I was wondering how Super Villains acquired their henchmen, and imagined the interview process with someone who didn’t seem to quite fit the villain mold. “Ultimate Awareness” coupled that idea with the “Why?” of a particular villain. Here’s the Blurb Omnius has relied on his Ultimate Awareness to dominate the city as well as any … Continue reading
“Truth in Advertising” is a humorous short story I wrote about a paranoid advertising agent who thinks someone is out to get him. Well, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you. His concerns are real, although how climate change and extraterrestrials are involved, well… Here’s the Blurb A paranoid marketer … Continue reading
“Behind the 8-Ball” came from an image in my mind of a body being carried by group of suited astronauts on a moonscape, within sight of a green/blue planet. Then I worked backwards – I had to figure out why he was there, and decided he was an “explorer” sent through a wormhole to find … Continue reading
Happy Veteran’s Day! I’m not quite sure how “Gladius” wound up where it ended – the original story was to have something to do with virtual reality and infectious ideas, but then the virtual coliseum shifted to being the actual reality, a place where various races had been taken as slaves by a master alien … Continue reading
I wasn’t thinking of anything in particular when “Saturday He Fed the Cat” came to me. It may have been influenced by the death of our 15-year old westie a couple of months earlier (Katy – the namesake of the story’s protagonist, and the westie pictured on the cover. She never told me that she’d … Continue reading
“Finding Sanctuary” just started with the idea of a human colony ship wandering through space in search of a home. Eventually they find one. But an alien planet suitable for life would of course have alien life, wouldn’t it? It would be nice to think they’d be welcoming, but…, well…, WE’D be the aliens then, … Continue reading
When I wrote “Dempsey’s Debut” I was thinking about an alien species judging us by our violent past (maybe not just judging us on it, but interested in us specifically because of it.) As all distant relationships go, they were not reading us quite right (they were seeing our gladiator movies and boxing and other … Continue reading
“Close Enough” came from the expression “close enough for government work.” What would that look like over galactic or planetary distances? How badly could a non-responsive agency botch things, and what kind of NORMAL people might put themselves in a position to depend on that agency? Here’s the Blurb Could a Messier object be any … Continue reading
“The Red Barrens” really did start out as a simple wordplay on The Red Barron. I picked the title first, and then tried to work out what it was about. BARRENS and RED made me think of some other planet (okay – my obsession with going to Mars may have played into it), and since … Continue reading
The expression “The Wolves Will Come” was supposed to be a negative and represent a danger; colonists are on the run from their enemies, and they are forced to leave their home and their elderly behind. I wanted the elder to be abandoned by necessity, but proudly, not as a victim. It wasn’t until I … Continue reading
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