Fiction

Did you know that in addition to being the world’s foremost writer of board game critiques, Dan Thurot also occasionally writes fiction? It’s true! And although he doesn’t often bother to share this detail (because he’s a coward), every now and then you might notice a story popping into existence. Except it didn’t pop into existence. It was written. By a human person named Dan. And you too can read his words. Stories and descriptions below.

In which a floatship magnate travels to the fledgling state of Utah in 1869 to propose a contract for custom ships and moorings, and encounters both the infamous Lion of the Lord and a bitter remnant of Mormonism's not-so-distant past.

 

“Above the Top of the Mountain”

collected in Press Forward, Saints

from Immortal Works (link)

 

Polis, the megacity, was once stacked like glittering blocks and populated by the affluent and glamorous. That was then. Now those who live within its depths speak half-recalled lore about the heat-swept surface.

 

“Incandescent”

collected in Polis

from Air and Nothingness Press (link)

 

As a scientist, Marchis Handry has always followed the truth, no matter where it leads him. Even if it means becoming a laughingstock when he double-guesses conventional wisdom. Even if it means boarding a boat bound for a remote research station far beyond the edge of civilization — and past the edge of what anyone has ever before witnessed.

 

“The Edge”

collected in NeverisEarth

from Air and Nothingness Press (link)

 

It was always understood that the first person to develop temporal displacement would also be the last. But nobody mentioned anything about countermeasures...

 

“Again, I Meet You”

collected in Future Perfect in Past Tense

from Air and Nothingness Press (link)