As an undergrad I was an engineering student at an average school and I was an average student. I always kid that on my diploma it reads "Graduated (just)". My grades left an awful lot to be desired. I took a few years off after graduation and played for a while in industry before going to graduate school. I call my undergraduate degree my mother's degree be...
Author's Notes: Set in a subtly-alternative near future, this is my first attempt at Sci-Fi. This series takes one perspective on the question of "nature vs nurture" and follows the thread to see where it goes. I don't have it mapped out or anything, so I can't tell you how long it will go. I don't imagine it will be quite the endeavor that "Constant is Cha...
If Wilhelm Braun was ever asked to define the word patriarch, he would have said Grossvater. His grandfather epitomized the word, he was the male head of the family all decisions were his and as his grandmother's frequent bruises confirmed obedience alone was not enough, speed was also of the essence. Otto Braun not only invented the word patriarch but to h...
The human and not so human body has many wonderful automatic and autonomic responses built in for pain, pleasure, and survival. These responses can be as simple as closing our eyes to a bright flash of light, to the brain sending us into an unconscious state when the agony becomes too much to withstand. It had been three days since my brain flipped the off...
PROLOGUE: The two detective entered the interview room and called out to the sleeping man. "Mr. Williams." The man did not move. They called again. "Mr. Williams, are you alright?" The man stirred and lifted his head from his arms that were crossed beneath his head. The man slowly sat up and wiped drool from the corners of his mouth. He looked horribl...
The candle-light played on the tribal patterns stained into her cloak. Though it was a warm night, she trembled- she could not shake the feeling at the back of her mind that she might not survive the night. She could see through the eyes of the featureless black mask covering her face, this wooden platform up on the highest tree in the oasis. The floor of a...
Sunnyvale, California Earth 1997 Mark Hanson's hands shook the entire day. An excited, nervous tension sliding through him from his feet to his scalp to his fingers. Tonight. Tonight. Tonight. "Hey, retard." The voice snapped him out of his focus on trying to keep his feet moving one step ahead of him. It was harder than it sounded - he was alway...
Chapter 10 – Mother Of Mangos I had a dream... Pears, oranges, bananas, apples, melons, papayas, cumquats, and other fruits varied were chasing me but somehow it was the bananas that were tormenting me the most. The bananas had caught me and were just about to... and then I woke up. The vines that bound my wrists behind my back were gone as were those holdi...
I awoke from my nap to a great deal of drama going out outside the tent. I could hear horses arriving, and people talking in raised voices, though I still did not know what they were staying as the UT was stuck on 3%. I got quickly to my feet to see what was going on, but before going to look I thought I had better put some clothing on. My fingers moved to t...
The democracy of the star-spanning Lazanha Combine reached far and wide into the Galaxy, but it did not reach as far as Sorilior. Located on the southernmost edge of the galactic central bulge, this was a world that had enjoyed unchallenged feudalism for countless millennia. Even so, hyperspace travellers had occasionally made their way there and started tr...