She walks into the house at 6:30pm. I think that I am ready for her. She is dressed to the nines, of course, as she always is nowadays. This is only right, since her clothing budget alone now consumes about 65% of my salary. "Honey, I'm home," she says ironically. "You wouldn't believe the day I had. It was so hot at the office." The office of which she...
The rogue that some knew as Jon Chess slept fitfully but that was not the amazing part; that he was having the best dream he'd had in years was. Jon Chess had recently been tortured, which had included a shadow priestess rewiring some of his emotional responses in an attempt to make Chess homicidal when he encountered Ren'dorei. The shadow priestess had not...
I really welcomed moving into the condo after my divorce. The divorce put me through a lot of mental anguish and coming home at night and not ever having to worry about things like cutting grass or raking leaves was a welcome luxury in my life. It still is a welcome luxury three years after. The condominium complex I found has a swimming pool, tennis and bas...
In view of the essentially unlimited technological power that existed in 2634 and beyond, I, Arcturus00347 am transmitting this story back in time to those of you in the early twenty first century, who we call E21s, using a language – English – that was common back then but that no longer exists. First, my name; I am the 47th Arcturus born in District 3. In...
Out of the frying pan into the fire, I finished a week of board meetings and luncheons only to look forward to a 3 day drive home. The first day passed uneventfully, long, but uneventfully. By the second day I was in Texas, which is not a bad state to drive through; I was going through the panhandle, so it was only a few hours. About halfway through I felt a...
Eight It is late one normal work afternoon. About an hour to go, and she'll be able to walk out on another forgettable day. Her computer dings, signaling an incoming email. Automatically, she flips pages to the email program, and double clicks the new entry without even looking at the title or who it is from. It starts off: "I hope you are having a good d...
My name is Theodore James Madder. My friends and family members call me TJ. It's my favorite nickname. The hero of this tawdry little tale. I'm a seven-foot-tall young black man living in the combative and competition-obsessed city of Brockton, Massachusetts. These days, I'm doing many exciting things. I'm a freelance writer for the infamous newspaper called...
Chapter 46 – Martial arts pays off Derek stood on a mat in the center of the patio. He wore a traditional white gi, with white slippers. Around his waist he wore a black belt tied in a special knot. On the black belt were three embroidered braids, also black, indicating he had achieved the highest dan in at least one of the martial arts he'd been schooled i...
After the adventures in New Orleans, our intrepid couple reverses direction and heads to Orlando, Florida. OK, not exactly on the Gulf Coast but how can you go to Florida and not visit Disney World and Universal Studios. After all, Jim and Shelley are kids at heart, but always manage to have some adult fun along the way. And once again they meet some interes...
I "Drink it" Those more innocent times seem impossibly remote now that they have gone for ever. It astonishes me to reflect that it was actually less than a year ago that a sudden loud knocking heralded the unexpected late-night appearance of a policeman on my doorstep. This is an event that would terrify me if it happened today, but in those days I was st...