Acknowledgements

"My heartfelt thanks"

This book, improbable as it is, would have been impossible without the help, care, feeding, and receptivity of various experts, friends, experts who became friends, friends who became expert at one thing or another, and the various benefits each and...

Audition

"Sorry, you didn't get the part"

Hi Rachel,Thanks for "coming" out.  We enjoyed your spirited choices. You impressed the director and producers.  Unfortunately we can't cast everyone.By the way, the play's called COME SUNDAY, but it's actually about an evangelist who's ostracized by his church for preaching that there's no...

The Brothel At The End Of The Universe, pt. 1

"Even after three years at her newest job, Valerie hasn't had an encounter quite this close before..."

Ugh. Managers are the same everywhere.Literally, everywhere, in the entire universe.When I was sixteen, I worked at a supermarket as an underpaid check-out girl. One day, the manager, Mr Schwimmer, came into the staff room (five minutes before my shift...

The Brothel At The End Of The Universe, pt. 2

"Even after three years at her newest job, Valerie hasn't had an encounter quite this close before..."

The bathroom is spacious and well-equipped, but stiflingly humid. The smell of what counts as soap and bath foam on this planet itches in my nose. Several translucent, spider-like creatures scuttle around on the slick floor tiles, drawn to the...

Unmute

"In desperate times, your body sometimes calls for desperate measures... It's time to listen."

"Hey, Case,“ was all my sister said as she hugged me, graciously ignoring the sweat and the travel-stains I was sporting. I was very aware that I was painting a generally unappealing image standing on her front step in crocs...

Ethan Gets His Dream Girl

"A few interesting, fun days in the life of a sixteen year old boy..."

It was a beautiful Friday night in mid-April. Ethan was about to park his twelve-year-old Ford pickup in a secluded spot off the dirt road that wandered through the acres of wooded park-land near the city. Close against him was...