Daniel Ausema
Daniel Ausema writes lyrical tales of other worlds, stories of strangeness and wonder.
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Daniel Ausema's fiction and poetry have appeared in many publications, including Strange Horizons, Daily Science Fiction, and Diabolical Plots. He is the creator of the steampunk-fantasy Spire City series, set in a city of chained singers and beetle-drawn carriages where the powerless fight back against those with wealth and influence. His latest novel is the first book of The Arcist Chronicles, The Silk Betrayal, published by Guardbridge Books--it is a story of magic and revolution in a caste-based society teetering on the edge of an industrial era. He lives in Colorado at the foot of the Rockies.
Fiction · Posts · Books
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Fiction
The Romantic and the Pragmatist, Biking
Published Jan 11, 2021 · 16 words (1 minute) · 27 views
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Fiction Series: Ongoing 6 Chapters
The Market of Magical Goods
Updated Dec 30, 2020 · 626 words (3 minutes) · 3 likes · 815 views
Fantasy serial Drabble fabulist
Welcome to the Market of Magical Goods, a serial of brief, fabulist visions of wonder, each exactly 100 words long. A shopkeeper offers you a tincture to drip into your left eye. Will you take it?
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Fiction
Peace, a Triptych
Published Dec 11, 2020 · 906 words (4 minutes) · 82 views
Fantasy Literary Fiction flash fiction
A poetic story of peace in the face of despair.
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Fiction
Lumberjill
Published Nov 12, 2020 · 4,031 words (15 minutes) · 182 views
Lumberjill, the niece of a famous lumberjack, travels to the Great North Woods--or what's left of them. She is very clever, but the fauna of the forest is unlike anything she's ever known, with many quirky creatures living in the remnants of uncut timber, most of them inspired by Jorge Luís Borges' account of the creatures supposed to live there.
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Fiction
Imagination Thief
Published Oct 9, 2020 · 2,827 words (11 minutes) · 1 like · 137 views
What if a vampire does not drink the blood, but their imaginations? And how might a corrupt ruler make use of such a creature, once discovered?
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Fiction
A Dream of the City's Future
Published Sep 11, 2020 · 1,863 words (7 minutes) · 125 views
In the distant, decaying future--or one possible future, anyway--of the uncanny city of Boskrea, the trees that were once home to a decadent city have fallen into ruin. The descendants of today's city, surviving on what they can scavenge from the ruins, do what they can to leave a mark on their world and the dreams of the past.
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Fiction
The Blood Tree War
Published Aug 14, 2020 · 1,251 words (5 minutes) · 2 likes · 199 views
Fantasy Trees carnivorous plants
Two trees, siblings and rivals, vie to grow strong by drinking the blood of ancient battlefields.
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Fiction
Tree Ring Anthology
Published Jul 10, 2020 · 2,067 words (8 minutes) · 286 views
Fantasy Horror Literary Fiction Trees
The rings of a tree tell a story. For some trees, that means a litany of horrors that have twisted its long life and haunt its space still, even after the tree is harvested. This story was written for the D. F. Lewis-edited Horror Anthology of Horror Anthologies as a twist on the theme to expand the image of what an anthology is and might be.
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Fiction
Orgood's Party (an excerpt from Spire City, Season One: Infected)
Published Jun 28, 2020 · 1,560 words (6 minutes) · 214 views
To understand the infection devastating the city, Chels goes to a high society party hosted by Orgood--the mad scientist who created the infection. Leaning into her immigrant heritage, she must pretend to be from her mother's homeland--not the poor street orphan she really is, but the exotic foreigner these wealthy people will expect.
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Fiction
Hometown Hero, Gone for Good
Published Jun 16, 2020 · 513 words (2 minutes) · 2 likes · 228 views
Canthis was a local hero, or a nobody, or maybe a symbol for justice denied. As the invaders approach, conquer, and pass on, the remembrances and rumors shift and adjust.
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