Story Collection
Sailing on the Tides of Burning Sand
Ghosts.
Monsters.
Harry Houdini Meets Charles Dickens in Outer Space.
- A man and woman, apparent strangers, sail over a surreal desert landscape on their way to a dangerous and uncertain destiny.
- Tiny predators who live in the wall and feed on memories prove without a doubt that you are what you read.
- A little boy defies the curse of a mummified Indian princess, prepared to halt the emergence of an ancient god, even if it costs the lives of everyone close to him.
These amazing stories and more await between the covers of Michael Darling’s first short story collection, featuring all the stories from his bestselling Tales from the Behindbeyond series, including an exclusive new story “The Morrigan’s Sister,” only available in this volume. From humorous to frightening to thought-provoking, these twelve brilliant stories are an enchanting gift from one of fiction’s most inventive new voices.
“A unique, often creepy delight.” – Michaelbrent Collings Bram Stoker Award Finalist and Bestseller
“Michael Darling is a talent, a master of perspective and playful storytelling.” – Johnny Worthen Award-Winning Author of What Immortal Hand
Buy AmazonThe Novels
Hollowfall
Based on the hugely popular board game and computer game Master of Wills, Hollowfall is Michael Darling’s first science-fiction novel and the latest in spectacular storytelling.
Pre-orders are currently available and the novel will be released officially on March 17, 2020.
Sadia has been betrayed.
Get in. Get the data threads. Get out. It was a standard job. But when Sadia arrives, she finds her contact dead and the only ones who could be responsible are from her own faction. Unable to trust anyone, she goes looking for answers.
When she witnesses another unjust death, something inside her awakens. A power takes control of her body and in front of millions of witnesses, Sadia brings the dead man back to life. Suddenly, she’s the most sought after woman in Novus City. And while some factions want to make her a martyr, others want to dissect her. Or worse.
Hunted by every faction, every corporation, and every authority, Sadia flees. If she can escape the city, she may survive long enough to learn the secrets of her past. If she fails, instead of giving life back, her power will be used to take it away. She will become the instrument of annihilation, and no one will be left alive to remember Hollowfall.
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Got Lost
In Michael Darling’s latest Behindbeyond novel, Got Lost, the intrepid halfling detective finds himself on the trail of kidnappers and under suspicion himself by the FBI.
Goethe “Got” Luck hasn’t been to a lot of weddings, but it doesn’t take a detective to know it’s a catastrophe when the bride is weeping, the groom is bleeding, and the choir children have vanished into thin air.
When the FBI shows up at his door accusing him of kidnapping, Got knows something is vastly wrong. He’s done a lot of things, but stealing children isn’t one of them. To clear his name, Got goes on the hunt for the missing kids and finds himself trapped in the realm of dreams. Ruled by a cunning goddess with her own agenda, the realm of dreams is filled with shifting realities and no way out. To rescue the children–and himself–Got must face the mysteries of this realm and its frightening adversaries head on. Even with all his magic, Got’s luck might have run out now that he’s lost.
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Got Hope
The second novel in the Behindbeyond series, Got Hope continues the adventures of private investigator Goethe “Got” Luck as a deadly mystery forces Got to protect a mortal woman stranded in the land of the Fae.
Private investigator Goethe “Got” Luck saved humankind once already. With one dangerous enemy dead and another in exile for one-hundred years, both the mortal realm and the realm of the Fae—the Behindbeyond—seem to be safe. Now Got can go back to nice, normal detective work.
Until a beautiful cheerleader lands in front of his house, strapped to a bomb.
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Got Luck
Michael Darling’s first novel, Got Luck, was released on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17th, 2016. Perfectly appropriate since the novel borrows from Celtic mythology and the Irish Gaelic language. The novel hit #1 on Amazon in December 2016 and launched the Behindbeyond series, which currently includes two sequels, Got Hope and Got Lost, along with two short stories, also available here and on Amazon.
Police-officer-turned-private-investigator Goethe “Got” Luck is known for rolling with the punches and never taking anything too seriously. When he picks up a seemingly dead-end murder case, his life begins to take a crazy turn. Shot at, chased by people he has never met, and attacked by an invisible liondog, Got quickly learns that there is more to this world than meets the eye.
Read More… Buy Amazon Buy DirectMore Tales from the Behindbeyond
“The Mark”
UAAnthology Obvious Things
Michael Darling’s story “The Mark” won both the short story and the overall writing prize in the United Authors Association fiction contest. Featuring characters from the Behindbeyond universe, the story is a prequel to Got Luck but also has characters from the sequel, Got Hope.
“I’m gonna get a bullet in the chest,” Big said.
“She predicted that?” Small asked.
“Yup.”
“Are her predictions accurate?”
“Twice. So far.”
“Huh. And she has some kind of business deal for me?”
“Patience.”
“Lucky Day”
Fantastic Worlds
This anthology also features characters from the Behindbeyond and the story in “Lucky Day” runs parallel to the events from Chapter One of Got Luck. The story stands on its own, but readers familiar with the Behindbeyond will appreciate the story more deeply.
Anyone looking at the boy would notice his shirt but would never guess he was waiting for a man with a gun. Observers might also assume the boy’s mother dressed him that way because she found the Renaissance Faire interesting, but they’d be wrong again. Where he came from, everyone dressed this way. While he had been given the shirt by a woman who appeared to be much older, she wasn’t his mother. She wasn’t older either.
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“Blank Check”
The Peaks of Madness
A demon hunter survives by listening to his instincts.
Carefully.
Mark Slocombe was supposed to stop the summoning from happening in the first place but, unfortunately for him, the situation gets personal and the summoning goes very, very wrong. Now he has more than one problem on his hands and stopping a demon becomes the least of his worries.
The Peaks of Madness anthology includes 30 stories and poems from some of the most interesting–and frightening–authors in the genre.
“Sailing on the Tides of Burning Sand”
A Year of the Monkeys Anthology
This short story is a science-fiction piece about a couple with a shared past that they cannot remember. They find themselves on a boat, sailing over rust-colored sand dunes with only the desert landscape around them. Inexorably moving forward, bits and pieces of their former lives come back to them. In front of them stands a thousand-foot high wall of fire and their course lies dead ahead.
The couple will need to remember what they mean to each other, and soon.
Time is running out.
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“Feasty Feast”
The Hunger: A Collection of Utah Horror
A frightening parasite that feeds on brains.
A worthy quest.
And a story that will have you talking long after you’ve turned the last page.
This flash fiction piece was selected as the anchor story for this delectable anthology, and appears in the finale.
Like a fine dessert, the flavor will linger on your tongue as you discover you are what you read.
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“Meredith in St. Louis”
Apocalypse Utah: A Collection of Utah Horror
Meredith is a young woman with her whole life in front of her. She has a great career working for the NSA in a secret laboratory and she’s building up the courage to introduce herself to that cute guy who sometimes shows up on the commuter train after work. His name turns out to be Louis and, unfortunately, he’s one half of a very deadly equation. As Meredith puts one and one together, the situation gets hotter and the chemistry between Meredith and Louis could result in the deadliest of plagues.
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“Spera Angelorum”
Future Worlds: A Science Fiction Anthology
This story answers the question: What if Charles Dickens and Harry Houdini met on a distant planet a few centuries from now? And what if they were hired to entertain an audience of perfected beings? The intriguing premise and suspenseful writing has earned the story some great reviews:
“The . . . story I really loved was by Michael Darling. It features a couple of performers traveling together on tour, when Harry meets an audience member who won’t play along.”
— Cindy on Goodreads
“I found the world in ‘Spera Angelorum’ (where humans have inhuman power over their surroundings) to be the most interesting. In this world, normal people who can do (or have done) impressive things without using the all-too-common superpowers are a form of entertainment. The story covers a show where two of these humans perform for an audience of ‘angels.’ The details of the performers’ lives, their philosophies, and their very identities are all caught up in the suspenseful action that takes place on stage.”
— R. Andrew Lamonica on Goodreads
“Grandmother, Who Breaks the Sky”
It Came from the Great Salt Lake: A Collection of Utah Horror
Two boys, best friends, meet in the Museum of Natural History to see the mummified remains of a Shoshone Indian girl. One boy is destined to summon an ancient entity who will lay waste to the Earth and enslave humankind. The other is destined to defend the innocent at any cost. Their conflict sets the stage for a titanic battle of good and evil.
This story was selected to lead off the anthology and appears first.
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“The Temp”
Secrets & Doors
(Currently Out of Print)
“The Temp” is a futuristic look at a society living in a domed city where lower-class workers provide energy for the upper-class. The main character isn’t sure everything the supervisors tell her is true, and she may be willing to test her programming if it will help her find the man she loves.
This story is related to a projected novel in the same fictional world. There is no set time for that novel to be published yet, however, this story may be made available again in the future as part of a publicity package.
“The Hollow”
Old Scratch and Owl Hoots: A Collection of Utah Horror
Noted author Michael Collings called this story “the ultimate haunted house” tale, which is wonderful praise since Collings has written books on the grandmaster of horror Stephen King. This was my first professionally-published short story. It’s centered on a house that existed in the 1800s at the bottom of a lonely hollow.
And if you have offended its resident ghost, you’ll never get out of the house alive.
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