15 Days of Harveys Day 6 – Crysta Coburn’s “Smoke”

Smoke

 
“My father fought in Crimea. He built the beasts of the air that won it for us.”
Viktor pulled off his boots and tossed them across the floor of the little cafe alcove, then leaned back against the plush velvet settee, arms folded behind his pale, clammy neck. He watched for a moment as the young woman seated before him at the low, round table quietly went about her business of filling the brass base of the hookah with water, then inserting the shaft, and so on. A small fire burned in a brazier on the table to cook the small coals.

The above is from Harvey Duckman Presents Volume 8 (the famous “No Dragons” issue). You can read the rest of Crysta Coburn’s Smoke along with several other amazing stories between its captivating covers (and we both hope you do!)

Have you been Harveyed?

The kind, wise, and wonderful folks at Sixth Element Publishing included four of my flash pieces in Harvey Duckman Presents Volume 8 and I’m repaying that kindness by showcasing the opening from each author’s work for the next few weeks.

 
Read

• Day 1’s Adrian Bagley’s “The Beast at Bay”.
• Day 2’s 15 Days of Harveys Day 2 – Alex Minns’s “Sides of the Mirror”
• Day 3’s Alexandrina Brant’s “Cartography, Creatures, & Craquelin (A Melina Short)”
• Day 4’s Bruce Connelly’s “Hare Today, Gone…?”
• Day 5’s Christine King’s “The Child, The Witch, and The Werewolf”

Next up, a taste of Davia Sack’s The Curse of Beauty.

Enjoy!