A morning scramble. A fancy coffee maker that won’t play by its own rules. Supposed to be a space saver; you store the filters and grounds inside one compartment of this double-hulled slow-drip monstrosity. But when I follow the instructions, it leaks water everywhere and refuses to actually drip out the bitter brown nectar. I […]
Frantic. The family dinner approaches. I help my mother in the kitchen. There is bread to be baked. She hasn’t let it rise enough though. The dough is runny and won’t hold its shape. I try to say something but she insists that there’s not enough time. She pours out three loaves that run into […]
HoL-ish underground (but probably more Moria than Navidson). Myself and two others. One is behind me the entire time; I feel his (her?) presence but (s)he is invisible, always an over-the-shoulder glance away and side-stepping even that. The other is a wizened elder. We’ve stumbled into this underground labyrinth, tome open, exploring. I’d had no […]
Comic book shop in a mall, clearly constructed in the 1980s; garish and wild and cheaply constructed. There for a limited edition hand drawn, signed first run Mega-Tokyo; pencils and ink. Background: video testimonial by a Howard Stern look-a-like; in one scene he’s all long hair and leather jacket and then he’s at the bottom […]
Via B^2: Philip Sandifer is a graduate student in U. Fla’s English program, and keeps a personal creative writing journal called “Pulp Decameron,” where he posts very short stories in the styles of various pulp genres. The stories are released under a Creative Commons license. One story, I am Ready to Serve My Country, is […]
I’ve travelled backward in time to interview Philip K. Dick. Instead of dying, he slipped into an alternate future and moved into a well-appointed retirement community. He’s got his own, secure bungalow and is generally left alone by the staff. He does not seem particularly happy to see me but that’s because (he admits) he […]
It’s the aftermath of a party. Some childish, totally juvenile bash of high schoolers trying on adult vices. Drinking and drugs and sex all forced down our throats by ourselves. It was too early to try and too late to hold ourselves back. But that’s all past now and I’m the only one left from […]
My mom and I are making our way down a series of long corridors. It’s a little dark and damp but that’s to be expected from (what exactly is this place?) a seaport. We’ve got our respective bags slung over our shoulders and are looking forward to a little boat ride. (It is a boat […]
My high school Russian class has won a dinner at the Soviet Consulate in Washington, D.C. Most of the class members won’t be able to make it but I’ve decided that I won’t miss this for the world. I’ve got my outfit all picked out: jeans, a t-shirt celebrating a particular Russian-distilled vodka, and the […]
I’ve stopped off at Adam & Sue’s place on my way home from work. (Except that it’s not their place. The neighborhood is vaguely reminiscent of one I knew from High School and the house itself is very reminiscent of Zeb’s.) It’s dark out already, so it must be winter. Certainly not DST. We’ve dipped […]