Four More Havok Flash Fiction Stories

by Morgan L. Busse,

JM Allison,

H.M. Hershberger,

and Steve Rzasa

Enjoying the podcast? Consider donating toward podcast expenses or joining our volunteer staff to help us make more episodes!

show notes

In this episode you’ll hear four fantasy flash fictions from Morgan L. Busse, JM Allison, H.M. Hershberger, and Steve Rzasa, all originally published by Havok. These stories are narrated by Paeter Frandsen and Karyne Norton.

Important Links:

The Authors:

Morgan L. Busse’s website. Preorder Winter’s Dawn on Amazon.

JM Allison’s website

H.M. Hershberger’s email list sign up

Steve Rzasa’s website. Don’t forget to check out the Tangents anthology, featuring Covet Not and many other stories.

The Narrators:

Paeter Frandsen’s website

Karyne Norton’s website

This month’s giveaway

Be sure to cast your vote for this season’s Finding Fantasy Reads Awards at findingfantasyreads.com/vote.

full transcript

Karyne (00:00:07) – Hi fantasy readers. This is Karyne Norton, your fellow book binger, and you are listening to the Finding Fantasy Reads podcast where you can test out a new fantasy story every single week to find your next favorite author.

With today’s episode being the last of the season, we’re featuring four flash fiction stories from two well known authors and two brand new authors. All four stories have been published with Havok at some point since its inception. If you’re not familiar with Havok, it’s a flash fiction publisher that publishes a new flash fiction story every weekday on their website, and then compiles the best each season into an anthology made available in ebook and paperback on retailers. You can read their daily stories for free, or you can pay just $5/year to access their archives. I love the way they find new talent, but if you dig deep in their archives you might be surprised at who you can find from their early days!

For example, the first story we’re featuring is from Morgan L. Busse, who is a writer by day and a mother by night. She is the author of multiple series including The Ravenwood Saga, Skyworld, and The Nordic Wars. She is a three-time Christy Award finalist and winner of the INSPY, the Carol, and the Realm Award in Christian speculative fiction. During her spare time she enjoys playing games, taking long walks, and dreaming about her next novel.

Stick around to the end of the story or check out today’s show notes to see where you can find more from Morgan. And make sure you stick around to the end of all the stories to get info on how to vote for this season’s favorite episodes so we can celebrate the authors.

For now, please enjoy The Balloon Man by Morgan L. Busse.

Karyne (00:01:48) –  The Balloon Man is read by Karyne Norton. Due to copyright, the full transcript of the story cannot be included here. 

Karyne (00:08:14) – I hope you enjoyed listening to The Balloon Man by Morgan L. Busse. If you want to read more by Morgan, go to her website at http://www.morganlbusse.com/. I’ll also have a direct link in the show notes for her upcoming release, Winter’s Dawn, the final book in the Nordic Wars series. You can even snag the first two books to read while you’re waiting for Winter’s Dawn to release.

Up next we have a funny little story that features golf in a fantasy setting. It’s written by JM Allison, an award-winning author who grew up captivated by the magic and wonder of fairy tales. She finds daily adventure in training her four rambunctious younglings, and is blessed with an amazing husband who is always ready to say “as you wish” to all her silly ideas. When not creating worlds and characters, she loves indulging other nerdy and creative outlets like teaching musical theatre and dance, fighting with lightsabers, sewing, and cosplaying. This story’s narrator will be Paeter Frandsen, host of Christian Geek Central. Stick around to the end of the story or check out today’s show notes to see where you can find more from the author.

For now, please enjoy The Water Hazard on Hole 18 by JM Allison.

Paeter (00:09:25) –  The Water Hazard on Hole 18 is read by Paeter Frandsen. Due to copyright, the full transcript of the story cannot be included here. 

Karyne (00:16:38) – I hope you enjoyed listening to The Water Hazard on Hole 18 by JM Allison, narrated by Paeter Frandsen of Christian Geek Central. If you want to read more by JM Allison, sign up for her newsletter to keep up to date on her debut novel’s release this December. The Prophet’s Curse is a Sleeping Beauty retelling in a Star Wars style universe. You can find her newsletter on her website at http://jmallisonauthor.com/.

Next up we have another new author whose bittersweet historical fantasy won the Realm Makers Flash Fiction award in 2025, and she’s also the new website admin for Finding Fantasy Reads. H.M. Hershberger is a young author with a deep love of fantasy and science fiction. A former missionary kid and something of a world traveller, she’s currently somewhere in the time space continuum working on her latest project. Her stories explore themes like family, redemption, and learning to let go; with a healthy dose of existential crises and planetary wars on the side.

You can all be thankful that Hannah came on board because the tasks she’s been able to take off my plate have allowed me to get ahead and get some really exciting things going for Season 4. Stick around to the end of her story or check out today’s show notes to see where you can find more from her.

For now, please enjoy Sparks by H.M. Hershberger.

Karyne (00:18:00) –  Sparks is read by Karyne Norton. Due to copyright, the full transcript of the story cannot be included here. 

Karyne (00:24:31) – I hope you enjoyed listening to Sparks by H.M. Hershberger, narrated by Karyne Norton. If you want to read more by Hannah you can sign up for her email list, where she shares monthly book and movie reviews, writing updates and short stories. I’ll have the direct link in the show notes.

This last story packs an epic fantasy punch in a tiny package and the author will be familiar to a lot of you. Steve Rzasa doesn’t slay monsters, but he defeats word count goals. He’s the author of several dozen novels, novellas, and short stories of science-fiction and fantasy, including the award-winning Mercury Hale series. When he’s not writing, this former journalist and librarian is reading … or planning the next adventure. Steve’s story will be narrated by Paeter Frandsen, host of Christian Geek Central. Stick around to the end of the story or check out today’s show notes to see where you can find more from Steve and Paeter.

For now, please enjoy Covet Not by Steve Rzasa.

Paeter (00:25:33) –  Covet Not is read by Paeter Frandsen. Due to copyright, the full transcript of the story cannot be included here. 

Karyne (00:34:01) – I hope you enjoyed listening to Covet Not by Steve Rzasa, narrated by Paeter Frandsen of Christian Geek Central. If you want to read more by Steve, you can find more of his books on his website at https://steverzasa.com/. You’ll especially want to check out his anthology Tangents, which includes Covet Not among other collected tales from the Interstice story universe. I’ll have a direct link for it in the show notes.

If you enjoyed listening to Paeter narrate Covet Not and The Water Hazard on Hole 18, you might also enjoy listening to his audio dramas at spiritblade.com, or his podcast, Christian Geek Central, where he discusses movies, video games, and all things enjoyed by self-proclaimed geeks from a Christian worldview.

Before we say farewell for Season 3, this is your chance to vote for your favorite episodes! I’m going to leave the voting open for two weeks instead of one this time to make sure I catch all you stragglers, and then on June 30th I’ll release a bonus episode announcing the winners. In addition to the most played and narrators’ choice awards, we have listeners’ choice awards divided out into a handful of genre categories, and that’s where we need your votes! So go to findingfantasyreads.com/vote and pick your favorite stories of the season so we can honor the authors with awards.

And of course, there’s still a few more days for you to enter our last giveaway of the season, with over a dozen books from past and current featured authors. Go to findingfantasyreads.com/giveaway to enter before the end of the month.

As always, I will have links for all the sites I’ve mentioned in the show notes – and there were a lot this time.

I hope you all have a wonderful summer season – or winter if you’re on the other side of the equator. I’ll be doing my best to survive 110 degree temperatures by throwing all my kids in the pool or escaping to my in-laws’ cabin. Make sure to check back in for the start of Season 4 on August 4th!

Thank you all for listening, and happy reading!

Know someone who would enjoy this episode? Please consider sharing it!

Narrators

A fan of comic books, sci-fi, and fantasy since childhood, Paeter Frandsen is the owner and chief content creator of Christian Geek Central. He lives in Mesa, AZ with his wife and two sons.

Karyne Norton hasn’t found the key to time travel, immortality, or infinite lives, so she’s taking a break from nursing and photography to focus on raising four human beings while writing epic fantasy.