Bad Ducky Industries: 6 books

n these tales, cities grow on the back of humongous lizards, where a young boy crashed down must choose his lady or a tiger. Also, a mostly nameless wanderer seeks to trade everything he has to find a homeland - skin, bone, pain, and soul. A basilisk builds a palace of stone made of prisoners, and...

The weird, goofy, charming, anti-traditional, anti-academic, scathing, political, apolitical and sometimes transcendental poetry, prose poetry and odd-thoughts-on-paper of critically-acclaimed fantasy novelist J M McDermott have appeared in many magazines, his blog, and a few anthologies. Included here is the Rhysling Award-nominated "3 Poems Called Cosmic".

The clockwork kingdom of Saxonia engineered itself into a machine of the law, refashioning even its citizens’ bodies into cogs and pistons. Before the chirurgeons and engineers splice his brain inside the crown, Prince Hollownot escapes into the kingdom’s flogistan soul, where he sees all possible...

Nova Coates is a tomb guard late at dog hour in the deep night. He protects a noble house's dead from thieves and wizards. He lives among undertakers, death mask artists, and eulogy poets, until thenobleman's daughter commits suicide. This inexpensive novelette revels in themes of beauty,...

A basilisk king turns prisoners to stone who gaze upon the monster. His servants use these gruesome building blocks to build a palace on the sea. Rebecca sails from Antioch in chains, to be turned to stone among other prisoners. Unlike the others, Rebecca is blind, and will never see the king to turn into stone.

The women and monsters of Greek mythology rarely get to speak for themselves. Sing, Muse. Sing whatever you want. Eurydice wanders an abandoned amusement park despite her husband's love. Ariadne becomes addicted to gypsy magic long after she was left on an island. Iphigenia dies...