Funny Science Fiction Fantasy

Keep your head down. Don't make waves. Don't let anyone know you're a freak. Larissa Alvarez is a witch. Magic was useful enough to make her pretty, but beyond transformation runes, Larissa has ignored her mom's pleas to learn about her magical heritage on the grounds that it's just too weird. But when her family is killed, and the powerful book of runes Larissa was supposed to inherit disappears, she realizes she's not going to survive without magic. Worse still, she's falling in love with her only ally, her best friend Joe, who has a secret that could kill them both.

My name is Barry, although it might as well be Loser. Satan owns my soul, and my demon boss, Margery, tortures me with her magical cigarettes every chance she gets. While I’m desperate for freedom, I’ll do anything to stop her from opening the Gates of Hell…or any other crazy thing she has planned. My odds of saving mankind are uncertain, but I have to try.

Stargazey World follows the story of Sheena Robinson, a feisty, complex youngster who often feels guilty about her lack of concentration. At school her work doesn't improve and her chaotic mop of tangled green hair is mocked, but this feisty Scouser has the ready wit and true grit to deal with her bullies. When Sheena visits Cornwall for her cousin's wedding, she must share a bedroom with the tomboyish Carys. By day everything is normal, but by night the animals on the bedroom wallpaper come to life.

Tutto d`un tratto, Heng Lee comincia a sentirsi molto strano, così decide di far visita allo Sciamano locale, niente meno che sua zia. Dopo alcuni test conclude che Heng non ha più sangue nel corpo. Come lo dirà alla sua famiglia? E cosa decideranno di fare? Heng Lee è un capraio delle remote montagne a nord-est di Chiang Rai, nel nord della Thailandia, vicino al confine con il Laos.

I live near a biscuit factory. Sounds like a dream come true, right? But it's not all fun and jammie dodgers. You see, the biscuit factory is really a Super-Secret Science Lab. Everyone pretends it makes biscuits. It just makes life easier. Until today. Because the biscuit factory tore a hole through dimensions, and now huge orange monsters are climbing through. Oh, and if we don't do something, the world is going to go kablooey in the next 30 minutes. Not on my watch. You coming?

Ten-year-old Opie Jones is Very Ordinary. In fact nothing remarkable has ever happened to her, if you don’t count the cat that gives her funny looks from next door (which she doesn’t). So she is naturally very surprised when she is recruited to join The Resistance—a team of superheroes who can read minds, and have a dastardly brainwashing villain to defeat. However it turns out Opie can’t read human minds; she can read animal ones. The other members of the Resistance are very disappointed. And a whole world of animal chat and demands is opening up to her.

An artist takes us through his day, from his own particular perspective. A short story from Guys Read: Other Worlds, edited by Jon Scieszka.