November 1948 Oakland, California Bleary-eyed and doing his best not to fall asleep, John Crossfield cast a weary gaze on the departure board above the ticket counter for the tenth time in about as many minutes, then, looking at his Hamilton wrist watch, he hoped against all reasonable expectation that today's train would be called on time. It was almost...
"What would a monster do with a core?" I asked, and Casey blinked several times, her eyes flicking between the Kobalt, and my own concerned gaze. "I- I don't know," she answered, apparently as flabbergasted by the development as I was. I turned to Gisela. "Do monsters ever do that?" I asked, and the girl quickly shook her head. "It is not within my under...
Original story: Stormbringer Adapted/ continued: RogueAlan NOTE: Stormbringer created essentially a screenplay for Recession Blues, which has been an illustrated comic. He graciously allowed me to flesh it out into the story that was chapter 1, and to take his memorable character and see what I thought would happen next. I believe I once read where he said...
Rules for the Breaking "The problem with temptation is that you may not get another chance." ― -Laurence J. Peter 1 Dazed from the spell of introspection, Chase dawdled her fingers to the next page of her journal. She sat alone in her bed, staring soberly at the pre-dawn gloom beyond the room's east window. Thoughts merged like colliding storm clouds. T...
Special note: I wish to thank Annette Bishop, Kirsten, Nancy, Liz, Ted, and Amanda; without whose support and inspiration this story would not have been created. Thank you all so very much! ***** The two women walked along side one another in the wooded grove of cedars, olives, and cypress trees; their wispy short gowns billowing slightly in the warm bre...
Sorry that it takes so long but finding time to write is not always easy. I would like to thank Madison (ThanatopicFolds) for all the time invested. Your red pen is the string that holds the story together and prevents it from falling on its ass. I also want to thank all the nice people who wrote me and encouraged me to keep going. On with the story. $$$...
I was naïve in believing that divorce would solve all of my problems. My problems had only just begun. Now where did I get this nugget of wisdom? From the same place I get most of my truly wise insights, school. But not just any school. I learned this from what I jokingly call the school of hard knocks. Here I sit in this little airplane seat thinking how...
Philip Johnson Prologue Princeton Dynamics was a successful national company with a division just south of Chicago, and they had one major problem, operating costs. Their bottom line was sagging like an old hammock. And like most companies with that problem it was largely due to excessive wages and employee benefits, but the taxes in Chicago were getting t...
CHAPTER 1 - LOST AND COLD Adriah shivered and trudged onward down the street. She couldn't feel her nose or ears and the snow blew sideways in her face. Her coat was threadbare and she was freezing. Since she failed out of college three months ago, her family had disowned her and she had lost all focus in life. She had been wandering aimlessly around Tokyo...
Chapter 8 Tennessee In another few months, all hell would break loose in the Arkansas wildlife refuge I camped at overnight: the various hunting seasons would begin. Rabbits, squirrel, ducks, geese, deer, and even chipmunks beware! The hunters are coming! The hunters are coming! In absolute stillness, I stood with a small empty envelope in my hand, alon...