Welcome to The Odd Archive, the home of short fiction by N. Burchett.
The stories here live at the edges of history. Some are historical fiction, set in real times and places. Others are strange and unexplained tales about the things that happen where the record goes quiet. Many of them are a little of both.
Start with the stories below, browse all of the stories, or read the blog, where I post notes from the writer's desk, things I'm researching, and whatever else is on my mind.
New here? You can learn more about me and this site.
Thanks for stopping by. Mind the footnotes.
Recent stories
The Cistern
2026-09-21
Thallos found the rope ladder still fixed to the siege ramp when the sun was two hands above the ridge, and he did not want to climb it.
The Registry Number
2026-09-01
Renate Bieler found the request for her own file between requisitions for a railway engineer and a retired schoolmaster.
One Night Before the Pyre
2026-08-11
The chain ran from her ankle to an iron loop set into the wall, and because the loop was low, near the floor, Joan could not stand fully upright without the shackle pulling her foot sideways.
Custer's Luck
2026-07-31
Three dead. Nine wounded, two of whom would not see the week out. Custer read the numbers twice, and they held still on the page, and that was the trouble with them.
The Prophet and the Poison
2026-07-20
The room smelled of figs and something bitter underneath them, a smell Iras had stopped noticing after the third day.