Fiction For Now
“So this is how the robot apocalypse begins,” I whispered to my Laddie under the shrill whine of the drone outside. Back pressed to the wall, I risked a peek through the curtains. The quadcopter hovered against the February sky, red lights winking like the eyes of a giant cicada. “I hope they can’t spot... Continue Reading →
You know the scene in adventure movies where the protagonist, digging feverishly where the "X" on the map has led, hits metal in the mud? That was me last weekend, only I wasn't excavating earth, just the closet in my home office. And the telltale clunk wasn't a spade striking a strongbox, but an heavy... Continue Reading →
“Learn something new every day.” I’ve lived by this charge since graduating university more than a decade ago, determined not to let my brain atrophy amid the numbing routines of adulthood. Raw curiosity (and research for my novels) usually keeps me in good stead, but to supplement my cognitive nutrition, I always have a page-a-day... Continue Reading →
When did Halloween become such a big deal? As a kid, trick-or-treating with my sister, I don’t recall much neighborhood decor besides the jack-o-lanterns grinning on the porch or some fake spiderwebs strung across the hedges. Now Halloween seems more popular than Christmas. Specters dangle from the trees on my block; front yards become graveyards;... Continue Reading →
October is my favorite month for many reasons, including the Major League Baseball post-season. The crisp air amplifies the crack of wood on leather, and my strident voice when I scream at the television: "Come on, ya chumps! You got a runner in scoring position, just put the ball in play and..." I paused in... Continue Reading →
"...The story of an astronaut as she struggles to adjust to life on Earth!" the radio ad promised. My car's dashboard briefly transformed into the glowing cockpit of a space shuttle. Space, psychology, and a female protagonist? That sounded like a movie I'd see (or a book I'd write). But when I looked up which... Continue Reading →
Confession: I usually avoid Twitter during PitMad. The quarterly Twitter "Pitch Party" invites writers to post 280-character manuscript pitches, which agents and editors can request with a 'like'. Twitter's eager writing community, amped up on fantasies of scoring a book deal, turn my feed into an endless scroll of self-promotion and supportive retweets. I'm not... Continue Reading →
July was a hurricane, friends. In addition to the usual demands of a full-time job by day and wrestling with final revisions on Binary Chop by night, my month included: A whirlwind international business trip; Publication of the fourth Brave New Girls science fiction anthology, featuring my short story "Armed for the Future"; Big projects and... Continue Reading →
My Sunday long runs often take me past the local Little Free Library (LFL), and I can never resist a peek inside the charming hutch. Two new additions the other weekend immediately caught my eye. Once was a phased-out library hardcover of Douglas Adams’ sci-fi classic The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, which I immediately snatched... Continue Reading →
