Love in Dark Settings

New online fiction.

The torturer was naive, inexperienced, and lacking in knowledge of the world. The prisoner was tough, worldly-wise, and had an infallible plan that would give him escape from this place. So why did the prisoner feel as though the torturer had the edge?

I could see before me a ceiling-high slate tablet covered with prisoners' names, and a goodly number of those names were crossed out. I knew what that meant.

Index to series links:

Darkling Plain at the Main Bookshelf.

The Eternal Dungeon at the High Bookshelf.

Comments, queries, discussions, and calls for lynching me are welcome. (Okay, not the last, but I'm expecting a few calls after the previous installment.) Main Bookshelf readers should be aware that High Bookshelf stories may be mentioned in the comments below.

This is (I'm sure you High Bookshelf readers have noticed) the final part of the first volume of The Eternal Dungeon. The second volume of the series is coming soon.

What can you give a slave who, by law, can own nothing? . . . A 2008 holiday gift story for Dusk Peterson's readers.

He could not leave this room without his father's permission. And he could not imagine going to his father and saying, "Please let me go gather moss so that my slave can have a proper New Year for once."

Three days ago he faced death by fire. Now he faces a bigger challenge.

Prosper felt the words like a blow. He sensed at once the change in mood in the surrounding men and youths: the shifting of spear from left hand to right, the movement of hand to hilt, the tensing of muscles in preparation.

A letter to the editor from the future.

Parental supervision is strongly suggested for this story.

I am an adult male belonging to a rare minority group that is called, in layman's language, Plain Vanilla Straight. I have had these sexual desires for as long as I can remember . . .

White Rose has lived a double life for too long. For too many years, he has struggled alone to determine how he should handle an ethical dilemma he never wanted to face. Now, finally, he has found help online. But is it the right help?

Parental supervision is strongly suggested for this story.

It was a foundation of his life that he must tell no one. The first signs that this foundation would be shattered came on a windy day at the end of February, as he sat in a room lit only by the bright colors glowing from his computer screen.

(Warning: The replies below include spoilers for the story.)