“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
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
“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
Cats of War III (my third Herc Tom, Champion of the Empire collection) has arrived at its release day! Fractured Fragment Friday moves on to the eleventh story in the series– “Copy Cat.” (BTW – I’m participating in the 14th Annual Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale! Swordsmaster and all my collections are available at 50% off – … Continue reading
Cats of War III (my third Herc Tom, Champion of the Empire collection) has arrived at its release day! Fractured Fragment Friday moves on to the tenth story in the series– “The Cat’s Paw.” (BTW – I’m participating in the 14th Annual Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale! Swordsmaster and all my collections are available at 50% off … Continue reading
“A Dish Best Served” started simply with a desire to use a multi-course meal as the vehicle for a story. I started writing with the critic vs. chef theme, and the rest of the story came out of the pen on its own (or with the help of my favorite Poe story, “A Cask of … Continue reading
As Halloween creeps up on us, all of October’s Fractured Fragment Fridays will promote stories from my themed collection WEIRD, But not TOO Scary Tales. This Fractured Fragment Friday, I offer an Edgar Alan Poe inspired tale. “A Dish Best Served” started simply with a desire to use an x-course meal as the vehicle for … Continue reading
As Halloween creeps up on us, all of October’s Fractured Fragment Fridays will promote stories from my themed collection WEIRD, But not TOO Scary Tales. “Breathing is Overrated” earned me my second of four Honorable Mentions in the Writers of the Future contest. It started when someone I know was having breathing problems, and the … Continue reading
“Cannabis alienus ‘alien dope’” originated from something that really happened to me (no, not the alien slug.) My family moved out of state before my junior year of high school, and two years later (after graduation) I made a trip back to what used to be home, to try reconnecting with people I knew. Aside … Continue reading
“The Sheila Wulf Chitinoid Sessions” is NOT about problems with space crabs. I just wanted to play with the mistake we make about assuming that other life (and people) have to be the same as us, looking and behaving like something familiar to us instead of something alien. And if we can have tools and … Continue reading
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