The chairwoman of the antidisestablishmentarianism conference was better known for her experimentation with deoxyribonucleic acid.
Author: bryon
Fiction: ‘If You Really Want One’
“Isn’t this damn line ever going to move?”
“No, Erik, it isn’t,” Lee said. “This is hell, and we’ll be standing here for all eternity. Just to annoy you.”
“I believe it,” Erik said.
“Erik,” Bobby said, “I know we dragged you here against your will, but try to have just the tiniest bit of fun, huh?”
“Yeah, try not to make us wish we were dead, too,” Arthur pleaded.
“I’m told that the dead have very few problems.”
His friends sighed; Erik the Grim had spoken.
Through the tightly packed mass of people thronging the state fair, Erik brightened suddenly as he spotted an old man holding a fresh caramel apple by its stick.
Quotable 118
People read fiction for emotion – not information.
– Sinclair Lewis
haiku 230
<squirrels>
a quick look away
</squirrels>
#quikfic 17
The hangman let the scaffold’s trapdoor fall open. In that instant, Plundering Pete remembered a library book he hadn’t returned.
Fiction: Acceptable Risks
I agreed to meet her in the relative quiet of station night.
A space station never sleeps; the same work goes on all the time. But in a nod to our animal selves, some of the station’s lights dim at a certain hour, and business tends to be done more quietly while not quite half the people sleep.
I knew why she wanted to see me. We had a history. It was almost businesslike; we would make an exchange, and then I wouldn’t see her again until she wanted to make another exchange.
I walked slowly down the twilit corridor toward her apartment. Station personnel like me have quarters; civilians have apartments. It’s a nice distinction. Someday I’d like to have an apartment, but what would I do on Outreach Four if I weren’t in Spacefleet?
At her door, I paused. If I got caught, I’d be cashiered and sent back to Earth. Worse, her part of the exchange…
Quotable 117
Most things good for writing are bad for life. “May your life be not very good material” is a blessing I offer students.
– Lorrie Moore
haiku 229
German shepherd
half again as tall
as the fence
haiku 228
anniversary –
less than a month left
before our divorce
Fiction: Gentle Winds and Waters Near
The reboot program worked furiously for seventeen minutes, trying to get Killmech 215-70308 back into action. The basic repair functions were destroyed; rebooting was the only chance for reactivation. The reboot attempt would continue until it was successful or the mech was permanently powered down.During the eighteenth minute, the mech’s sensor array and AI came online.
The mech realized that it was on the ground. None of its limbs or its assortment of weapons were active, and neither was its powerplant. A quick diagnostic revealed that they would never be online again. The mech was alive on limited battery power.
It listened for the sounds of the battle but heard nothing.
The battle is over. Were we successful?