We watched from inside as Bob mowed the lawn. Then one moment he saw something through the garden fence and rushed to the gate. He looked upset, and quickly took his phone out to make a call.

„Hello? Yes, I’d like to report an intrusion of cockroaches. W…

The lantern was burning low, putting an orange-gold cast on the cabin. Ryle was pouring us a drink of a very fine twenty-year Presagian whiskey. It was his one indulgence; many a night did we spend far from civilisation sipping on the finest drinks availa…

Isn't it funny how things you do in your youth come back to bite you? What is it the New Agers call it?

Karma! That's it.

Like when you're a teenager, and you hit-and-run someone's car. Then, as an adult, some kid slams into the new car you just bought,…

Unregistered college graduates drink through a discussion on the possibility of fewer student loans

-

Overworked parents scoff at the idea of paternity leave and cheaper child care

-

A dusty ballot woolgathers at the bottom of stack of medical bills

-

Why…

People think that all ghosts are bad, but they are wrong.

Growing up, I lived in an apartment next to an old woman named Miss Betty. She kept a rocking chair on the stoop and on warm evenings I would sit outside with her and play checkers. She smoked h…

The Office of Strategic Assets was responsible for a number of things: planetary deuterium stockpiles, mothballed military bases, and reserve nuclear weapons.

We'd all been shocked three years ago when the order came down to unseal one of the black sites…

Story is marked as mature

This week I was cast as the Evil Sorceress in an opera- I’m a man (biologically), mind you- but I always thought myself more the heroine. After all, my magic is of Light. Even when my song is the dimmest firefly, I still glimmer along, dancing luminescenc…

This isn't just to say

That I have eaten the plums

From the icebox that you unwisely left unlocked

.

Like, you didn't even install a lock

What were you thinking?

.

Any butthead could come along and steal your plums!

You're damn lucky it was me.

.

They wer…

Newkirk and Beckton appeared in a cascading flash and swirl of short-lived white particles as if teleporting in from an immaterial snowstorm. They were surrounded by a thick fog that stirred in a somewhat turgid manner, as if just a touch heavier than the…

"What's this ring about?" he rounded on me with accusation, hurt, and anger in his eyes.

"This is a promise ring."

"Promise!? You took VOWS to be my wife!"

Patiently, and without fear, I patted to the cushion next to me. He sat, but his hands shook. "List…

It wasn't a gate.

Those were the bars of a cage - that house, my prison.

Could I not open it? Of course I could.

Could I just leave? Any time.

Could I break free?

Could I break free?

What is freedom? Nothing but a pair of wornout boots.

There I sto…

Old Tory Adore may not seem like much now, but let me tell you, back in the day, Tory was a woman to reckon with. When she trod the streets of Fentriss, New Jersey, brother, you could hear people scurryin' away. Her frogskin boots jingled remorselessly as…

In the dark, the falling snow outside looked like ash. The flurries that spun around the ruddy polluted glass of the oil lamps became the warm colors of a shattered rainbow. They didn't have the inner brilliance of fireflies or the sinister playfulness of…

I love you

But I want you to hate me

For loving you

.

I hate me

And I want you to love me

For loving you

.

I hate you

For not loving me

When I love you

.

I love me

For not hating you

When I love you

.

I love you

Even if you love another

And don't love me…

The sea and sky have been entwined all day,

Both a pale granite grey.

A flat calm - clouds in the ripples and ripples in the clouds.

Now it's dark, and the distant ship lights look like stars.

"It's such a shame, really." Cordelia untied the collar of her blouse so her 7 year-old could suckle. No matter how bad things got, ladies would always find time to gossip.

"We mustn't judge, Cordy. It's not her fault." Thin and frail Maude pursed her li…

The two live units continued fire, systematically dismantling, disabling and/or dismembering every possible threat in the concourse. As this included every person, sentinel, bodyguard and drone, this was a task that took several seconds.

It was a shame t…

Heading to Starbucks for some writing, I turned on to Fernando Valley Road. It was one of those four lane roads where the city speed limit is upped to fifty. Across the median, I saw an old man on foot. Behind him a blue van sat defeated on the shoulder. …

The first police presence came in the form of a formation of drones, small and silver, hardly visible in the morning light. They flew from their base, along Hyacinth Street, and collectively pulled into a dive as they approached.

An unobtrusive antenna at…

"Hero. Hope for us all."

Funny. She didn't feel much like one anymore. Nor did she have any hope for herself.

Not after everything she'd done.

"Not your fault."

But it was. Like a lie of omission, it was her fault for inaction.

"Uncontrollable. Dange…

He came in with a haunted look in his eyes. A fine suit hung from his frame, slightly threadbare but still lending an air of battered elegance. His gaze caught on the shelves full of jars, clinking gently against each other despite the utter absence of an…

Remember that mask?

Maybe you started wearing it for protection.

You wanted to fit in.

You were afraid that people wouldn't accept you.

You wouldn't accept you.

.

At first you only wear it when you have to,

Like armor before heading off to battle.

A short…

Ryle appeared at my side in an instant, exuding a casual menace. His eyes were a searing inferno, a promise of violence that made others much more interested in listening to me.

The captain was affected, but not cowed. Not bad.

"You are a passenger aboa…

Things are only ugly when they have no purpose.

And even then, useless things can be beautiful.

I knew one once—an undisclosed, discolored discard—

who was beautiful despite her lack of worth,

and isn't beauty inherently valuable?

One can argue either way…