Fiction

The best short stories come from anxieties, and one of mine is the ever increasing complexity life seems to throw at us. What if there’s a reason for it?* --- “Have you got a minute?” I really didn’t. I was knee deep in papers to grade, each one of them

She is a study of curves, and the shifting lines tell of give and take, generosity and economy. She is perfectly bilaterally symmetrical, and she moves with a fluidity that belies her strength. She is flexible, and as she races, she changes direction with such grace as to fool the

“Ultimately, restraints upon war are more a matter of politics than of technology. If you are concerned about American aggression, it is not the drones you should fear, but the politicians who order them into battle.” David Brin, The New Republic [them]“The odds of this issue occurring again are

Drudgery mode. You fill out Form A, which gives you the information you need to complete for B, which is a rider of Form C, which will ultimately require you to fill out dozens of Form A.My hands and eyes are on automatic pilot; if you put a gun

My current personal best is twelve minutes. I’ve been collecting these stories for a while now, but that’s the best time, hands down. Old Shenzhen is at it’s center a huge rectangle. The northeast corner is Lianaushan Park, and before the states broke, it was beautiful; I’ve seen the pix.

The last time I held my wife was when I carried her over our threshold, out to the car, and to the hospital. She was so small, and yet I nearly staggered as I crossed the doorway. It was the memory of carrying her through in the opposite direction on

I was always losing things as a kid. I was a “latchkey kid”, remember that term? Man, I remember those old 60 Minutes episodes where they’d try to evoke sympathy for all those poor kids who came home to empty houses for hours at a time because Mom and Pops

We’d been floating along on the current, my father and I, for about infinity, when we finally got a nibble. I waited, him looking over my shoulder expectantly, waiting for the quarry to take the bait before I reeled it in. Closer.. closer.. Snap! I could feel the tension as

I’d sell my soul to wipe my eyes, but it’s already impounded. Pass 3,714 of District 19, 2am to 3am. I’ve seen a stray cat, a tired waitress, two delivery trucks, and several sets of blinds getting shifted around. There’s the ever present window movement

My satellite would be overhead in another 3 hours. I’d get a data squirt, and get some new things to watch. As it was, I had just about exhausted my supply of cartoons made in the 1980’s. It was sunny today, so I wouldn’t be hungry. I was adjusted for