Writings

Writings
Miscellaneous Writings and Musings

Maelstrom

Maelstrom
A genie and her rock band

(Novel and Short Stories)

Steal Tomorrow

Steal Tomorrow
Murder, Mystery, First Love, and the End of the World

(Novel and Short Stories)

My Books and Stories

My Books and Stories
Where to Buy, Read, Download

At a Distance

Words echo back in time
reminding me of fabulists
and fairy tales.
Lies and pretty stories;
I've heard it all before.

We are victims of each others' past.

And if I take your bait,
believe it all again
and start to dream,
will I be twice-fooled?
History repeats itself.

There are always ghosts in the room.

It's best keep a distance
Treat today as just a game,
no more real than Aesop.
Stay safe in unbelief,
in that place where lies can't sting.

This is a Sunday Scribblings post.

55 - Brain Depository

He pondered what to do. He couldn't run forever.











With a sigh, he slipped his brain through the after-hours slot.











Had he remained capable of thinking, he would have marveled at how civilized the zombies had become.

Had he retained a memory, he might have missed his brain.

Now he was just like everyone else.


About Friday Flash 55: The challenge is to write a complete story in fifty-five words. If you've written a 55-flash, go let The G-Man know!

Cherished Illusion

I keep you in my pocket,
my secret guilty pleasure.
You're a sweet romantic fantasy,
hidden treasure
I share with no one.

At suppertime I feast on dreams,
salted with illusions.
I drink the wine of wishes,
and sample the sweet pastry
of your promises.

I long to bite into your flesh,
taste what makes you real,
breathe your wishful thinking
until your oxygen rusts my skin,
and leaves me fragile in your arms.

Today our game is "let's pretend"
We'll fit our roles so well
that neither you nor I
will ever guess
it's just a fairy tale.

So tell me your story one more time.
Let me cherish every word.
Then kiss my forehead,
wish me sweet dreams,
and be my happily ever after.

This is a Sunday Scribblings post.

55 - Partial Least Squares

Everything was variable; nothing he observed was as predicted. He analyzed all the factors, trying not to project his expectations. Would he find a model that made sense of the whole? In despair, he realized linear thinking was to blame. He had regressed, needed a new relationship. Being square was the least of his troubles. 












About Friday Flash 55: The challenge is to write a complete story in fifty-five words. If you've written a 55-flash, go let The G-Man know!

Scripted

We play by the rules,

good boys and girls,

hoping for some grand prize:

gold star, A-plus.

Suit up. Show up.
Check the boxes.
Pay your mortgage.
Always say
please and thank you.

In our cozy cages,
our lives defined by policy,
we revel in the certainty
that we are the lucky ones.
This is liberty.

Climb the ladder.
Comb your hair.
Dress like us.
Don't argue.
Read the rules
and play along.

You believed them
when they said
you weren't smart enough,
not good enough or strong enough
on your own.

She's not for you.
You can't have two.
Pay attention!
Do as we do.

It must be this way
or you're damned.

You heard the key in the lock.
You thought it trapped you in.
Your script doesn't say
keys can open
as well as close.

We create our definitions.
Boundaries are where we set them.
The rest is just the ephemera
of our limited
minds.

This is a Sunday Scribblings post.

55 - Zoltar

It seemed an innocent bit of fun;
offer a coin, hear what he'd won.
He read the directions, saw how it's done,
then waited for words from the wise one.











His ears were suddenly filled with the sound
of prophesy, fortune, tales to confound.
Hazards and escapades would soon abound.
Destiny was an adventure profound!











Yay to the The G-Man, who has been given a clean bill of health after being much in need of good fortune these past couple of months!

My Favorite Character


I put you in my novel.

Of course, it wasn't you,
just someone like you,
based on you,
a doppelganger.

Does this news leave you (check one):

__Curious?
__Shocked?
__Angry?
__Surprised?

Why? (explain)

Writers write:
what they know
who they know
with a few added twists
pinned together with thorns of memory
and shellacked with lies.

There is no other way.

The you I wrote isn't really you.
I added different details,
filled in the gaps of what I do not know
(things you refuse to tell).

Having created you, I can end you too.

Choose as many as apply:

__Love lost
__Love found
__Career change
__Plane crash
__Suicide

Are we having fun yet?

Why don't you sit and tell me, then,
who you really are?
End my speculation.
Be real,
unless you prefer to remain
just my fantasy.

This is a Sunday Scribblings post.