The Telling of Nabu and the Chancy Way

Ellen Larson (from ENKIDU, a work in progress)

In the year 20,000 CE, explorers from Earth settled a binary star system near the center of the galaxy, only to see their nascent civilization decimated by a catastrophic solar event. A thousand years on, the first settlers are regarded by their descendants, the illiterate Folk who still inhabit the verdant world of Amara, as the all-powerful Old Ones from Ge, whose desperate struggles to preserve 20,000 years of history and science have become the stuff of ritual and fireside tales. This is one of those tales.

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Abdul Rahman Guards the Bridge

Ellen Larson

The life story of a simple man who guards a bridge in a suburb of Cairo, Egypt. The canal which the bridge once spanned has long since been filled in, but this matters little in a town steeped in ritual, where change occurs as slowly as Egypt's ancient monuments are weathered by the sand.

Originally published by Gowanus Books.

Voted Fifth best online short story of 1999 by Predators and Editors, under the title "Bridges and Trees."

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The Hit Doctor

Thomas Hubschman

A top doctor discovers he has the power to kill patients as readily as cure them, just by a word or gesture. What’s more, he can do it legally and, as it turns out, quite lucratively…until he’s tripped up by his own success.

Or is he?

From THE JEW'S WIFE & OTHER STORIES, by Thomas J. Hubschman

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Partners: Death Plays a Hand

Ellen Larson - 12,000 words

Murder most foul at a sedate New Jersey bridge tournament? Trump that! Natalie Joday (The NJ Mysteries) is all set to win the tournament. Nothing can stop her--except for another player keeling over in the middle of the last round.

"A must read for bridge lovers."

"Larson knows her way around newspapers, and around Bergen County. The sense of place is flawless. –New Jersey Star-Ledger.

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The Volunteer

Ellen Larson - 12,000 words

A young woman travels to Sudan to teach English in the 1980s in this adventure novella. Life in expatriate Khartoum is daunting, but she but she revels in her regular flights to a research station in the countryside. Until she finds out that John Garang, head of the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement, is recruiting in a nearby village. Featuring Natalie Joday of the NJ Mysteries.