MAKESHIFT is a short story (approximately 5,100 words) which mixes fantasy and magic with imagination and the science of noetics in the tale of a very special young man recruited to a world of wonder and weighty responsibility.
Best known as the world's top-ranked player of classic role-playing games for fifteen years, Donald J. Bingle is an oft-published author in the science fiction, fantasy, horror, thriller, steampunk, romance, and comedy genres, with several published novels (including Net Impact, Forced Conversion and GREENSWORD) and more than thirty stories, primarily in themed anthologies commissioned by DAW and in tie-in anthologies, including short fiction in The Crimson Pact, Steampunk'd, Imaginary Friends, Fellowship Fantastic, Zombie Raccoons and Killer Bunnies, Time Twisters, Front Lines, Slipstreams, Gamer Fantastic, Transformers Legends, Search for Magic (Dragonlance), If I Were An Evil Overlord, Blue Kingdoms--Mages & Magic, Civil War Fantastic, Future Americas, All Hell Breaking Loose, The Dimension Next Door, Sol's Children, Historical Hauntings, Hot & Steamy--Tales of Steampunk Romance, and Fantasy Gone Wrong.
Many of Don's stories are electronically available, individually or in his Writer on Demand TM collections, including "Tales of Gamers and Gaming," "Tales of Humorous Horror," "Tales Out of Time," "Grim, Fair e-Tales," and "Tales of an Altered Past Powered by Romance, Horror, and Steam. " More collections of stories will be coming soon. He is also the author of the award-winning, short, humorous memoir, "Father's Day. "
He is a frequent panelist at science fiction, fantasy, gaming, and writing conventions and has published a number of articles on writing topics.
Donald J. Bingle is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers, the GenCon Writers Symposium, the Origins Game Fair Library, and the St. Charles Writers Group. You can visit him on Goodreads, Shelfari, Peroozal, Twitter, and Facebook, or at his website at donaldjbingle. com.
