I am a writer. I wrote my first novel in 2011. I’ve started 14 more since then, finishing about half of those. One of these days I’ll actually try to find someone to publish them (or just do it myself). Onward!
(If anyone would like to be a beta reader, feel free to drop me a line).
is
there
anything more terrible
than being betrayed
by a man
that you've
come to call
friend
“… Adrian.” Lillian jerked straight up in her bed. For a second, she wavered between her dream of events years gone by and the disasters of the present day.
Lying on my back, looking up into the night sky, I could feel the most curious sensation of being pulled up into the night sky, being pulled away from they very Earth on which I lay. I reached out with arms and bare feet, grabbing onto the soil with fingers and toes, determined to remain firmly grounded, firmly of this Earth. The attraction grew, I could feel my body lifting away, pulling against my four firm points of contact, fighting against myself for what little hold I still had.
the
mind
is a miraculous tool
for bringing order
to chaos
and truth out
of the
darkness; but with this
ability comes the risk
of seeing
real, what isn't
making
phantoms of shadows and
conspiracies of those
that mean
no harm
For the first time, Lillian had been trusted with a solo mission to repair a damaged gravity plate. She gotten up that morning to check her assignments for the day and there it was:
LILLIAN SHAW - 0800 - REPAIR GRAV PLATE 1352 IN MESS
Her mentor finally trusted her! Today, she was extra careful as she collected her tools from the small chest under the bed in her bunk and fastened them around her jumpsuit. Tanaka-sensei had given her the belts–made with a mix of Velcro and elastic bags–and she loved them. A place for everything and everything in its place.
One last check to make sure she had everything and off she went. Her first solo!
all
those
who are afraid
of the dark
are afraid
for good reason
in
the
cold dark of space
there is no one
there to
save you
The second time she came to, it was to a sharp pain in her side. Although she was still floating in the near darkness, her light was in front of her this time, so there were no shadows to threaten her awakening. As she woke, one hand flew to her side where it met with Eve’s shell.
“Do you mind?” Eve’s voice sounded in her head.
With both the Cloak and the Mask, the curator jumped into the final spot of the Pentagram. Immediately everyone could feel a thrum of force as the circle began to close. Dancing blue flames spread from the bodies lying at the other four points around the circle and over the cross lines.
A fierce wind suddenly blew across the top of the building, bringing with it a rumble of thunder. Luckily, it seemed to be further away. Another lightning strike to the roof was not something anyone wanted.
Raising her masked face to the sky, the curator began chanting in a strange tongue. Based on the artifacts she was wearing, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say it sounded distinctly Central American.
Drawing to a high point in her chant, she yelled “Popocatepetl! Popocatepetl ko’oten! Popocatepetl!” With a brilliant flash of light–albeit less brilliant than the earlier lightning strike–the circle snapped shut.
the
void
between the stars
is cold dark
and more
lonely than
one
could
possibly hope to imagine
but it is foolish
to see
it as
completely
empty
They waited a heartbeat. Two. Half a dozen. The emergency power finally kicked in, bathing them all in a reddish glow that contrasted harshly with Eve’s blue. With a start, Lillian realized that she wasn’t actually sitting on her bed any longer, but rather floating a few centimeters above it.
She looked over, Madeline was doing the same beside her. On her other side, Eve seemed unaware of the fact that they should be floating and was still sitting resolutely in Lillian’s chair. That puzzled her for a second longer than it probably should have until she put it all together. The power was out. And with it, the artificial gravity, apparently. It should have been on the emergency circuit, but apparently it wasn’t.
we
are
not alone
in the
uni verse
It all started out in the Kuiper Belt. About 40 years ago, that’s when the first real effort to mine the Kuiper Belt objects came about. And Dark Sun was at the forefront. They’d claimed hundreds, if not thousands, of Kuiper Belt objects for themselves. Most of them were for mining, but they had a good number of scientific endeavors as well. One of particular interest was the Deep Deep Space Array of telescopes.
of
all
the species
on Earth
only one
has not
only
the
ability
to destroy itself
but also what
seems to be
the need
to
do
so
“Missing something?” Lillian could feel her voice rising and tried to push it back down. “We’ve been looking for you for over an hour.”
“Looking for me?” Madeline looked truly confused.
“I stopped by your room probably a little bit after midnight and you weren’t here.”
“Sure I was. I’ve been here since I left your room.”
when
in the
deepest darkest
depths of space, there is nowhere
to run, nowhere to hide and
no one to turn to when
everything suddenly
takes a turn to
the strange
“Madeline?” Lillian choked out after a moment of stunned silence. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’m completely serious,” Eve responded evenly. “Why?”
“She’s my best friend,” Lillian replied, but it sounded flat even to her own ears.
the
human
body and soul are
sometimes known
as the ghost
and the
shell what
no-one
seems to ask is can
you can have a
shell without
its ghost
or a ghost
without a shell
Leaving Adrian’s office, it was too late to finish her shift and too early for dinner. Nothing else particularly drew her, so Lillian decided to go back to her room. She was going to have to have to deal with that briefcase sooner or later.