Shark Problems

Tim and Lisa have sharks. As their hunting grounds are cleaned out, these cold-blooded killer fish have come to infest the pair’s inner city apartment. And that’s just the beginning of their problems.

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It started with the mystery object sitting in the kitchen sink. About ten centimetres long, shaped like a football and surrounded by a spiral of fins. Green so dark it was almost black. It looked like a zucchini designed by a seven-year-old boy.

Tim was tidying around the sink when he saw it. Lisa had gone out last night for a friend’s birthday so Tim ordered pizza and drank a few beers while he watched the footy, and empty bottles sat around the sink. Picking up the weird object, he found its texture felt rubbery like seaweed. Hollow, and split open. A couple of shrivelled cords trailed off one end like it was meant to plug into something. Maybe it was one of those Chinese vegetables he saw in the supermarket sometimes but never bought and couldn’t name. That didn’t explain where it had come from though, unless Lisa had brought it home. Tim rubbed the split in its side and water dribbled out. It even smelled a little like seaweed, and salt.

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Astronaut Exorcism

All There in the (Monster) Manual are stories based on creatures from the Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual, over 2022 I released a different story fitting the theme every single week! Could be fantasy, science fiction, horror, or something else entirely, check them out on the main page of the website.

This Week’s Inspiration: Horned Devil

An astronaut has been possessed by a demon on the Babel Space Station. Exorcist and priest Francis Flannagan has no choice but to brave the final frontier and confront the creature in this alien battleground, 400 kilometres above the surface of the Earth.

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The Little People

For 2022, I’ve been wanting to write more ‘creature features’ and generally improve my short story writing. My partner got me a Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual for my birthday so I came up with the idea of writing a story every week based on a different creature from that – All There in the (Monster) Manual. Hope you enjoy!

This Week’s Inspiration: Halfling

The little people live in tunnels beneath your house! The little people eat and play and pray. You should learn all you can about the little people while you have the chance!

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Do They Know It’s Christmas?

For 2022, I’ve been wanting to write more ‘creature features’ and generally improve my short story writing. My partner got me a Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual for my birthday so I came up with the idea of writing a story every week based on a different creature from that – All There in the (Monster) Manual. Hope you enjoy!

This Week’s Inspiration: Zombie

One year after the zombie apocalypse, Carter faces the possibility of spending Christmas all alone… except for the company of a horde of half-frozen, decaying, flesh-eating ghouls.

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Under the Trees

For 2022, I’ve been wanting to write more ‘creature features’ and generally improve my short story writing. My partner got me a Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual for my birthday so I came up with the idea of writing a story every week based on a different creature from that – All There in the (Monster) Manual. Hope you enjoy!

This Week’s Inspiration: Giant Centipede

Having recently lost his mother, and now having lost a precious locket that belonged to her, Damon and his friends venture beneath the enormous branches of their city-sized hometree to retrieve it. To recover the locket, they’ll have to search the strange and dangerous world of the forest floor.

With some of my longer stories, I’m happy for you to grab yourself a copy of an ebook version to take away and read it in your own time if you prefer! So, feel free to click this link and do just that.

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Running the Bull

For 2022, I’ve been wanting to write more ‘creature features’ and generally improve my short story writing. My partner got me a Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual for my birthday so I came up with the idea of writing a story every week based on a different creature from that – All There in the (Monster) Manual. Hope you enjoy!

This Week’s Inspiration: Gorgon

When Donovan wakes up to find his office, and Manhattan’s entire Financial District, completely abandoned, his first thought is terrorism. But something far stranger is happening, as he discovers when the 7000 pound Charging Bull statue near his building comes to life and tries to stomp him into the ground.

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Burn

For 2022, I’ve been wanting to write more ‘creature features’ and generally improve my short story writing. My partner got me a Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual for my birthday so I came up with the idea of writing a story every week based on a different creature from that – All There in the (Monster) Manual. Hope you enjoy!

This Week’s Inspiration: Ancient Gold Dragon

Unearthed by a rogue missile strike and discovered by a crew of marines performing roadwork, a strange vessel comes with an ominous warning. When the vessel hatches, it unleashes an ancient war machine the likes of which the modern world has never seen.

Somehow, and I mean absolutely legitimately, I failed to realise just how long this story actually is! I did not think it was longer than the previously longest piece I’ve put out this year but it’s literally 2000 words longer. So as I try to do with some of my longer stories, if you would like to download a MOBI version to take away and read on your own device, please feel free to click this link!

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Slaying Dragons

For 2022, I’ve been wanting to write more ‘creature features’ and generally improve my short story writing. My partner got me a Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual for my birthday so I came up with the idea of writing a story every week based on a different creature from that – All There in the (Monster) Manual. Hope you enjoy!

This Week’s Inspiration: Dracolich

Despite being trapped in the mansion and rarely let outside, the kids had never paid much attention to the monstrous skull taking pride of place on their dining room table. But their honorary uncle is more than happy to explain its origins, even if his story sounds a little far-fetched.

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Tattoo

For 2022, I’ve been wanting to write more ‘creature features’ and generally improve my short story writing. My partner got me a Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual for my birthday so I came up with the idea of writing a story every week based on a different creature from that – All There in the (Monster) Manual. Hope you enjoy!

This Week’s Inspiration: Pseudodragon

Trigger Warning: Female-on-Male Sexual Assault, Loss of Bodily Autonomy, Self-Harm, Some Gore

After blacking out during a hookup, Patrick wakes to find a mysterious dragon tattoo on his chest. Not only is the tattoo real, it’s alive, and unless he finds a way to stop it then it’s going to eat its way through his other tattoos before it starts to feed on him.

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Encounter

For 2022, I’ve been wanting to write more ‘creature features’ and generally improve my short story writing. My partner got me a Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual for my birthday so I came up with the idea of writing a story every week based on a different creature from that – All There in the (Monster) Manual. Hope you enjoy!

This Week’s Inspiration: Flumph

After failing to listen to their mother, a youngster slips outside the borders of safety and has an unforgettable encounter.

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