Stories

My first collection of short works is out now. The title of the anthology is, The Hole in Your Mind. The idea for this title came to me from one of my favorite lines from the Sci-fi series, Babylon 5. In this case the hole in your mind represents those times when reality appears more bizarre than your consciousness would allow.  The situations and events in these stories fall into a hole they are never likely to emerge from. Here is a picture of the cover.

For a sample here is one of the stories from that collection. A tale of a little girl on a distant planet who’s dream comes crashing down around her.

Charlotte

Charlotte’s eyes didn’t work anymore and her synapses came unglued as the circuit board she thought was a brain continued to deteriorate. Her muscles convulsed, causing her arms and legs to twitch. Finally she put together her final words and looked in what she thought was Dr. Oney’s direction.

“Were there a God, I’d hope he damn you for a thousand eternities.”

“Charlotte,” Dr. Oney said with a chuckle, “were there a God, we would have no need for Spheres.” A tear darted down the old man’s cheek. It was not for the little girl he held in his arms but for the Calosian people. This petulant headstrong child was their best chance for surviving the coming calamity; now she was no more.

Read More:  Charlotte

The Girl on a Hook

The girl hangs from a steel hook fastened to a concrete block wall. I put her there. The faint smell of her perfume mingles in the air of this place that is already thick with the reek of animal entrails and blood. It adds a flowery splash to an odor somewhere between used cooking grease and vomit. I brought her down here because no one would find us. Plus the sound of the bone saws and forklifts above us would drown out her cries.

She looks at me through pleading eyes. Twenty something, with brunette hair and green eyes, she tries pulling herself up off the hook. Each time she fails and slides back onto it. The sharpened point digs a deeper hole in her back. I have to admit, it kind of turns me on when they squirm a bit. I admire the fight. This one has more of that than most. Ultimately she will accept things for the way they are. We cannot change what we become. I am a serial killer and she is a girl on a hook.