Category: speculative

The Cask of Magnus

I step up and into the cabinet. Angela shuts the door behind me. She and my other three assistants spin the box. Slower, ladies. You want me to throw up in here? We rehearsed this trick hundreds of times. In rehearsal, it worked flawlessly. Naturally. This is our first live performance. If it goes as… Continue reading The Cask of Magnus

Desert Highway (a dream)

In the end, the most surprising thing about the video was that no two people ever remembered it the same. It was a modern-day Rorschach test. It was only three minutes and twelve seconds long, but people saw different things when they recounted what they had watched. One thing everyone agreed on was the video… Continue reading Desert Highway (a dream)

A House with Enough Space

“I need lots of space,” Trish had told me at our first meeting. I had to solve her problem. My reputation was on the line. I wanted to point out that if she bought a house with more space, she would fill it as well, and soon, she’d be looking to upsize again. But people’s… Continue reading A House with Enough Space

Pause!

I’m such an easy mark for tech gear and apps, a true tech-addict. I never stood a chance with the PAUSE marketing hype. They loaded the ad with emotional hooks.  Tired of feeling stressed? Tired of deadlines? Feel like you’ll never get ahead? . You need a break! Relax like a champion! . You need PAUSE. I… Continue reading Pause!

The Ballroom Bubbleverse — Part 9

The Second Cycle. Bar East. I was very drunk by the time the end of the fourth hour loomed large before us. We all sat watching the stage from our table just inside Bar East. (We had equipped our ballroom with two bars, the other was Bar West, obviously.) Which was stupid. We forgot that… Continue reading The Ballroom Bubbleverse — Part 9

The Ballroom Bubbleverse — Part 8

I was sitting in my Jaguar, double-checking everything in my luggage. Doubts that I hadn’t anticipated were storming through my head. I never understood why or how I was invited to join Prospero Ballrooms, Inc. When I looked at the list of members, it was populated by people far wealthier than me. I was barely… Continue reading The Ballroom Bubbleverse — Part 8

The Ballroom Bubbleverse — Part 7

Chapter 2: Building a Bubbleverse. To understand the science behind bubbleverses, we must travel back in time to the year 2178. I can think of no better introduction than Schmidt’s article. An excerpt from that paper appears below. Frederick Smith, born Feb 28, 2117, died Sep 28, 2158. Smith’s main theory asserted that blood sacrifices unleashed… Continue reading The Ballroom Bubbleverse — Part 7

The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 6

–:–:– — / 0:28:10 BVST I grabbed Tommy by the sleeve and pulled him from the crowd. We made our way to the control room. I need to know. A desperate itch had landed, and I needed to see her. Tina had been in the ballroom before. I distinctly remembered it. Still, I wanted proof.… Continue reading The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 6

The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 5

–:–:– — / 0:24:57 BVST Maguire hurried toward the door. I jumped out and followed him out into the ballroom. A crowd had gathered by table 12.  With the engineer gone, I felt I was the one in charge. Whatever that meant.  “Coming through,” I said, injecting as much authority in my voice as I could… Continue reading The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 5

The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 4

–:–:– — / 0:03:19 BVST I put my head on the table and cried. The screams from the back were a wave of background music accompanying me. “Scott, have you seen the engineer?” Maguire’s voice jerked me back into the room. I rubbed my eyes and mentally replayed his question, demanding it to make sense.… Continue reading The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 4

The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 3

–:–:– — / 0:02:13 BVST I wanted to run out of the place, but then I remembered that alarming lack of anything at all beyond the windows. There’s nowhere to run! Frantic for some distraction, I picked up the envelope, ripped it open, and read. By that point, I’d put two and two together and… Continue reading The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 3

The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 2

11:52:58 PST / 0:00:00 BVST I forced my eyes from the stage. They landed on the place setting before me. I saw the envelope propped against my wineglass. She’d written just one word on it: my name. She always had the most beautiful cursive. My nausea doubled. Why would Tina write me a letter? I… Continue reading The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 2

The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 1

The shift happened sooner than we’d planned. I was sitting in the ballroom, and I’d just found the envelope, and that was when it happened. I wished I could unsee the letter. The love I’d had for Tina dissolved. In its wake, I was learning how to hate her. So, I closed my eyes and… Continue reading The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 1

The Mother of all Misaligned SI Joints

POP! What the hell was that? The older I got, the more I realized the importance of discipline. The son of lazy people, I grew up to be a lazy, undisciplined man.  Are you surprised? Yeah, me neither. Three months before I began practicing discipline. In all areas of my life, I began rituals and… Continue reading The Mother of all Misaligned SI Joints

Ezekiel’s Tea

My morning routine is to double-check all the equipment. The lantern is rotating, shooting its penetrating light through the morning fog. Most of my work takes place at night, but on overcast days, I like to be extra diligent. I stoop and exit through the tiny door and walk the balcony around, checking for breakages… Continue reading Ezekiel’s Tea

Ezekiel’s Stairs

I look down for brother’s blue and white ceramic teakettle, but it’s no longer in my hands. Then I think something that’s not quite a memory; it’s something more akin to an echo of a memory. I dropped the thing hours ago. Maybe it was only minutes past. Surely climbing the stairs to Ezekiel’s lofty… Continue reading Ezekiel’s Stairs

Penguins in the Penumbra

The heat from the parabolic space heater feels good on my bare legs. I’m wearing shorts while I meditate. The only problem is my mind is wandering. Are you surprised? Yeah, me neither. It happens. And what am I doing instead of following my breath? I’m thinking about the penguins on the far side of… Continue reading Penguins in the Penumbra

The Problem with Harry

Now. “Seven…seven…seven,” Jason said. He was unsure he was doing as Midge instructed. She had given him a three-minute crash course and stood over his right shoulder, whispering words of encouragement. Just go through the digits one-by-one; repeat them over and over in your head and see if any of them stick. Try to see… Continue reading The Problem with Harry

The Gnat on my Screen

The gnat landed on my laptop screen again. It was starting to irritate me. I wiped at it, but it flew to safety before I could smoosh its annoying ass into a drop of bug guts and blood. “Damn it,” I whispered with no energy. On the third time, I thought I got lucky. As… Continue reading The Gnat on my Screen