Short Stories

When public suspicion of the enhanced hits crisis, one man discovers just how much his fellow citizens value their humanity--and how far they'll go to squelch anything that threatens it. In a world where implants make the blind see, the lame walk, and the deaf hear, what becomes of human mind?

Step into Rick’s parlor. Don’t mind the bell on the door or the old fashioned cash register. Buy a manufactured novel, fresh from the computer—a first edition. Sit in the easy chair or lay out on the sofa. Strap on a helmet and a skinsuit and take a swim on Europa. He can be trusted. Really. It says so on the door. In ten foot high letters, right above the shop front, he tells you exactly what they do:

“We Create Worlds.”

And they do it on the cheap.

Night hag? Dark goddess? Disgraceful wife? She's been maligned for centuries as the source of women's misery. That is the story they told in the Talmud.

But this is her story, in her own words. The story of Lilith.

Books. Power. Electricity. The wizard has everything forbidden the common people—and nobody even knows his name. For two girls barely in their teens, the mystery—and the temptations—prove irresistible. On a cold winter's night, they enter the wizard's garden to discover a treasure more precious than any they imagined—and a secret that tests their friendship beyond any civilized limits...

Theo, a virtual monk, denies his hospitality to no one. After decades of lavish expense, his chief researcher joins him to celebrate the breakthrough he's been waiting for: the world's perfect, environmentally-friendly, completely ethical food. And what better way to celebrate than a feast of biblical proportions...

He sits alone, with no name. A faceless creature with a single purpose, he lives in a small room. he knows only his consoles, his buttons, his screens--the surfaces of a control room for a great machine that he calls "the universe."

A man stands in a train station, with a frock coat, waiting for someone. Someone whose arrival means more to him than his own life. Someone who takes his breath away, because they breath the same air. Who stole stole his heart, because they shared the same blood. Whose music moves in his body like a missing piece of his own soul. But with the train lost in the high mountains, will it arrive in time? Or will he spend his last days on Earth waiting in vain for Train Time?

In the heart of the Amazon, a British adventurers discovers an ancient secret to the greatest power in the universe.

From the industrial hell of 19th century Manchester to the high government offices of London, this century-spanning story chronicles the least favorite son of Britain's most powerful family--a mechanical genius whose curiosity and determination changed the course of history...by accident.

Perda and Sasha shared a vision as grand as life itself—a vision lacking only in a grand, validating experiment. Their pilgrimage to Mother's world gave them that experiment. The chance to build a new life on Mother's words of compassion and vision, of power and promise. A truly peaceful world of sharing and nurture, without competition and depredation and warfare.

And what more could you ask at seventeen than to step through the magical fire with your sweetheart and be transported into a new world free of violence and cruelty?

Devotion binds them together. Faith protects their sacred space. Fire seals their bonds and defends their world. But when one mother's love brings sin into their midst, it is not only the heretics who suffer; in the face of corruption, the faithful may also be burned.

From the Greater London chapter of the Committee to Restrict the Accidental Population:

A comprehensive guide for Her Majesty's subjects on dealing with the social problems and legal issues created by the so-called "accidental population." If you are finding your world complicated by vampires, resurrectionists, or the undead, this pamphlet will give you the vital information you need to survive awkward situations with your life and social standing intact, and in the process restore the dignity of the Empire.

A world without secrets can still hold all kinds of surprises...