Short Stories
Here is a collection of all my short stories
Tales from Cliffside
The stories of Edmund Moulde take place in a world far larger than the confines of the books themselves. Most notable in its absence is the great city of Cliffside, an advanced metropolis that covers as much vertical as horizontal space along the ocean. It is here that massive ships and zeppelins lay anchor to deposit their goods and passengers. It is a city of smoke, steam, and miraculous machines.
The Tales of Cliffside was originally an experiment, then a means of relaxation, then a place to put story-ideas that weren’t quite good enough to be a whole book. Some are thrillers, some are action-adventures, and some are just experiments.
- Skyrail
- Stories at the Passenger’s Crossing
- The Allingdale Ball
- The Docks
- The Clockwork Spider
- The Kettleworth Files
- The Steamworks
The Watch in the Sand
Whoof. This is an artifact.
When I first decided to become a writer, it was because of this story. When I first imagined the idea, it took shape as a poem akin to Robert Browning’s The Pied Piper of Hamelin; a story of a fateful day when half the population of a city suddenly dropped dead, and the mystery that followed.
Eventually it became a series of short vignettes that detailed the path from first step to final catastrophe; no villains, just a series of people who let the world unfold without consideration.
Given the events that occurred since my first publishing of this story as a downloadable ebook in 2013, I will forever more be a little salty.
Re-reading it now, more than a decade after it was written, I am struck by how much of a time-capsule it is. I feel the same way I feel reading old 60’s sci-fi, where Spaceman Jeff pets his dog-o-tron before jetpacking to his job on the moon. There is so much in here that is simply quaint, to say nothing of cringe.
But at the same time, I can’t say — were I to rewrite it today, with my future-knowledge — that I would change much. Sure, I’d change the timeline and mess about with details1 perhaps focus on different aspects of the technology or how humanity reacts; and I’d certainly be more eager to challenge some of the ideas that I so causally assume — but with our current (as of writing) discussions about AI and its purported earth-shattering possibilities,2 there are sentiments that I still have some compassion towards.
But there is no denying, this story is old. I’d love to do a re-write to polish away some of the roughest edges, but I’m not here to preen. Warts and all, this is still my origin.