Quasirandom: Stories

Gracious lady, might it be you haven’t heard how the Devil is put back in Hell? Listen, then, to how young Alibech learned to perform this service with the monk Rustico, to her delight but his eventual despair. A retelling of Decameron III.10. [CW: poetry]

A Xuanhuan Tale
When a young man makes a breakthrough in his cultivation of the martial arts, two brother-sister pairs face the prospect of parting. With his assistance, can the others break through as well? A Chinese-style fantasy burning with the vigor of youth! [CW: no incest]

When openly lesbian basketball star Dana transfers to a small rural high school, she hates having to go into the closet. Sweet Nikki and the rest of the cheerleaders need a jock girl to date to keep up their reputation that they’re all bisexual. What could possibly go wrong? A romantic comedy of manners about friendship, traditions, and creative ways of coming out.

A Story in the Naked In School Universe
Dana has something important to hide, as do the rest of her friends—in her case, it’s her fairy wings. When she and Lupe are selected for the Naked In School Program, however, they are exposed—and everyone gets dumped in a bucket of pixie dust, squirted with silly-string, and set loose to romp with the fluffy bunnies. An NIS story completely lacking teen angst or other redeeming social values.

As four teenagers traveled to a wilderness survival camp, a gate opened and dropped them into another world—a world of danger and magic, where as humans they’re hunted by the reptilian Kolchoi. Can they escape and find a way back to Earth? And at what cost to themselves? A portal fantasy that starts when things get _really_ weird. [CW: mind the tags]

I stand on the temple steps in the sunlight, a harmitu of Inanna waiting for someone to purchase my first time with a man. Waiting to begin the sacred rite—mirroring the mating of sacred king and high priestess, of god and goddess—that will make me a woman.

Roman poets had filthy minds. They were also size queens. Eight translations from the original Latin.

When the Emperor becomes obsessed with a “kingdom-wrecking” beauty, he loses first his empire then his consort—to his lasting regret … and hers. A prose retelling of the poem Cháng Hèn Gē (長恨歌) by Bai Jiyu.

A story set in and around Hanging Out
I really like my best friend, Jess, but she only likes girls. Our attractive new neighbor likes both of us, and she’s also a bit different. This could be the start of summer sexyfuntimes—if I can get over Jess, that is. [CW: mind the tags]

Nikki doesn’t have time to date—she’s just trying to get out of a shitstorm school year with the diploma she desperately needs. So why is she drawn to this mysterious girl at Starbucks who uses a different name every day? A teen romance of pandemic times.