In Assistant to a Judge of Hell, San Guan finally has a crack at reincarnation after a thousand years as a bureaucrat in hell, but only if he can convince a slanderous, insubordinate, and recently-deceased Pan Xiaojian to take the job.
In Babies, Bradley notices that his wife Anne is acting strangely after he finds a litter of babies in the street.
In Warniks, Nimit Okeke, the Speaker of the Solar System, is facing the worst crisis of his administration, and it isn't the teddy bear-shaped aliens who just gravity-bombed Jupiter.
In Bad Soul, Jade Blossom laments how nothing ever changes, but when he enlists a crude and charismatic poet to push his radical ideas, he unwittingly unleashes a force of nature along with some questionable poetry!
These four stories from the warped brain of Shannon Rampe are darkly twisted, using unexpected violence, vicious snark, and wanton chaos to wildly comedic effect. Terrible, nasty people get their comeuppance and good people-okay, maybe slightly superficial, moderately selfish people-come out on top.
Shannon Rampe is the author of When Stars Move and Other Stories. His writing has appeared in Speculative City, Abyss & Apex, and on The Gallery of Curiosities podcast, amongst others. He writes novels and short stories, plays video games, and practices yoga and craft cocktail making (though not usually at the same time) in southern California. Follow him at www.shannonrampe.com for more.
