of Epic Proportions-available at www.lulu.com/rrkfinn/

from In Defense of Eve

Bryan and Lance rode hard from dawn to dusk for three days before lush rolling plains of the kingdom finally gave way to a barren misty moor that stretched for another two days when the bogs yielded to rugged, desolate foothills of the northern mountain chain where they camped for the night. While Bryan searched for firewood, Lance unsaddled their horses and fed them oats. Low on water, he could barely cover the bottom of their feed bag. He corked the vessel without drinking from it himself and laid it by the saddles. Bryan returned empty handed. "Nary a twig in this rock infested land!" he grunted.

Lance settled back against his saddle and said calmly, "We'll survive; but for the dampness of the haze still rolling in from the moor, it's rather mild tonight."

Bryan reached into his saddle bag to retrieve an apple, took a bite and while chewing said, "By tomorrow I trust we will reach some trace of civilization, though it is said these are a barbaric people."

Lance replied, "Oh, I'm not so sure that's true; after all, there's the legend, you know."

"Bah, that's just a fairy tale," Bryan scoffed.

"Even so, it's a sign that they couldn't be that barbaric."