fantasy Archives - Jeremiah Tolbert

The Dragon of Dread Peak

A fantasy novella published in Lightspeed Magazine, October, 2017.

Flip and friends are hard at work training to take on Dungeonspace for more loot and adventure, but the team is struggling to come together in the face of hardship. When news of an escapee from the Black Hole dungeon arrives, Flip’s world is thrown into disarray. He and his party take a job with the powerful formulist Briggsby, and it’s no big deal. They just have to rob the great dragon Karnifex…

“The Dragon of Dread Peak” is the novella sequel to “The Cavern of the Screaming Eye” and a continuation of the adventures of Flip, Domino, and Basher, teen Dungeonspace adventurers. Their current storyline will conclude in a future novella.

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The West Topeka Triangle

A fantasy novelette published in Lightspeed Magazine, January 2017.

Another child has disappeared in 1980s West Topeka, but this is only part of the strange events that Jason attributes to his very own “West Topeka Triangle,” an area of oddities and disappearances he equates with the more famous Bermuda Triangle. Jason struggles to make sense of the mysterious happenings and finds himself with an unlikely ally in the process.

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The Cavern of the Screaming Eye

A fantasy novelette published in Lightspeed Magazine, October, 2016.

The first in the Dungeonspace sequence of stories, “Cavern” is the story of a young man struggling with the legacy of his dead brother, a great dungeonspace crawler lost to one of the most deadly dungeon anomalies the City has ever seen–The Black Hole. His mother will kill him if he takes up d-space adventuring–she […]

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La Alma Perdida de Marguerite Espinoza

A fantasy short story published in Lightspeed Magazine, November 2012.

I’ve been obsessed with the idea of the human soul for as long as I can remember; the idea of some crucial essence that makes us, us. In this fantastical setting, human souls are rare, and people can fill the hole where a soul should be with the soul of an animal. Human souls become […]

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You Have Been Turned Into a Zombie by a Friend

A fantasy short story published in Fantasy, June 2011.

This is the third of the stories set in the Magic P1r4cy setting, where teens pirate magic online and run them as “spell programs” on computers and phones. It’s fun to read these stories and see how they evolved as smartphones became a thing. The clock on the radio of your rusting 1992 Toyota Tercel […]

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Groob’s Stupid Grubs

A fantasy short story published in Black Gate, 2011.

Once upon a time, Black Gate was a fiction magazine, and when they were, they published a story about my favorite goblin dad, Groob. Groob lives in a city built in the safest place possible–atop a giant machine that is devouring the world. He’s smarter than your average goblin, but he has grubs to feed, […]

One Click Banishment

A fantasy short story published in Way of the Wizard, 2010.

Another tale in the Magic P1r4cy setting, where spells are turned into programs called sprogs. In this story, we learn that it pays to read the terms of service when using magical SaS. STUCK THREAD * Six Lessons Learned in MAA’s Captive Servitude Posted by Hidr at 7:42 PM Yesterday Yeah, the rumors are true. […]

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Captain Blood’s B00ty

A fantasy short story published in Shimmer Magazine, 2007.

In the Magic P1r4tes setting, computers can process spells like programs. The only problem is, copyright of spells is tied to the life of the wizard that created it, and wizards live forever. What’s a young wizard to do? Pirate magic, of course. Unfortunately, the Magical Association of Atlantis, (MAA, or, Big Mother) are in […]

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The Yeti Behind You

A fantasy short story published in Fantasy, 2007.

Written long before I became a parent, this story deals with the anxieties of expecting parents, and the anxieties of even making the decision. What does it mean to create new life on a geologic time scale? Michael’s yeti sits lightly on the foot of the bed, watching with soft brown eyes as Michael makes […]

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The Girl With The Sun in Her Head

A fantasy short story published in Polyphony 4, 2004.

Emelia’s home is in a city where only children are allowed to draw graffiti on the crumbling walls. The old bricks and stones are covered in crude pictographs and stick figures, smoking chimney houses and bicycles with four wheels and two seats. Chalk is a penny a piece, any color to be had. A little […]

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Writing in fantasy