Fiction

The Goddess Of Bleecker Street

“My, God! Marie Carro! I haven’t seen you in years! How is my favorite performance artist doing?”

“Installation artist, Tom. Surely you remember the difference?”

“Sorry. It’s been… how many years? I left NYU over 12 years ago. What brings you to Boston? Here for an exhibition?

“Well, actually, Tom, I came to see you."

”I’m honored! Thanks for stopping by! Here, grab a seat.”

Hoodlum

Danny McGovern knew he was being followed. He walked down the backstreets, tried every dirty alley he could find to give the guy the slip. But each time he caught a glimpse in a truck mirror, that big old ugly shadow threw itself across him, like death’s hoodlum. Danny couldn’t afford to wait any longer. He drew out the gun, thinking of Janet, her ocean blue eyes, the way she fitted out every dress she owned and turned; he was doing this for her. The hoodlum’s eyes drew wide at the sight of the gun. There was a second that seemed to go on forever and then...

Canoe Trip

The Elk River at the extreme southwest edge of Missouri ran quick and full. Late spring rains had filled it nearly to the banks, covering low-water sand bars and submerging jagged tree-limbs that could potentially destroy an unsuspecting tourist’s canoe.

Roll Another Joint For Me, Baby!

Dinwitty died a half an hour ago. Six quick thrusts with an old-fashioned hunting knife to his torso and no one saw the killer. He led Lady Sylvia's birthday parade as her Kavalier of Cheese. He wore his best hopes, a skin-tight, rainbow cat suit and his signature black duster. He will return to us in a shroud of memories. Lady Sylvia stood over the body aghast that anyone would try to hurt one of her adoring fans, or unimaginably, consider assassinating her royal personage.

Hurts' Revelation

It was four days until Halloween, and the Grand Hotel had its “grand” opening two weeks ago. Its building was part of the revitalization effort of city leaders to rebuild downtown St. Louis to promote tourism and economic growth to a struggling city.

The Doctor Who Died

The night was cold. Sitting on a wooden chair, with his face dumped inside a “BIO-CHEMISTRY” book, The Doctor suddenly looked up at his flickering study-light. Ah, must get a new one, he realized. Eventually I will, anyway, he promptly went back to reading again.

Darkness

Journal 1, March 1st 3210:

It’s dark outside. It has been for nearly thirty years. I can’t remember the last time I saw the sun, but I know that I was very young. They say the sun got too hot and burnt out. But my family knows that that isn’t the truth. They want us to think that, to hide what they did to us. I’m not exactly sure what it was, but I am sure of one thing. They want us to stay in the dark, from the sun, and from the truth.

Nanjing Memories

I flew up the stairs, rounded the corner and there he was, right in front of me, gun raised, smiling, gleaming white teeth on coco brown skin. Upon closer inspection, I beheld the twin barrels of the shotgun, the two gun-metal-gray barrels of my demise.

Hostage

On a quiet Sunday morning, under a clear blue sky and a bright, warm sun, Stephen White huffed and puffed his way up a steep bank above the Marais des Cynges River in a forested region not far from the Missouri-Kansas border and towards a cave that he had explored the previous fall.

IT, Or A Prelude to C Major

MIDDLESEX COUNTY, NJ

Late 20th Century

When things were a bit different.

“Fill it ALL out, completely” commanded one rather large, overweight human being. The voice belonged to a body sausaged into a much too tight button-down shirt and pants, topped with a mop of black hair.

The Tenacity of the Species

I was the last of my kind. From the frigid confines of a rat-infested cave outside the city, I sensed them searching. I had eluded them in the ruins of Portland, but now, like the fox at the end of a chase, my battered body was desperate for a few hours rest. My final sprint would take me north, into the snow and ice and, hopefully, sanctuary.

Helical-9

When I met her on the planet’s surface, Mex Christophe was everything I’d expected. Born into the false 1.3 Earth-standard G of the space station orbiting Helical-9, she was short and muscular, like all those born to the scientists seeded this far out into space. She was seventeen standard years old, had graduated from H-9 Home's medical facility as a precision Med-Tech and taken her first junior position with a recon-team.

From Gettysburg to Bagdad

(FADE IN)
(Dr. Frederick Gibbons, a renowned scientist, is working in his lab. Dr. Gibbons is as controversial as he is respected among his peers. He is convinced time travel is possible based on different dimensions. Now in the final stages of testing his theories, Dr. Gibbons has decided to keep his tests confidential, only sharing them with his trusted assistant Tolliver.

Pandemic

Compu-Net Telecommunications Systems
Time :    6/30 4:26 p.m.
To :      All my personal friends and their personal computers
From :    The Bug
Subject : Floppy birthday, America

Hi there, PC freaks. Here I am on-line again to remind you I’ll be coming at you with the Freedom Virus on July 4th, just in time for barbecue. Call it my Declaration of Independence, because I intend to liberate every PC on both sides of the Mississippi, ya-hoo! I’ve taken my inspiration from the best virus writers out there, Rabid, Nuke, Friday the 13th, Michelangelo, the Maltese Amoeba, Chernobol, The Love Bug, et al. Now if all of you would kindly step aside, it’s time to cache in your microchips while I park in your cyberspace. The Bug will take it from here, thank you very much.

The Fates

“This is it. It has to be.” said the outlander. His mouth was dry. The air was fresh, rain had not fallen for months and the wind whistled. There were no footprints or tracks at the base of the stairs except for his own; evidence suggesting he was in the wrong place.

Dancing With the Velvet Lizard: A review

One thing you can say about Bruce Golden's fiction, is that it always delivers something different. From such diverse novels as Evergreen and Better Than Chocolate to his short stories, you'll likely find something innovative and entertaining. No extended series or sequels, just new characters, new conflicts, and sometimes, new laughs. He's one of the best kept secrets in the world of speculative fiction.

Through the Shaded Woods

It was a warm and sunny morning and Miriam decided to have her tea on the back porch that overlooked the stretch of woods. The woods had slowly crept up toward the house in the fifty years she had lived there. The trees nearest her were saplings – small gray oaks and maples, she thought, but wasn’t sure. Behind the initial saplings, the trees grew taller and thicker and the woods darker.

A Dental Persuasion

“OH breath of a thousand camels”. That’s what she called me one morning.

“And you ain’t no spring flower either,” I said, quickly moving out of her fists thrust.

“If you want to PLAY this morning, you’ll do something about that breath of yours, shave and freshen up. I can wait, and I will bring things to a simmer… while you’re busy,” she said, smiling, rolling onto her stomach.

Good Luck Charm

Like most girls, Shreya was crazy about shopping. She loved clothes and didn’t mind spending all her pocket money on them. She could never resist a sale “after all, it comes only once in a year” nor could she walk out of exhibitions empty-handed, “the clothes were positively calling out to me." Much as she loved stacking the shelves of her wardrobe with new buys, she was extremely attached to one particular T-shirt.

The Runner

It was 6 am on a Friday. That’s when he did his usual running: just before the sun rose and began to blind the daily crowd. The Runner was an athletic man. His cheeks, once thin from all the running, were now slightly rounded out. His wife had passed years before and his existence began to lose meaning, just as the World began to lose its meaning as well.

	The Ash Virus
	The Tale of Bob
	Mission 197
	R. L. Vogeler’s “Reminiscence of an American Dream”
	New Sci-Fi Thriller 'SABER Ladder' by Cory Richardson

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