There are no new planets

Any more than there are new kinds of people

.

These planets around Trappist-1

Have been there, perhaps waiting for someone

.

To notice them, to be excited, rewarded in their hopes

That they would somehow exist

.

In the great dark …

Well turns out it wasn't no cop anyhow, it was my uncle bloff and he just wanted me to sign the christmas cards, like who ever heard of an avunclular member of my extended family wanting me to sign off on a christmas card in feburary? Sure wasn't normal, …

As I lie comfortable in my cosy yellow-orange bed I listen Anna and little angel are downstairs

chatting and giggling, laughing and playing, generally having fun I just lie here sandwiched between my silky duvet and bed melting my worries away. F…

She sat on the bench in the park. It was raining and the clouds were dark. Faint rumbles echoed in the distance from a direction that she couldn't discern. The storm clouds were heavy enough that the sun was but a memory to her and she'd honestly lost tra…

I acted without thought, and It was not at full power; my death matters not.

Story is marked as mature

Burrowing tenderly with my hands, I could but adore this beast that had summoned me.

Northern Territory, January 1933

Hot lazy arvo here in outpost 606. The Dust Cloud looming on the horizion. It hasn't moved since our arrival. It might move at any second but. That's why we're here.

The men are running out of patience and grog. I wond…

I felt around the sides of my neck. She was right. The skin there was sore, tender to the touch. My suspicion of her seemed justified and came flooding back. I was choked recently and she finds me, leash in hand? I don't know if it was guilt or what that …

I hurry back home with the other half of the loaf. I need to get home before the screaming starts and the nosy neighbours start asking questions again. She is asleep on the stained red velvet settee. She has been asleep for the whole day. Her breath is sh…

I spoke to her in direct neural interface. A text or audio message might have sufficed, but there could be no mistakes today, no misunderstandings. I refused to analyse my motivations further.

The link pushed dark chunks of conceptual meaning between our…

Well, it's hard to stay chipper, to keep up my hope.

Such dark thoughts crowd my mind in a throng!

As bad news piles like snowdrifts upon the steep slope,

I don't think the descent will take long...

.

As a child, full of life, I had power to spare

Ah, wha…

“This is what you don't see.” Janine unpaused the recording and upped the contrast and tint until everything on the screen became spiky darkness.

Before I could say anything to contradict her, she pushed a button and bright colors appeared next to my he…

Thing is, this piece I'm writing, bares my entire soul. It involves you and me and all that we love and hold dear. It's told from my perspective, one that I think you need to hear.

But if I let you read it, I am crucifying myself. The sacrifice it entai…

The church in Trien was a handsome stone edifice, built sturdily in decades past and carefully maintained since; the tall arches lifted Orthael's spirits by their apparent timelessness. There was a flicker of candlelight visible through the windows, and t…

"So that's what that does," I said as the stars went out, "I'd always wondered."

Malika hesitated just a moment, then nodded. Dawn was beginning to break over the mountains on the horizon, and she knew -- without quite knowing how she knew -- that most of the deathless would either be taking shelter for the day or be banished back to …

I kept looking at my cell phone, but it lay silent and black. Let her make the first move. It was always me before, texting, finding the right ice-breaker comment or picture to share. It was a show of love, but it was beginning to feel one-sided. Was I a …

Malika woke with a start, sitting bolt upright. Morduth was in her hand, ablaze with blue flame that crept up over her hand and wrist. As always the flame did not harm her. Rather it brought her comfort and warmth, and she reveled in its light.

Mistress…

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Despite the situation, Orthael exhaled in deep relief. This, now, was a question that he had heard before. From widows, from parents, from orphans - even, on dark nights, from himself.

"Oh, swordmaiden. The Flame has always been with you. Through all tha…

I watched in horror as the smoke billowed high. I followed the plume to the leaping flames high above the roof. Flames and smoke poured from every window, every door. I fell to my knees.

The flames were put out, the firemen left, the sooty timbers were …

Judgement was diverted from its biographical investigation by the unfamiliar presence of old magic. Perhaps that was not an accurate description, for the weapon was sure that it had been familiar once, and that in that time the magic had not been old at a…

There was a prince, and one princess;

She was an angelle, he a mess.

The prince called out for his man-maid

To clean the room. The lemonade

They drank was sweet. The fine chefette

Had used ten lemons; then she'd set

The sugar from her sugar binne

The pinq…

It's time to write, to start the rite

It's time to key in grades tonight,

For if I'm late, procrastinate,

They'll thump the ones who hesitate.

And so again I fetch my pen

The red one I use now and then

To do my chores and give out scores

And toss them out…