A no-name, aspiring author who can’t stop writing. Looking ahead, he strives for perfection. Shackled by various forms of entertainment, he dreams of success. Most stories here are an invitation to YOU, to join me in creating new stories, new worlds, and a different tomorrow.
Stories
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A War is Brewing
Silver and gold chess pieces slid one after another across the black and white board with a quiet intensity. To anyone watching it would have looked like a computer simulation as no one touched a single piece. Two men casually sat next to the chess boa...
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Love Is Life
Stark grey walls built from large stone blocks gave the castle a dreary, lonely look. With its large vacant windows, it looked like a skull that had been dropped by a careless graverobber. My grandson clapped his hands. “Who lives there?” I...
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One Last Chance
“There!” Alan yelled, pointing at a dark shape towering above us in the rain. Lightning stroked the clouds above us with skeletal fingers, revealing the Jacobsen’s abandoned barn. Once inside, I rubbed my arms trying to work some warm...
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Penny and Prudence: First Contact
“You’re ignoring me again.” Penny closed her eyes and deliberately avoided looking at the source of the child’s voice. “Please- I don’t have anyone else.” It whined. The air in the library grew colder. Penny cr...
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Every Side Has a Hero
Bullets swarm across the rocky terrain of the battlefield as the bellies of fat bombers drop below the smoke and cloud cover to deliver thunderous death. All the while you crouch in your fox-hole trembling. It’s your time to go, to lead the charg...
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The Way Comes But Once
My backpack hung heavy in my hands as if it could anchor me to the ground. I moved like a ghost down the hall, stopping at each of our children’s rooms to peer in. Imagining their faces in the morning when they realized that they were alone broke...
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On Patrol: To the Sideline!
Groaning metal that drowned out all other sounds preceded the violent tilting of the Heart’s Desire as it slowly began rolling onto her side. Firus was banking to give us the best possible targets. That was the reason I’d been ordered down ...
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The Last Collection
The circle of hunched and twisted figures, descendents of centuries of small town inbreeding, held me down with thick grubby hands that held surprising strength. A frightful man lurched forward through the crowd of men, woman, and filthy naked children...
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The Fable of the Raven and the Stork
Once, a raven met a stork at a bird party and fell in love. The stork was everything she was not- tall, skinny and good looking. Despite having crippling insecurities, she revealed her true feelings for him by offering him things he lacked. It wasnR...
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The Silk Lily: A Close Call
Raiku folded her arms beneath her breats. “Nonsense! If Yuki has decided that this child has some small measure of worth, then she must be quite valuable.” “But-” Tetsuko protested, looking up from the floor. Raiku cut her off w...
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On Patrol: True Grit
“How can you see anything in all of this?” I waved my Krillman to try and dissipate some of the smoke and dust to no effect. “Here, maybe this’ll help.” Esmil yelled, bringing a portable elp-lamp to bear. It was the size o...
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A Trinity of Pain
I steeled myself. “I’m sorry. I can’t help you any more.” America looked up at me, her face stricken. “But, I thought we were friends.” We’re not friends… I’m just the poor fool who happened to fall...
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Breaches in Etiquette May Lead to Madness
Three rapid knocks sounded again, a little more insistant this time. In the tiled bathroom the sound destroyed what little tranquilty I had left. “Yup. Still here.” I said, not even bothering to hide my irritation. Did he not hear me? Maybe...
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Do Not Disturb!
In my usual starbucks, I was sitting and writing when Mother Nature knocked. Well she actually started with a light tap- a slight tummy gurgle and a vague feeling of discomfort. I have fairly good body control so I ignored her. I had to get my story do...
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Different Reality, Different Cult
I heard the words “powerful psychic influences” from the man next to me who used his chin to gesture to beyond my line of sight. Mechanically I turned to see who they were talking about. A blonde woman standing in the back caught my eye. A ...
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There's Nothing Like a Clean House
The house didn’t look like anything special to me. It was a typical two story, one front door kind of deal. I connected to the LAN and used AR to check again. There was nothing- at all. It was too clean. My Spidey-sense.bot didn’t detect an...
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Every Entrance is an Opportunity to Make an Impression
My morning appointment was late. I flipped though the newspaper without looking at it. I had already read it- even the sports page. The door opened ushering in a gust of cold air. A tall young woman stood there, framed by both doorway and outside world...
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Ladies Travel with Style
The rickshaw bounced shakily from side to side over the rough cobblestone street. I had never liked the motion associated with sea travel and now I was being subjected to it on land! The two wheeled mode of transportation, little more than a cart reall...
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In Between Minds: Stretching Out
One small rabbit and two potatoes were hardly a feast but over the past few months I had grown used to living off the land. Grandmother’s pouches held a variety of herbs and spices that, when added in small pinches, gave each simple meal a little...
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On Patrol: Swabbing the Deck
Firus was a force of nature, as strong and implacaple as a hurricane gale. He battled his way to his fallen men with a cutlass longer than my arm. The silver blade flashed as it sliced through the air in wide arcs, severing the monsters grotesque arms ...
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Shaken to the Core
I was walking through the mall when I recieved the text message. I read it. And then I read it again slowly, one word at a time. The entire message consisted of two simple sentences that crippled me. You once told me that you would always love me. I...
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Nothing Lost is Nothing Found
My mission to find Lynn was all that was holding insanity back. Now my girl was out of sight again, possibly for good. How could it turn out this badly? From start to finish, nothing was right. Our painful history ran though my mind, razor-ribbons slow...
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On Patrol: Hooked
“That flare was meant to draw more attention than that of bats. The ghost flares will be useless if they can pinpoint our location.” Firus said. We rushed back down the stairs to the lower deck and opened the door to a hellish scene. Small ...
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On Patrol: Going Down
My fingers were beginning to burn from the wind. I carefully flexed them to keep feeling in them. More of the strange creatures dropped through the cloud cover and curved toward us. The frame of the ship shook violently, once and then again, as the can...
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On Patrol: Eyes in the Sky
“Don’t worry- I’m right behind you.” I wasn’t going to risk letting him out of my sight. Just because he had reason to trust all of his crew didn’t mean I did. This would be a perfect time for an assassin to strike. ...
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One by One the Voices fall Silent
I must escape this place before it is too late. My sickness grows upon me. I know not how much longer I can perservere. Some of the voices have fallen silent while others have become hollow, mere shadows of sound. Noise poured forth from my mouth that ...
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Taken: An Unfortunate Inheritance
“I am no more dead than you!” I replied sharply. It was a struggle against the passage of time and the swell of unpleasant memories to recall the gardner’s name. After a moment of staring at that hardened and aged face, that had more ...
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On Patrol: Evasive Maneuvers
I kept calm and relayed the information. “One ship, maybe more, not any of ours- at least according the troop movements we last recieved. Long range skirmisher. We went dark as soon as we saw them but they’re already moving to intercept us....
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Even the Sun Cries
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A Toast to Mortality
Four shot glasses filled with absinthe rose together. “To the death!” We chorused happily. It was our traditional toast, somehow managing to be the phrase that encapsulated our good luck and yet also dared the gods to do their worst. We rea...