A Door into Mars

Hello friends, and welcome back to Strange & Fantastic!

I hope everyone’s July is going well. I’m switching things up with the newsletter this month as I’ve been busy working on my dark fantasy novel, Black Coral. Below you’ll find a couple updates, then a first for the newsletter: A flash fiction story from my archives, never-before-released!

Some Quick Updates

Speaking of Black Coral—I officially started writing the first draft about two weeks ago, and I’m happy to report I’ve already got 16,365 words down so far! Writing is going well, and I’m very excited about it. It’s going to be a long haul—more of a marathon than a sprint—so I’m just making sure I’m consistently putting my butt in the chair to do the work. This is definitely the biggest project I’ve attempted yet, which is equal parts exhilarating and daunting, but I’m having fun, which I’d argue is the most important thing, especially when getting a first draft down.

In other news, the eBook of my illustrated chapbook, Goodly Creatures, is now available for pre-order here, for only $1.99! The eBook, Paperback, and Kindle Unlimited versions of the chapbook will be available via Amazon on September 5, 2023.

If anyone is interested in reading an ARC (“Advanced Reader’s Copy”) of Goodly Creatures in exchange for writing up an honest review on Goodreads, you can do that here.

I’m so thankful for the handful of readers who have already taken the time to read and review the chapbook so far! Here’s what they’ve been saying:

Delightful…well written…unique… —Josh Romrell

Beautifully written…shocking and fascinating…highly recommend[ed]… —Nelli Lakatos

…absolutely weird and original…beautiful illustrations…Recommended… —Anastacia

Such a fun and interesting read…awesome illustrations by Pat Hughes… —visceralreads

Short and sweet!… —Brittni Quintana

A Story From The Archives Image © Mark Garlic, Science Source / WIRED.com

The following flash fiction story rough draft was written about three years ago as an exercise for one my MFA classes. We were supposed to write a story revolving around a door, and since I was reading Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles at the time, I came up with a story of two teenagers who find a door in the woods that leads to the Mars of Bradbury’s classic book. While I never did anything further with this story, it did plant the seeds in my head of what would eventually become the novel I’m working on now—Black Coral. So, without further ado, I hope you will enjoy The Doorway…

The Doorway

Leonard followed Wanda through the broken old shack’s waterlogged front door and into a bright, new landscape. Rock outcroppings rose from the red sands before him in magnificent formations; the color of the sky seemed to waver between cerulean and violet; two moons shone brightly down over everything. The air was thinner than it had been on the other side of the door, and he realized he felt lighter, too. It wasn’t terrible, actually. Just took some getting used to.

Wanda’s sneakers crunched through the crimson sand covering the ground as she moved quickly up into a rock formation that reminded Leonard of one of those massive waves he’d seen surfers riding through in Hawaii. She climbed into the outcropping and pulled out a six-pack of Bud Light she’d hidden behind some rocks, along with a pack of Marlboros and a lighter. She patted the rock where she was sitting, flashing Leonard a bright smile from behind her black hair.

Leonard climbed up and sat down next to her, taking the can of beer she offered him and popping the tab as she did the same. They clinked their cans together and took a drink. The beer was warm, but still frothy, and good. He took another sip and looked out from under the rock formation: there was nothing green—or anything not red or blue-violet—in every direction, as far as the eye could see. Nothing but the sand, the sky, and the doorframe they’d walked through. He could still see the woods just beyond the door where it cracked open a little.

Wanda lit up a cigarette and offered Leonard one. He waved it away; he was enjoying the beer.

“This really is badass,” he said.

Wanda blew smoke from her nose and nodded. “Hell, yeah, it is. The perfect place to get away from home. Have some smokes, drink some beers.” She smiled at him. “Make out a bit.”

“Hell, yeah,” Leonard said and kissed her on the mouth. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and they stayed like that for a long while.

Eventually they pulled apart, and Wanda lit another cigarette while Leonard guzzled the remainder of his beer. He crinkled the aluminum can in his hand, then looked around.

“Just toss it,” Wanda said, indicating the red desert around them. “That’s what I’ve been doing.”

Leonard noticed the half-buried remnants of other beer cans radiating out from the edge of the rock formation and shrugged. He tossed the can into the sand.

“I still can’t believe no one else knows about this,” he said, popping the tab on another beer. He wrapped his arm around Wanda’s shoulders. She flicked her cigarette out into the sand and took a sip of her own beer, then nuzzled under his neck. She smelled like Irish Spring; he loved her scent.

“Don’t think anyone comes back here except us,” she said. “Far as I knew, there was nothing back here, until last week.”

“Where do you think we are?”

“No idea.” She pointed up at the two moons. “Nowhere back home, though. That’s for sure.”

“Yeah. I’d say Far out, but that feels like an understatement.”

“You’re such a dork, Len.”

“What does that make you, then? You’re dating me.”

“Not much longer, you keep making jokes like that.”

“Ouch.”

“Oh, shut up and kiss me, dork.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

When they pulled apart again, something in the distance caught Leonard’s eye. He tensed.

“What?” Wanda asked, feeling his arm stiffen around her neck.

“Look,” he said quietly, pointing of towards the horizon.

Wanda followed his finger, squinting. Something seemed to be fluttering in the breeze, several hundred yards away from them, on top of a red dune.

“What is it?”

Leonard shrugged. “Can’t really tell.”

The fluttering thing seemed to slowly coalesce into something like a dark red cloak. As Leonard and Wanda watched, a tall, slender person with dark skin appeared, filling in the cloak. A strange, featureless mask covered the person’s face; bright golden eyes flashed from behind it. The stranger gripped a long, thin metal pole or pipe of some sort with both hands.

Before Leonard or Wanda could said anything, the stranger moved toward them, gliding gracefully over the crimson sand like a ghost on a breeze.

Leonard squeezed Wanda close.

The stranger stopped a couple yards away from their outcropping, golden eyes blazing.

“Um,” Leonard said. “What are—”

The stranger moved lithely, reaching out with the thin metal pipe it held and tapping the top of a beer can peeking out of the sand.

“Oh,” Wanda said. “Sorry, I can—”

Filthy intruders.

Leonard and Wanda stiffened. It had been a voice, clear as day, only it seemed to come from inside their heads.

“Did you say something?” Leonard whispered to her.

“No. I thought you did?”

Leonard shook his head. They both stared at the stranger in the flowing dark red cloak and strange mask with the blazing golden eyes.

Leonard thought the eyes looked angry.

“We’ll, uh, we’ll just head on back, then,” Wanda said, nudging Leonard to get to his feet.

“Yeah,” Leonard said, standing, and pulling Wanda up with him. “Sorry to intrude or whatever. We didn’t know this place was—”

Ruining one planet isn’t enough for you? You had to come here and ruin ours, too?

“What?” Wanda said. “No! Wait—planet?”

Mars.

The stranger brought the long metal pipe to its shoulder and fired, twice. Two golden bee-sized things blazed in the light of Mars’ two suns, filling the air with a high-pitched buzzing before blowing bits of skull and brain matter out the back of both Leonard and Wanda’s heads.

Their bodies slumped to ground, the red sand eagerly drinking up their blood as it pooled around them.

The Martian stood over them. It turned and saw the doorframe they’d come from.

Brothers, the Martian called in his mind. Sisters. I’ve found a way in...

Signing Off

Well folks, that’s it for July 2023. Thanks again for stopping by and reading!

Take care, and stay strange.

—Austin

If you enjoyed this newsletter, please subscribe—you’ll get a free eBook of my short story, “Magus,” available EXCLUSIVELY for subscribers!

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I’d also love it if you considered checking out my debut chapbook from Alien Buddha Press, The Magic of Everyday Things, which consists of four short stories where the magical becomes increasingly inseparable from the mundane.