Fantasy Stories

When I was a kid, I saw a magic show. The magician read minds, turned a rabbit into a pair of doves, and balanced a “hypnotized” girl on the back of a chair, but it was a simple trick with a dollar bill that would change my life. The magician borrowed a dollar bill from my friend. He tore off the corner and tucked it into my friend’s shirt pocket, and then burned the remainder. He had my friend pick an orange from a large basket full of them and cut it open. There was a dollar bill rolled up inside! And amazingly, miracle of miracles, the corner matched. Somehow, it was the same bill.

After that, I was obsessed. I couldn’t afford to buy props, and my parents wouldn’t let me get a bunch of doves to hide up my sleeves, but they would buy me a bag of oranges. I went to the library, found the secret, and performed the trick for my friends. I learned more tricks, and when I was a little older, started performing my own magic shows.

In a way, that magic act was my first fantasy story. What if you met a clever, witty fellow who could do all manner of amazing stunts? What if you were never quite sure if they were just tricks or… maybe something more?

To this day, many of my fantasy stories feature magicians, wizards, and other tricky folks. And they might just make your world a little more magical, the way a magician did for me all those years ago.

Fantasy Stories:

  • Kunnigr the Wizard stories:
  • The Puppeteer and the Dancing Ghosts – A musician entertains crowds with his magical violin and dancing ghosts. But what happens when his dancers want to quit the show?
  • Background Character – A background character grows frustrated with never being the protagonist, and looks for a way to become someone important.
  • Reversible – Working retail stinks, even at a magic-filled potion shop. Evie feels trapped at her dead-end job, but discovers a way to reverse her fate.
  • Bobby and the Scrum – Bobby is the “weird” kid at school. When he starts getting bullied, he asks for help… from the monster under his bed.
  • The Sallow God – A dark fantasy story about an isolated family in a small town, and what happens when a child refuses to worship the family god.
  • Each and Every One – When people report seeing something strange in the woods, a small town sheriff goes to investigate.
  • The Bookshop Witch – A teenager heads to a bookshop in search of a gift for his mom, but gets distracted by the strange shopkeeper and her cat. Is she really a witch?
  • Wild Mushrooms and Other Dangers – An experimental fantasy story inspired by mushroom-hunting trips with my wife.
  • Enough Rope – A young magician finds an ancient book with the secret to the Indian rope trick. Unfortunately, magic isn’t always as safe as it seems.
  • The Guardian of Gradyville – What happens when you’re a superhero in a town too small to need one?
  • House of 1,000 Doors – A man discovers that his fiancée has a boyfriend. He follows her to a very strange house and ends up lost, in more ways than one.
  • Color All Your Days – A frustrated artist discovers a strange fortune telling machine that appears to predict the future.
  • The “No Wizards” Rule – A tattoo artist explains why he was forced to ban wizards from his shop.
  • The Winter Maw – In this dark fantasy story, a young woman prepares her family’s annual sacrifice. But is the Winter Maw a god, or something far more dangerous?
  • Stupid Human Creatures! – I was challenged to create an original monster, something not based on any preexisting mythological monster or cryptid. This is the result.
  • Never Talk to a Pollster – An anxious man at a crowded shopping mall stops to take a survey, and quickly regrets it.
  • Latest Fantasy Stories – All my fantasy story posts in order. Enjoy the magic!

Want more to read? Check out my horror stories , science fiction stories, and my flash fiction collection.

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