Rhys rubbed his eyes as he reread the same sentence three times. It was a month into the first semester and his brain was slowly filling up with so much information it was going to explode. It wasn't so much the amount of reading he had to do, it was the content. He had assumed that Central Intelligence was just a branch of the F.B.I., but now that he was at...
My name is Julius Blanks. In my lifetime, I've been called many things. All kinds of names, really. Being a tall, good-looking, healthy, college-educated black male has made me the envy of some and a threat to others. I don't know why. I'm an ordinary man who has a life and goes to work and puts his pants on one leg at a time. This is me. Unfortunately, lots...
I grew up with the 1 through 10 rating scale for rating the "sex appeal" of the female sex. I watched Dudley Moore and Bo Derek in "10" at least twice in my formative years. "10" is fine to describe the absolute stunner of a woman. "1," I suppose, while rather mean spirited, is fine for the absolutely unattractive. But the problem with the 1 through 10 rat...
Note: There's no sex or romance here, just an unusual sort of rude awakening. ***** When Kevin Fleming tells Jenifer Vollmers, his live-in fiancé, that he plans to apply for a job at Easton Pharmacy, an East Coast drug chain, she gets very excited. Jen's been working as a secretary there for over three years, since her mid-twenties. Kevin, now thirty, eigh...
On an unnamed airstrip in Pakistan, the shrill engine of a Predator drone filled the evening air. The sleek oblong silhouette glistened in the sunset as it gained speed and altitude and eventually disappeared through the porous cloud cover. A Pakistani Army sentry followed its ascent with eyes shielded against the pink sky, then "tsk-ed" and returned his gaz...
Some people have it easy. They’re born lucky, with money, with families that love them, with talents that let them succeed in life and in some rare cases, all of them together. Then there’s the Average Joes. They live normal, yet challenging lives. It’s a daily struggle, but one that’s possible to overcome with enough effort. They make up the the majority of...
10 - Epilogue: Simon Milton winced as he gingerly lowered himself onto the burgundy leather chesterfield. Whoever the bastard was who'd worked him over, he'd done a bloody good job of it. He'd get even with the fucker if it was the last thing he did. He lit a Davidoff cigar and took a long drag, then balanced it on the edge of a cut glass ashtray on the s...
Franz Kafka had a great influence on writing and literature in the 20th century. Even today, strange and/or creepy stories are called Kafkaesque. In his novella "Die Verwandlung" (usually translated into English as "Metamorphosis") a man slowly turns into a cockroach. In my version of Metamorphosis, I go one up on Kafka. Not only does a woman totally change...
This is a quick little something I've thrown together. I hope it's mildly entertaining. Please vote and comment. On something this experimental, I need the feedback. * I awake from sleep, eyes starting. I'm not erect. My chest is hollow with pain and want. I can't have her. How long have I known her? Not long, but I've waited the length of my life. We...
As a six-foot-one, curvy and sexy, chocolate-hued Muslim woman in a world that worships skinny Judeo-Christian White girls, I challenge many people's notions of beauty. Hell, I challenge a lot of people's notions about beauty, intelligence and power. I can't help it, though. Part of my burden as a strong Black Muslim woman. My name is Khadija Ismail and I'm...