Salt of the New Earth (*Short story*) Part 1 of 3
"_But look at the map!"_ _Science officer Trevor Nielsen was desperate, almost pleading. His voice was shaking from a combination of agitation and wounded pride, as he traced a circle around a light green area on the map, with a coffee-stained...
Leyak! (*Short Story*) Part 2 of 2
"Love or art?" Dubois was exceptionally merry on that day. He reveled in some newfound inspiration, and had been sculpturing all morning with a fervor I had not seen before. "If you could have but one, which would you abandon?" The question caught...
Murder at the Speed of Life. (Part 5) Mean Gene W24
Walking down the Lakeview district always makes me uneasy. You can tell the people here are well off, by the way they walk, the way they dress and the way they see right through you, without ever making eye contact. That's why I feel out of place the...
Murder at the Speed of Life. (Part 4) The Wolf who Cried Boy.
"_You've dialed 9-1-1; what's the address of the emergency?"_ "_City of Oakfort. Not sure where."_ "_I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific than that, Sir."_ "_There's a church on one side and... I'm in some kind of shop."'_ "_You're calling...
Murder at the Speed of Life. (Part 3) Broken promises.
"This place is a bloody deathtrap!" The fire inspector was a tall, muscular man in his mid-thirties. He had short blond hair and piercing blue eyes, and he sported a full beard that made him look like a tame viking. I got the impression he was not...
Murder at the Speed of Life. (Part 2) Death Drove a Pontiac
"Daniel?!" "Mmm!" "Pass me a towel, would'ya?" My sister Katryn balanced herself on a ladder and stretched to wipe away a stray cobweb that was moments away from being embedded into the criss-cross pattern of wet paint. For the better of a month,...
Murder at the Speed of Life. (Part 1) My Name is "Friend"
Prologue: My Name is _Friend_ The first thing Eve Kotha noticed when she opened the door to the"Starvin' Darwin" convenience store, was how the air had changed. Until last week, Mrs Glick, the shopkeeper always wore a floral Lakeland perfume that...
Cry me a Murder (conclusion) Otherkin, my Demonheart
I left the seaside town of San Blas, driving east towards El corral and the convent of Iuna's sisters. The sisterhood, and with them Nurse Richards were sworn to protect the innocent and the weak. If Richards had fled the hotel with Chris Tell, the...
Cry Me a Murder (part nine): The other side of Zero
_Terminated?_ I was one grade away from being targeted for termination by the MI-16. I had already killed three MI-16 agents, and if the MI-16 decided I was to blame for the death of Jack Tell, they would come screaming at me, like a battalion of...
My Guardian Demons - Part II
"Tell me, Mr Wolf. Do you hear voices right now?" I nodded. "They are hiding in the traffic noise." "Can you describe them to me?" "Man and woman, both sound young and old at the same time." The psychiatrist and I were in a small office at the...
My Guardian Demons - Part 1
PART I Darkness embraced me as I entered exhibition hall three at the Oakenford Games Convention. Excited, disembodied voices chattered around me while my eyes adjusted to the dim light. I was surrounded by posters and booths that advertised the...
* Poem * Species Dysphoria III
SPECIES DYSPHORIA III - The career chaser * * * | Dons catspaw talks proceed slowly privacy, first amendment teaser looks ditched enough to count on year renewed, urgency here |  | |...