Rilbur

Or perhaps they tend to move out to cities where it is more acceptable?

I'm impressed with the players -- that kind of playing is not easy.

If it helps, my brother did 'show and tell' once... Not so much in the from of 'I'll show you mine if you show me yours' as in 'I don't believe you have one... show it to me! Only if you show me yours!' (Don't even ask how that one came about... I don't remember) I was elven which would have made him nine, possibly ten depending on the exact time of year.

Yeah, they've existed for a while, even come down in price. There's a 3D printer capable of self-replication, and I think it's down to around 100$ in price.

In an old enough device (i. e. given a LOT of time), electron migration can kill a CPU too -- but that's a general principle, it can't be causing this issue. (Electron migration is the way the 'paths' inside the chip tend to waver a little over time, drifting sideways... if two paths touch, boom goes the CPU)

Epilogue Mathew stood in front of a large door. The cracked wooden surface spoke of age and power, and to his senses it still gleamed with the magic that had been imbued into the building. The Shift had done many things, but the mundane world still believed itself the masters of all creation. Having discovered magic, the mundanes were outraged that they didn't know everything, but after the initial furor was over, they believed again that they knew all they needed to know. They though they

Chapter Eight "What is it with dark magi and old, deserted warehouses?" Mathew complained, glaring at the shimmering, shifting building. "Was there some kind of sale for dark magi seeking hideouts, and these were the only places they liked?" "What's with you and the children's underwear?" Jenkins complained. The deserted warehouse was rather cliche, but the shimmering, semi-translucent shield was the real cause for his anger. Even blood magic could only go so far. Grayson clearly had hid

Chapter Seven Mathew rubbed his eyes in exhaustion. "Invisibility is impossible, but this guy didn't even bother destroying the cameras that had to see him at the hospital. He isn't on a single one of them. No dark haired men who are about five nine, pretty fit, and pale white, no short, long-haired red heads, nothing. How is he doing this!" Jenkins dropped a cup of coffee on the desk. "Did you get any sleep last night?" "Sleep?" Mathew didn't screech. He kept his voice too low for it

Chapter Six "That was a waste of our time," Jenkins growled as they settled in at Mathew's tiny desk in the broom-closet. "An unfortunate distraction, not necessarily a waste," Mathew disagreed. Jenkins snorted. "I calls 'em as I see's 'em, and that was a waste," he disagreed. "They wasted our time cleaning up after their stupidity. Brutalizing one boy just to attack the other? Waste!" "Perhaps," Mathew nodded. "But there is something you've overlooked." "And what might that be?" J

Chapter Five A knock at the door distracted them, and then Jenkins put his head in. "I just got a call from Captain Johnston. There's an emergency, and we need to put pedal to the medal." "Understood," Mathew frowned, pulling his card out of his pocket. "Lily, please, call me." She took the card, shaking, and nodded. "I will," she promised. Mathew stood, nodding to her. "Goodbye, Lily. Be in good health until we meet again." His blessings didn't hold the power they used to, but tha

Chapter Four "Hello Ms. Borges," Jenkins nodded affably. "We're here to talk about yesterday." She smiled, and ushered them into her apartment. "Thank you, Mr. Magi," she told Mathew. "The Pastor can go shove himself, if it weren't for you I'd be dead." "Just doing my job," Mathew smiled back. "Nothing to get too excited over. And please, my name isn't 'Magi'. I'm Mathew Trent, and if you don't think it's too forward, you may address me by my name." "Then please, call me Lily, Mathe

Chapter Three "Doctor Grayson?" Mathew asked the man who greeted them at the hospital. Given his long, white lab coat it wasn't the worst possible guess in the world. Strangely, he looked oddly familiar, though Mathew could not for the life of him remember when they'd met before. "Magi Trent, it is an honor to meet you," Grayson took Mathew's hand and pumped it, grinning from ear to ear. "It's a pleasure to meet the man who has provided such a boost to the medical field." As annoying as

Chapter Two "Magi Trent," Lieutenant Hendricks snarled across the precinct, "my office! Now!" Before Mathew could get halfway to the 'fun' he'd dreaded earlier, Jenkins had fallen in with him. "I thought you didn't like me," Mathew twitted him. "I don't," Jenkins informed him coolly. "But you do your job, and you don't deserve to be slammed for doing it above and beyond the call of duty." Mathew looked at him for a moment, considering. "If ever you need any help," he let the promise d

Chapter One Mathew Bartholomew Trent cursed at the traffic around him as he tried to shift over to the right hand lane. Driving was something he'd always found stressful, even before the Shift, and the locals attitudes towards his kind didn't help reduce his stress much. Sure, the odds were against the idiots who kept cutting him off knowing what he was, but as he pulled into the parking lot filled with police cars he knew that the people waiting for him did. "You finally got here," one of

Magic used to be a secret. It didn't use to be a constant headache for Mathew, formerly one of the most powerful Magi on Earth. Now he has to deal with bigots who think he should be shot on sight, and a monster who preys on the free will of innocent beings, all with just a fraction of his former power.

It was meant to be a short story. As I explained in another thread, I'm experimenting (learning) with short stories, and I wanted to try and do something many published authors have done: take a single set of characters, and recur them over multiple, completely independent short stories that nonetheless ALSO form a unified whole.

Oh yes. You could consider 'Fallen Illaria' the introductory piece, as well as the title of the overall series.

As for this being much rougher than my usual work, I can only agree. I don't have a lot of practice with short stories, and I'm trying to work on it. I almost didn't even turn this into the anthology, but it helps set the ground for later short stories set in this universe, which I'm planning for later this year.

Fighting for his life had become something of an everyday affair for Etral. But there was a pattern to those fights, and the demons just weren't following the rules today. One of the demons nearly split Etral in half as he spun away, it's long claw digging deep into the tree behind where he'd been standing. The long length of steel in his hands flashed silver as he struck out, slicing the claw off at the joint. The demon howled in agony, it's remaining mantis-like claw waving menacingly, but

Etral has fought for most of his life, always alone, frequently in the hostile environment of the deep wilderness of Brevarun. Sometimes, though, the wilderness isn't what you think it is, and the wildlife maybe isn't so hostile.

I honestly don't get this post. Did you even bother to read the thread before spouting off what honestly looks like gibberish?

Well, it used to be they didn't. Now, they do. Yay, they fixed the thing keeping me from using GA.Stories on my phone!

What would you want for the app? Forum access? IP actually has that in the works now (or, possibly, in the last year or so they've gone as far as release with it). GA.Stories access? Much harder to do, when the built in browser kinda-sorta works -- and if they ever get the issues with the mobile skin not showing paragraph breaks worked out, it'll work just fine.

Nice use of the comic's tag-line. http://www.sluggy.com/ -- Sluggy freelance. The one, the only, accept no substitutions. Yippee skippy, the evil is here, I'd better get some milk before- GAHH! http://www.kevinandkell.com/ -- daily updates, on time, are always nice. Plus it's got a good sense of humor. "The decline in our dial-up service is directly correlated to the obituaries" http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/ -- Who doesn't love crazy bat-shit video games? http://www.docrat.com.au/ -- Got into this one because of Kevin and Kell. Similar premise, but different humor. http://www.jeffschuetze.com/ -- Crazy. One word: Crazy. http://www.nicky510.com/ -- Nicky and Elf, what crazy fun they have. http://www.dollarstorecaviar.com/comic.htm -- Gay-oriented comic, how lovely! http://www.robandelliot.cycomics.com/ -- They don't update as often as I'd like, but when they do it's usually weird enough to be worth a laugh. http://www.nuklearpower.com/ -- Has a couple of different comics (I jumped in for 8-bit theater) but doesn't update as regularly as it used to. They've 'gone legit' on us! http://www.smbc-comics.com/ -- "As last thoughts go, 'unicorns are real' isn't half bad" http://www.giantitp.com/Comics.html -- They're stick figures, fighting for justice! Ooorah! http://www.erfworld.com/ -- Come'on fatty, do your job! http://www.heroesoflesserearth.com/ -- D&D, where the dungeonmaster's woes are explained. http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/ -- Gaming and crazy people; see above. http://whengodsskipout.smackjeeves.com/ -- Fun web-'comic' about people saving the world. Which sits on a counter in the real world. http://www.rodandbarry.com/ -- Little purple people enjoying planet earth's bounty. At least they aren't martians! http://leasticoulddo.com/ -- Because I can. http://lfgcomic.com/page/466 -- If you like LICD, try this one, same people.

Terminal Testosterone Toxicity. Thanks! TTT