The gasping road: a place where being armed to the teeth still might not be good enough.This is the story of a solitary warrior blessed by the gods just enough to get on the radar of the wrong.. well, not exactly “people.”Matthew Atkinson feeds you a folkloric SHORT STORY from his collection, Serene Grace, that shows revenge isn’t the only dish best served cold.

Boisterous Serene lives in in the city in an apartment. His parents named him Serene because they thought he was going to be serene like his daddy, however, he turned out to be anything but Serene. He is energetic, funny and full of imagination. Sometimes he gets bored and that is when his very vivid imagination comes a live. This is the first in the series about Serene's escapades, his funny and heart warming relationships with his elderly neighbours. As you get to know him better, he wil...

Two godlike machines. One sky-shattering duel of biblical proportions. More sparkly missiles and death rays than either a human or insect could count. The fate of the known world on the line.Every second counts in an apocalyptic storm of slashing and radiant wings. Every second lost is a reason to scream at encroaching oblivion. No other weapons in the world count but the clashing gods and their pilots.Matthew Atkinson bugs out in a panicky mecha-fight SHORT STORY from his ...

Radenna of Armattia is selected to be abducted from her home. In a world where the Dark Dukes have taken over, organized bloodsport is the norm. Today, Radenna hoists a weapon to stand out against the legions of sacrificial victims.Glory is just the coping mechanism for the foolish. For most, the arena brings pain and death, and there is no hope of rebellion.Matthew Atkinson unsheathes a new gladiatorial SHORT STORY from his collection, Serene Grace. You who are about to re...

Clem is twelve and her sixteen-year-old sister and her stuck-up friends have the coolest laser tag set ever and won’t let her play.Rage is a much more productive emotion than jealousy! It’s New Year’s Eve in Hawaii and the time is ripe to light up the night before innocence dies!Matthew Atkinson goes pew-pew in your face with a SHORT STORY from his collection, Serene Grace.

Mayumi wants a good boy bad. Putting one on a pedestal is one thing; worshiping from afar is another, and hard even when he’s on the pedestal.Sometimes you like someone you maybe shouldn’t, but when you don’t believe in yourself, lust can take you the rest of the way.Matthew Atkinson unloads a spicy, obsessive, id-driven, indulgent young (sexy trill) r-r-romance SHORT STORY from his collection, Serene Grace.

Trapped, drunk, guilt-ridden. Sounds like a recipe for a good violent time at the Ink Well Tavern.Kiganeh is a mercenary so hard-bitten that there’s practically nowhere else to bite without getting sick. Just the kind of person to notice that things are starting to get weird.Matthew Atkinson pours you a cold, nihilistic SHORT STORY from his collection, Serene Grace, that shows that taverns are as good for fantasy endings as beginnings.

What would it take for you to ponder your first crime, and how far would you be willing to go in order to pull it off?A pair of twins start looking a lot less alike after an avoidable, unaddressed injustice. Even childhood is a brutal world where people learn they can only trust their own senses and wits.Matthew Atkinson snows you in with a SHORT STORY from his collection, Serene Grace. Dog lovers need not apply.

SERENE GRACE, a short story collection from Matthew Atkinson, unleashes ten blows likely to stun you or make you flinch.In these stories the lovely ladies of Atkinson’s fiction face a vast enough host of enemies to cover many genres. Want something to draw your blade against? “Inn Quell,” “The Treat,” “A Trim for the Flowers,” “This Fist,” and whatever “Bugfight” is. Then shoot and slash and shoot again into heightened hyperreality in “The Steep Angle,” “Cat Claws III,” and “New Ne...

Radenna of Armattia is scheduled for a gladiatorial bout with even less armaments than her first. In a world where the bad guys won and flaunt it every week in heinous bloodsport, the only refuge to be found is on the end of one’s own arms.Any martial art offers enough techniques and lessons to fill more than a lifetime. Radenna has two weeks to cram or she will die failing the ultimate test.Matthew Atkinson unsheathes a new gladiatorial SHORT STORY from his collection, Ser...

Why meditate?Why would you want to commit valuable time and effort to a practice that many think of as dry, remote, and foreign to their day-to-day lives?Why embark on a spiritual practice that may seem alien, antiquated, or out of place in today’s hectic, dynamic world?These concerns are exactly the reasons why people should begin living mindfully, incorporating meditation into their everyday lives.Meditation is the art of being present, of being aware, of ...

Zissuma, the black leopard queen, humiliated by captivity, is a creature of many hungers.They can only be satisfied with the help of a being who is the exclusive purview of the feline: a human ghost with his own grievances and motives.Matthew Atkinson offers another SHORT STORY from the litter of his collection, Serene Grace. Familiarity with the first two not required.