Daniel Walsh

A disorienting vista greeted them at tunnel’s end. The cave opened. The ground fell away. They stood above a valley enveloped by fog so dense that Isabel could cup it in her hand like bubbles in a bath. Treetops floated above the haze, disembodied from their trunks. Isabel retreated into the tunnel mouth. Her heartbeat […]

The walls were on fire.  Flames climbed to the ceiling, trembled along the rafters, released through a smokestack. They bled to the floor in orderly lines, creating four infernal corridors that crisscrossed the room and intersected at a central bonfire that drew ravers like moths to light. On a stage opposite the entrance, a DJ […]

The blood had barely dried on the pavement by the time the television news crews swarmed the neighborhood. Three vans bearing logos for the major stations had parked along the street. One crew set up a live feed just outside the yellow police tape that cordoned off the crime scene, the perfectly pompadoured correspondent fixing […]

The second level offered very different wares.  Bliss was on sale, along with ecstasy and adrenaline highs. These were not actual drugs, though they could function that way. Rather, they were experiences, memories, dreams, thoughts, and inspirations of the sellers, stored mentally and sold as commodities to people who would experience them as if personally […]

Aaron fell into darkness, hurtling headfirst through an ethereal stratosphere. Stars rushed past and transformed into a swirling kaleidoscope of fire. Colors emerged and transmogrified. Black became red became green became orange became purple, the passage accelerating as he did, and he could not slow his speed no matter how hard he tried. There was […]

This sample is an excerpt of one chapter of a work in progress. A new texture touched her body, somewhere between the paste and water. She cracked an eye open, horrified at what she might find, but this time, she saw the blue of woad upon her upper arm. She closed her eyes, content that […]

This is an excerpt of a current novel in progress.  The stone path cut through a land covered in dried leaves and browned pine needles as far as he could see. Trees traversed the land, inching along on roots that crawled through the soil and occasionally lifted just barely above ground, branches making gestures as if […]

This is an excerpt of a novel in progress.  She stepped on soft grass. A verdant hillside presented itself, a pool of water at its base. A cool, light fog permeated the air. She turned back to find her entry door was wood and part of a small cottage. She had left the Livas behind […]