Echoes of the Arcane: A Collection of Short Fiction

Echoes of the Arcane is a collection of short fiction by Cody D. Campbell. It contains several works of general fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and poetry.

The places and times where these stories are set range from ancient worlds of magic to distant dystopian futures. They have different perspectives and voices, different magic systems, and scientific frameworks, but many of them revolve around a common theme – loss.

21 different works of fiction and poetry are featured in this collection, including:

• Little Bugs follows a young woman who’s exploring the forest near her family’s home where her grandfather died. She marvels at the insect-like robots that were designed to clean the pollution that rendered the area toxic but laments that they were necessary and wonders whether the land will ever be the same.
• Pan’s Shadow is about Dante, an elderly man who is having a final conversation with one of his oldest friends as he lies on his deathbed. He reminisces about their misspent youth and slowly realizes that his friend’s involvement in these events was more fantastical than he ever knew.
• Crossing Over is the story of a girl named Poll. It’s set in a dystopian near future where the United States is locked in a civil war between nationalist factions. Poll is a refugee who has made her way to Canada, but is powerless to save the loved ones she left behind.
• Last of the Legion is a novelette and the longest story in the collection. It tells the tale of a Roman centurion named Hadrian who was one of the few remaining soldiers protecting the city before it was sacked by the Germanic Vandals. After the fall of the city, his journey eventually leads him into the mountains where he discovers a strange creature and a millennia-old plot of revenge.

Cody D. Campbell lives in Corvallis, Oregon with his wife Shelby and their Jack-Russel mix Echo. He's been a lover of science fiction and fantasy for as long as he can remember, consuming everything he could get his hands on, from Homer and Asimov to Star Wars and Princess Mononoke. He counts Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, Patrick Rothfuss, and Elizabeth Moon as his biggest influences.Cody started writing when he was 15 and never stopped. He got his degree in English from Oregon State University while simultaneously volunteering at the Corvallis Benton County Public Library. This is also when his first published story, Here and Gone, was printed by The North Dakota Quarterly. He then began teaching prose writing and sci-fi/fantasy writing workshops at Linn-Benton Community College. From there, he also started his career in gaming and tech journalism, writing for High Ground Gaming, Looper, SVG, and SlashGear.