In the old days, I'd have found better ways of using the time. I longed to take myself off to a remote place-- an Artic radio station, a mountain lookout, or -- in grander dreams-- the epic loneliness of a spacecraft. The gentle persistent of daily routines. The making of coffee, the delicacy of chocolate. … Continue reading The Great Release
Category: Fiction
The Valley
'A storm was moving into the valley now and the rain had begun to fall and the wind sang down through the vines and he listened for what the house could say to him. So many had claimed that this valley spoke to them and maybe it has spoken to me too but I don't … Continue reading The Valley
Automated Houses
I visited an old acquaintance, a performance poet who had left the city some years before, and moved to the wilds of the north. Our friendship had always been tentative and slightly awkward, in that I had little respect for his work, and he, I knew, felt the same about mine. Still, after many years … Continue reading Automated Houses
Raindrops In A Pond
'There is a story about a woman who goes into labor when the attending physician is tired. There is a story about a woman who is herself born too early. There is a story about a woman whose body clung to her child so hard they cut her to retrieve him. There is a story … Continue reading Raindrops In A Pond
Canvases
At one time or another, the cottage appeared to have been the residence for a landscape painter: Mitchell uncovered scraps of oil-soaked material, brushes, and dried-out paints, and on a set of shelves at the back of the room, he found a pile of canvases. One of the pictures showed a coastal scene, a wide … Continue reading Canvases
A Second Volume
''By the way,' the old man said, smiling guiltily. 'While you were in the park this morning, I took the liberty of borrowing this.' He reached inside his jacket and drew forth Vilar's collection of poems. 'Oh? What did you think of them?' Vilar asked. The patriarch frowned, fidgeted and coughed. 'Ah--''An honest opinion,' Vilar … Continue reading A Second Volume
Ganzer Eggs
'The Ganzer Rain Forest on Melde was deep and wide; the faintest ghost of a breeze whispered among the colossal trees, slithered through the interlocked vines, and crept broken-backed over hook-edged grass. Drops of water slid painfully down and around the tangled foliage like exhausted runners of a maze, coming to rest at last in … Continue reading Ganzer Eggs
The Pestilence
'For the past several years Asiatic cholera had shown a strong tendency to spread. Its source was the hot, moist swamps of the delta of the Ganges, where it bred in the mephitic air of that primeval island-jungle, among whose bamboo thickets the tiger crouches, where life of every sort flourishes in rankest abundance, and … Continue reading The Pestilence
My War
I sat out my war in a series of back end stations, always behind the frontline, couched down away from missiles and drones. The days were long and filled with abortive chess moves, and the radios rarely worked. We raided local supplies for wine and cheeses, although these were poor products, lacking in bucolic artistry, … Continue reading My War
Amazing Space
They were heading to the coastal town. Mitchell agreed to join them, which caused Hannah to shoot a look at him, which he couldn't quite read. She walked on the other side of Tudor, her hair wound up in a crimson scarf. A storm appeared to be boiling out over the sea: a refined silver … Continue reading Amazing Space
Absence Club 