No Ticket (short story, about 3300 words)

The Station literature prompt from IronAge.media

All the old people say our town hasn’t been the same since the war. I can’t say for sure, ‘cause I don’t remember that far back, but looking at the bombed-out factories and scorched rubble that nobody ever managed to clean up in fifteen years... it at least seems believable.

Is that why I listened when that old man sat down for me to shine his shoes? Maybe because he seemed to know what he was talking about. Maybe that glimmer in his eyes told me that there was something better for me if I played my cards right.

Uncle Gluon's Sapient Plasma Pets!

 

Photo by Zoltan Tasi at Unsplash!

(Something random and funny I found on my old hard drive, never published before...)

Bored sick of the usual, organic pet products available on the market today? Too busy to feed one, too squeamish to clean up after its messes? Tired of silicon-based rock pets, too? Not interested in the merely clever genetically engineered ones? Then try one of Uncle Gluon's Sapient Plasma Pets!

What the Soul Still Fears, Released!

Have you ever jumped because a moth flew at you? At a peculiarly-shaped shadow in the night? Something harmless like that? These reactions are a part of your brain that is a relic of evolution, so ingrained that you need not even think of it--or more so--even if you think of it, sometimes you cannot resist the sheer instinctive force of your ancient reptile brain. 

What if there was something that, instead of terrifying your brain, brought a similar instinctive fear to your soul? Something, perhaps, long banished from this world, that no human has been exposed to for hundreds or even thousands of years. Would you shake? Jump? Scream? If you did, would it be your brain doing those things?

What the Soul Still Fears is now available at your favorite e-book retailers!  This time, I set up a simultaneous release at Smashwords and Amazon.  See?  I'm learning!

Get my homage to Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness just about anywhere you like.

You want it at Amazon?  I got you covered.

You prefer Barnes and Noble?  Get your Nook and hold on for some weird sci-fi.

You're one of those Apple lovers?  Sweet.

You like vanilla Smashwords?  Of course, I've got a link for you.

You use Kobo?  Here you go.

Odilo?  I'm on it.

What the Soul Still Fears (Novella preview!)

A photo of Rome by Martin Guido at Unsplash

I am finishing up my next novella, a story of fear even deeper-seated in our beings than those peculiar reflexive reactions we have to certain shapes that suggest predators, or movements that hint at imminent attack.

Have you ever jumped because a moth flew at you?  At a peculiarly-shaped shadow in the night?  Something harmless like that?  These reactions are a part of your brain that is a relic of evolution, so ingrained that you need not even think of it--or more so--even if you think of it, sometimes you cannot resist the sheer instinctive force of your ancient reptile brain.

What if there was something that, instead of terrifying your brain, brought fear to your soul?  Something, perhaps, long banished from this world, that no human has been exposed to for hundreds or even thousands of years.  Would you shake?  Jump?  Scream?  If you did, would it be your brain doing those things?

What the Soul Still Fears follows the efforts of psychiatrist and neurologist Arthur Barstow as he is drawn into a bizarre study of the unknown by his childhood friend, physicist Luca Pellegrino.

Sample below... full version coming soon to e-book retailers!

Edit: Available now!

Jade Cargo (about 2800 words)

"The Infestation" prompt image from Iron Age Media

“Unidentified skiff, please respond.” It was the fourth time I had hailed them. I waited a few more seconds, and then I keyed my communicator off. It looked like the ship was dead, and my patrol just got a lot more interesting. I set my autopilot to approach for docking, and I walked over to the suit compartment near the airlock. I slipped out of my magnetic shoes and put on the pressure suit instead. The helmet went on with a turn and a crunchy click. I still needed to get those damn seals changed. With a flick of my fingers, the suit started its self-tests, and I stood still as the whole suit over-pressurized a little to test for leaks. It was hard to move when it was like this, anyway.

My Story Has a Laser... (math)

Time for more fun with real physics!

In my most recent novella, I talk about a laser in use by Luca's group in an interferometer.  Initially, I just wrote "The best measurements they had suggested that the beam might be expected to increase in size by one percent over a hundred meters, a fairly difficult feat, considering the diffraction limit at that wavelength," but damn it, I can do better than that, so let's go!

Draft of new novella finished: Immaterial Terror (tentative title)

Just finished the first draft of a cosmic horror novella I've been working on the past while.  I had an idea I liked, thought it would make a good short story, and I was 6000 words in when I realized it was going to be significantly longer than I originally thought. The full story comes out at a little under 20000 words.

The Broken Home (about 2900 words)

 

"The Outlanders" image prompt from Iron Age Media

    The item at auction was floundering. Bidding had been contentious up to one hundred thousand, but now it had slowed and the auctioneer was surveying the crowd. No one seemed willing to go over two hundred thousand. The auctioneer slammed the gavel once, twice, but then a voice rang out, clear and confident over the rest of the grumbling crowd.

    “Ten million.” The tangled thrum of voices vanished in an instant. The auctioneer blinked, failing to hide his shock for a second before he acknowledged the bid.

    “I have ten million,” he murmured, a twinge of disbelief clear in his voice. “Do I have eleven?”

    There were no further bids. The sound of the gavel rang out with finality.

The Last Theorem Flash Review

 A couple of weeks ago, I was wandering around my local library, and saw a book by Arthur C. Clarke!  "My goodness," I thought to myself, "I've read the first two Rama books, and I think the second Odyssey book (or had I only seen the first two movies?), and they were great!  Let's check it out!

Sudden productivity...

 Just pushed through a mild bit of writer's block in the last few days.  I had what I thought was an interesting seed idea for a little story, and it's actually looking like it's going to be longer than I thought.  I think that story's up over 7000 words now in just a few days of work.

Also making some more progress on the first draft of the novel, so that's good too.

I think it was an extended brainstorming session that helped get me moving again.  Never underestimate the value of clearing out your mind and writing down a bunch of stuff that's occupying your attention. Also, it's been a little cooler, which helps.

Why Flash Fiction is so Difficult...

Flash fiction is an excellent writing exercise, but it's a very different animal from longer-form writing.  In the last two months, I joined a writing forum that has monthly flash fiction competitions, and my first idea was a great idea (well, I thought so...) but it was just too much for flash fiction!

Let me explain:  if you're limited to 650 words--and I mean a hard limit--you had better make sure you restrict the action in your story to a small enough list that you can still add some descriptive words and all that good stuff.

Modern Improvements (about 1300 words)

 

"The Pixie" Image prompt from IronAge Media

This prompt was a nice change in tone, and made me think of a warm, light comedy.  Without further ado:

Thwack. Isabella was jarred awake by the ugly sound. She rose from her bed and flitted over to her door, her wings shaking loose a night's worth of scales. There was no one at the door, she confirmed as she peered through the little window.

The Fifth (short story, about 1700 words)

 

"The Castaway" Image Prompt from IronAge.Media

“We've done it,” Tom said, nearly a whisper. “We've left the Solar system.” He glanced at the numbers on his screen, half in disbelief. They were the first humans to make it outside the Kuiper Belt. Fifty-five times further away from the Sun than the Earth, the trip had taken nearly a month using the most powerful rockets the human race could produce. Even now, the thrusters continued their burn, creating a weak but definite sense of gravity inside the ship.

One Glowing Ember (flash fiction, about 600 words)

 

"The Fable" prompt image from IronAge.Media

The boy stumbled over the words as he stared fixedly at the book. “The great... king Leo... dee-... deh-... decreed that all people in the... kingdom had cer... certain rights... that even he, the... the... di-... divine... uh... sov... sovereggen...”

“Sovereign,” corrected Mautenrach, his bronze scales rippling down his back as he tasted the word. Some human words were so... delicious.

A Fun Time Writing Bad Guys

 One of the quirks of my fiction so far is that I've deliberately avoided writing villains.  For one, I'm trying to world-build a place where aggression and banditry of all sorts are rare.  For two, I find situations of man vs. nature or man vs. himself much more interesting, personally.  I love writing about intelligent people faced with a difficult problem figuring out how to overcome and succeed, and I felt like those sorts of situations were better ways to introduce and develop characters, rather than having some obvious evil for them to rail against.

Six Chapters In...

 Just a little progress report, but I figured what the heck.  That full-length Misevelin Salvage adventure I'm working on, I've got drafts of the first six chapters, coming out at about 17000 words so far.  I'm probably only about a quarter of the way through, maybe a little less.

I just finished writing detailed outlines of the next two chapters, so those are on the way in the next few days.

More Calculations

 This time, I needed to come up with a reasonable gas giant planet's parameters and calculate reasonable and minimum orbit times, so more research and more fun math!

LOL "Calculations"

 It's an easy calculation, but I thought it was funny that I wasn't willing to brush it off.  I'm working on a full novel-length story featuring the Misevelin Salvage team, and had some rough ideas about how far apart some things were, but I just needed to be absolutely sure.  I dunno, I just thought it was funny.

Is this a point in favor of hard sci-fi, or against?  Is it both?!

One Double-Edge of Hard Sci-Fi

 I just wrote the intro chapter to my first full-length novel.  It's going to be a longer, more involved adventure of the Misevelin Salvage team, with a lot more characters and stuff going on.  This is something I've been waiting to start on for a while, because I wanted to spend a little time working on short stories and novella-length works before diving into a full novel.

However, what I want to talk about in this post is how difficult it can be to write in a medium-hard or hard sci-fi system.  I've already set up that there is no artificial gravity, and that most ships don't bother to install a rotating part, since most space flights are relatively short (due to Shelf space travel--FTL, basically).

Outopos, A Short Story (about 3100 words)

 

VeeTwo held her gaze on the small concrete structure and visualized a trigger being pulled. A few seconds later, there was a flash of light, a plume of infrared emissions, and then it was over. The last human holdout, the final store of some fragment of their history, was destroyed. All that was left now were occasional small groups, limited to Bronze Age technology, at best. The Silicon Civilization had won.

Before Death Blossoms released!

 That novella I was working on?  It's a little later than I expected, but it's done and up at Smashwords!  I'm quite satisfied with the result.  It's a longer work using the character Lawrence G. Samson from Old Forests and Older Things Within.  It's very pulpy.  Basically, he's trying to chase down a parasitic plant that uses people to spread its pollen, thorns, and seeds.  It's a bit of action, a bit of sci-fi, and a bit of detective work.  Plus, I had an idea for how to expand that universe and add some more characters, which will help me make more complex and interesting stories in the setting from here on out.

Samson novella first draft done!

 Just finished the first draft of that Samson novella.  I like the flow of the plot but I think the phrasing is going to need some tweaking before it's ready for prime time.  Came out at about 20000 words.  And of course I need to source a cover, and I'm having real trouble even figuring out what I think a good cover for this would be.  The main story elements don't really jump out at me as suitable for a cover that will not be terribly misleading.  Hmmm...

L. G. Samson Novella Well Underway

 I'm making some fun progress on my new novella.  I'm about 10k words in and really enjoying it.  Lawrence George Samson is a character I introduced in my short story "Old Forests and Older Things Within," (also available at Smashwords for free in a variety of formats) and he's my take on a pulp hero.  Forced into hiding after an incident that consumed the rest of his scientific team, he's put together a good suite of skills and technology to root out and extinguish all sorts of nasty creatures that threaten mankind.

The PAEAN Project (about 3100 words)

 0630 hrs (local time), March 19, 1968: I'm starting this journal without knowing exactly what will become of it. It may be destroyed, or I may be allowed to keep it, but I have had the habit for a long time, and my circumstances now suggest that recording these events may be advisable. I am sitting now in a dingy passenger cabin on a large cargo ship, having boarded yesterday under orders. The ship's name, painted on the front, is Cavalier, but it was obvious that this new name was recently painted on as I boarded. I am, or rather was, a communications officer at the U.S. Naval Station at Guam, under command of the Naval Forces Marianas. A few days ago, I and several other officers were ordered to prepare to change our station to a large cargo ship that had just arrived in port. We were not given many details, and the operation was treated with high secrecy, but not classified in any official manner, which is why I feel justified in keeping this journal. We are to set sail in about three hours, according to a schedule I have seen, but aside from that, I have no other details. We are apparently heading south. After we get underway, there is supposed to be a briefing for us. The crew seems to be a mix of Navy and civilian people, and I saw a large group of what looked like scientists housed near the aft of the ship.

The Corner of My Eye (about 2400 words)

 The massive front door, made of thick, dark wood, swung closed with barely a squeak. I heard the latch catch, and at last I was alone in my new house. Now that it was mine, I felt a powerful urge to tour my beautiful home once more. The walls, painted in deep colors--the entrance hall in hunter green, the living room in apricot, the study in carmine, the kitchen in a creamy alabaster. Each room had its own color and its own feel. The wooden paneling, dark and smooth. The rugs and runners, soft and warm and dyed in ornate patterns. The heavy wooden doors, which mostly swung easily and without a sound, cut off the sounds from outside each room, making each space a world of its own.

Missed Contact released!

My new novella, Missed Contact, has just released!  It's only on Smashwords right now, but it should be appearing on the other platforms they work with once it's approved.  I'll edit this post and add more links when that happens.

Edit: I've got a full store page for it now!

It's another adventure with the Misevelin Salvage crew from my first novella, The Hyacinth Rescue.  This time, they're looking for a survey team that stopped checking in while they were exploring a newly-discovered planet.  An old coworker from back when Aric was working at his uncle's company, Greg Ralchester, drops by the office to offer them the job.

What follows is an uncertain and tense experience as Aric, Bill, and Lew try to find the crew and get to the bottom of what happened to them.

Sleight of Hand (about 1500 words)

People love magic shows. The skill, the misdirection, the unexpected--what's not to like! So when I discovered as a young man that I could actually do magic, not just little tricks like palming a coin or trick-shuffling a deck of cards, I was overjoyed--at first. But as I managed to perform a few neat tricks here or there, I realized that I didn't have complete control over it. Sometimes I would feel a weird tingle in my spine, and the hairs on the back of my neck would stand up, and something even I wasn't expecting would happen.