The Ultimate Drink (about 1500 words)

 

The Canteen literature prompt from Iron Age Media

Found in an empty hotel room in Nueva Helena, the largest city on the mining planet of New Montana.

I'm writing this because I can't explain the weird, sinking sensation I have right now. I feel stupid suggesting that this piece of paper might end up being my last will and testament. Not that I have much in the way to hand down, but if somebody finds this and I'm no longer around, I guess everything I have should go to my son, Jamie Soerman, who lives with my ex-wife Isabel on Wisdom, in the Artestren system.

I expect I'll be back in a few hours, and I'll destroy this paper and go on with my life, but as I sit here in this hotel room, I have this uneasy feeling in my stomach and I can't get rid of it.

Three months ago I was sitting at the bar in a little hole in the wall on Vitra with my usual glass of whiskey in front of me. The room was noisy, full of smoke, and smelled of stale liquor and all the regrettably human smells that come along with stale liquor. There I was, staring into my glass when a stranger pushed through the crowd of people to the empty seat next to me.

The Wonder of Out-of-Copyright Literature

The cover of the copy of Dracula I got from the Archive.

As a writer and a reader, I need a good source of things to read at all times. As I get older, I find myself with a growing desire to read the old classics, and it's easier than ever in history to do it. One thing I've been doing a lot recently is finding old gems over on the Internet Archive. You can find all kinds of out-of-copyright literature over there--great old books scanned in and ready for you to read.

 I've enjoyed putting in the names of old authors and classic books and seeing what's available. It turns out that for books that are old enough, there's a fairly good chance of finding a nice PDF or two that is actually easy and pleasant to read on a screen.

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.