You know John and Jane. The couple next door. Two garden-variety government agents facing marital problems, a housing crisis, and long-term unemployment. Could it get any worse? Guess who just got voted most likely to overthrow the New World Order. "To Iceland, With Love" - a satirical ride to the dark side of the Global Financial Crisis...Some say we’re special, and that’s why we’re kept in seclusion. Beyond those walls evil lurks and innocent prey would be lost in minutes. Gone. Destroyed. Forgotten. Others say the opposite: we’re locked away because there’s something wrong with us. If we roamed the outside world, we might taint the beautiful ones. A species so pure, that to merely be in their presence is a gift. As for my beliefs…I’m not sure. But I do know one thing: neither of those reasons explains why it is that they come for us only after we’ve passed the age of sixteen. Whether we want to go or not, we’re taken through those iron gates. Escorted away from the only home we’ve ever known, escorted to our destiny—whatever that destiny may be—never to be seen again. The Beautiful Ones is a prequel intended to introduce Lori's newest Young Adult series. At around 21,000 words, this is a short story. This Young Adult Romance contains kissing, cursing and some violence. It is best for ages 14 and up. The Beautiful Ones: PrequelThe Chosen Ones: Book 1 (coming Spring, 2014) Views: 938
Wyatt Holmes, the great human hunter revered by the clones, embarks on his final expedition. Sickness eats his bones and crowds his lungs. Yet Wyatt still marches deep into the new wild. For he alone owns the will to kill what the hungry clone stomachs require, and Wyatt fears what may befall the original world if no other man or woman shoulders the last responsibility reserved for humankind.Wyatt Holmes has claimed nearly every trophy offered by the new world. He has fallen the graceful genolope, conquered the furious razor boar, and bested the terrible splicer-lynx. Yet on a last hunt upon the savanna, Wyatt discovers a new creature introduced to the second creation that is more splendid than any animal the tall grasses ever revealed to him. And Wyatt fears that humanity owns no defense against it.Cayden Holmes joins his father on a thrilling voyage into the new wild. He is determined to show his old man that he too owns the courage required to pull his rifle’s trigger and drop the game encountered in the veld. But Cayden finds that the killing is easier said than done. For every creature centered in his weapon’s scope reminds him of everything the lost world wasted, until shame weighs upon Cayden’s heart so that pulling that trigger feels impossible.Kendra’s face bears the clone’s mark - a pair of blue rings circling the right eye that conveys the secrets of her genetic construction. Her life has never been easy upon the savanna, but it had been consistent before the great hunter Wyatt Holmes brought his son onto the hunt. The dry season ends by delivering cataclysmic change to Kendra’s community, a change that forces Kendra and her kind to rely as never before on the hunters’ courage to pull their weapons’ triggers.For a new hunger has arrived in the second creation, one that threatens to forever upend the natural distinctions between the human and the clone. Views: 887
Each week, Jimmy Jack visits the bubble that protects Yogi. Yogi is the community smartman, and he is obliged to honestly answer Jimmy Jack's questions. Yet when Yogi discovers an intelligence amid the stars, the natural order between a community and its smartman becomes jeopardized, and Jimmy Jack and Yogi must reevaluate their friendship before the first saucer lands.Generations of genetic modifications have destroyed the smartmen's resistance to the plague. Fragile and susceptible to that terrible disease, the smartmen who hoped to reengineer their minds to rise above the poor and less fortunate find themselves at the mercy of the common folk for shelter. Housed in plastic bubbles maintained by the populace, the smartmen must weekly hear the troubles and travails of their communities and offer their best advice, a payment the communities demand in exchange for the maintenance and care given to the bubbles that protect the smartmen from disease. But the smartmen find a new hope to return to the top of the social ladder when they discover an alien intelligence amid the stars. They hire work crews from their communities and race to construct a giant radio with which to communicate with those alien minds that might know how to free them from disease and their bubbles. Only, the smartmen are not the only ones interested in speaking with those beings visiting from the stars, and not everyone welcomes the thought of the smartmen finding freedom from their plastic shelters. Views: 850
The men in the tight suits and narrow ties grow wealthy by cultivating the worth of their towers’ sparkle. Yet their economy depends upon the toil of the polishers, who work to keep so much glass clean. A magic dancer jeopardizes the fragile skyline when her steps summon a thundering herd, turning the polishers into hunters, and threatening to shatter all the foundations made of fragile glass.Doug Stewart counts himself among the men who sit atop the city’s sparkling towers of glass. Doug is troubled while his colleagues, dressed in their tight suits and narrow ties, enjoy the wealth delivered by their skyline’s glimmer and sparkle; for Doug counts the terrifying number of polishers who are leaping from their scaffolds rather than face another day with the mop and the broom. And Doug sees the signs of a mighty dust storm brewing above the wild lands to the east, and he fears that the wind prepares to carry a force into his world capable of suffocating the faith civilization places in those fragile towers built of glass. Views: 831
Vast. Criminal. Enterprise. The New World Order is in full swing. Country by country, economic warfare is bringing ordinary people to their knees. Meanwhile, presumed dead and perpetually on the run, John and Jane are having a mid-life crisis. Can this marriage and democracy be saved? All Greek To Me - Book II in The Quiet Rooms Trilogy.Vast. Criminal. Enterprise. The New World Order is in full swing. Country by country, economic warfare is bringing ordinary people to their knees. Meanwhile, presumed dead and perpetually on the run, John and Jane are having a mid-life crisis. Can this marriage and democracy be saved? All Greek To Me - Book II in The Quiet Rooms Trilogy. Views: 828
Famous memory-maker and artist Mr. Moon shatters the natural hierarchy separating human and synthetic when a clone of the Company’s Gus line explodes into flame in an attempt to set a new motorcycle jump record. A new church rises, one that views clones of that Gus line as divine. The world holds its breath as a new order forms after tasting a divine memory harvested by a simple clone.Registrar Lester Ferris has never seen anything like it. Fervent followers of the Risen Moon consider the Company’s line of Gus model clones as divine beings, as reborn vessels holding the soul of that deceased Gus clone lost in the flames of a failed motorcycle jump engineered by the world’s favorite creator of memories, Mr. Moon.Registrar Ferris grasps for bearing as the world spins around him. He fails to recognize his place after witnessing the motorcycle accident that kills that fateful clone of the Company’s athletic and strong Gus line. The Bureau forces him to carry a gun. He chases clone abominations in the streets. He dons riot gear and strains to disperse angry crowds. When he had first signed on to the Bureau, his only duty had been to check paperwork and to scan that Company brand that circles every manufactured clone’s right eye.And Registrar Ferris realizes that those of the Risen Moon consider him most special. For he is the Registrar who wears the pink tie, the Registrar who witnessed first-hand that motorcycle accident that through flame forged a divine memory, the Registrar who yearns for reunion with a lost love.For those of the Risen Moon believe that Lester Ferris possesses the last bits of knowledge needed to reveal death’s secret to all of mankind. Views: 817
Mr. Sievers is a relic of a lost time. His knowledge of fine arts has earned him his post as the art gallery's curator. But the modern art world doesn't need the curator's trained eye. For the paint-by-number templates determine what the curator mounts upon his walls. Mr. Sievers feels helpless until a dark painting unexpectedly arrives at his gallery to rekindle the stale art world with new fire.The strange painting Max Sievers mounts upon the wall confuses the gallery's customary visitors. The guests' tastes have been cultivated over the last many years by the template kits sold in the gift shop. Guests are accustomed to reviewing the works of artists who carefully follow directions and keep their pigments carefully contained between the template's black outlines. Those guests lack the tools to understand the wild and abstract painting that Max Sievers one day centers in his exhibition room. They may not understand it, but those guests cannot deny the power of that strange canvas. That painting sets one visitor's soul on fire, and so sends Max Sievers out into the ruined district of town to search for the artist whose opus wall holds the potential to bring the art world to its knees. Views: 817
The orange blight threatens to consume the planet of Geralt. Dr. Rhodes races through the planet's golden grassland on a mission to vaccinate the children against the deadly blight, but his mission is nearly impossible. For the patriots of Zeb Griffin, bound to accept the law of no man but their own, resist Dr. Rhodes' efforts at the peril of their families and their planet.Hanson Potts loaded his family onto a starliner and floated the long months to the colony of Geralt with hopes of living free from the interference of the United Systems. He has worked hard alongside his fellow compatriots of Zeb Griffin, and their efforts to complete their construction contract reward them with a planet untainted by the United Systems' bureaucracy. The golden grasses that cover the landscape seem like an Eden until the first blotches of the orange blight appear in the fields. The blight brings horrible and merciless death. When the United Systems sends Dr. Rhodes to the planet to vaccinate the children and suffocate the disease, Hanson Potts must decide if it is best to compromise his faith so that his Maggie receives a needle's medicine, or if it is best to endanger those he loves for the principals that define him. Views: 808
The crimson blossoms of the alien firedrop flower pull mankind into the stars. Though the firedrop offers no taste nor nutritional value, there is little humanity would not sacrifice to serve the firedrop upon a household's finest china. Space knows a thousand ways to kill those who dare float amid the stars, and yet the simple pulse and glow of an alien weed make all the dangers worthwhile.Catastrophe promotes Sal Maddox to the position of a harvester aboard the starship Klondike. But Sal is a green recruit, having served aboard the Klondike for only a few hops between the stars. Sal's education in harvesting the glowing firedrop, in collecting that treasure that swoons the hearts of women and men, must be a quick one. For he must face the dangers of descending to that small moon crowded by a giant and angry planet, where gravity and the void kill so easily those who dare journey to look upon the firedrop teeming in its strange soil. The harvest changes more than just Sal's bones, until that young spacer's heart calls a new landscape home. Views: 808
The Vagary Tales are a collection of eight short stories that each follow a separate path on a wandering journey. Several genres are represented, so there is a story to appeal to almost anyone.The Vagary Tales are a collection of eight short stories that each follow a separate path on a wandering journey. Several genres are represented, so there is a story to appeal to almost anyone."What is Right" is a story about Christian, a young man who finds himself unable to recall his recent past. This puts him in danger when he discovers that remembering may cost him his life."The Man in Black" is my tribute to the great Johnny Cash. See how many song titles you can find in this short story about George, a prisoner in Folsom Prison."Without a Trace" tells of the adventures of Todd and Charles who find a pair of underwear that turn the wearer invisible."Three Gifts from the Queen" is an epic fantasy about a visit Lord Ranor makes to see the Queen. She presents to him three gifts: great and terrible gifts that Ranor wishes he hadn't received."Cross Word" is a short story of a woman cursed with a cryptic message in her New York Times."Sweet Tea" is a story about a boy, and his dog, Barnard. Poor Barnard has post traumatic mowing syndrome. Lance asks his neighbor, Mr. Wegner, if he can help alleviate Barnard's psychosis."The Grass is Greener" gives reason #52 why you shouldn't take your wife golfing.Being a high-level assassin isn't all its cracked up to be. Just when you think you have it all--expensive suits, fast cars, weekends on a yacht, travel to exotic lands--everything you know comes crashing down around you. Jake Monday hates Mondays more than any other day of the week. This Monday will change his life forever. "Jake Monday" is an excerpt from my upcoming (2013) series. Views: 777
Goodman Asher has marred his face to show humility. He has sewn shut his mouth. He has broken his nose and cut notches into his ears. Such hurts reward him by summoning a Fay Regent to his mirror. Goodman Asher smiles, for it is rumored that treasure follows the Regent. Only, Goodman Asher misreads the Regent's intention, and Asher's sewn mouth fails to correct the terrible misunderstanding.The magistrates rush to Goodman Asher's cabin. For Asher's daughter has warned her village that her father's obsession with the mirror tempts wicked magic. Rumors and fables have lured Goodman Asher off of the good path, and so the magistrates rush towards their neighbor's cabin to plead with Goodman Asher to relent from his folly. They will give Goodman Asher a choice, an opportunity, before putting that cabin and its master to flame. Views: 769
Wilson waits for his freedom while monsters growl within the prison walls. Unnatural darkness shrouds the prison since the murder of his prophet Luke Turner. He smiles though his cellmates plan his murder. For his prophet's tattoos snake upon his skin, promising that death will be but a short sleep before he awakes a free man. Wilson's faith cannot suspect that prophets keep unspoken motives.Wilson Greene waits for his freedom while monsters growl within the walls. Deep, unnatural darkness shrouds the prison since the Brotherhood murdered his penitentiary prophet Luke Turner. Wilson sits in that darkness and waits for the blades his prophet promised would be plunged into him. He smiles in the dark though his guards and cellmates plan his murder. For his prophet's tattoos snake upon his skin, dark runes shifting in the shadows and promising that the death soon to be delivered is but a temporary sleep before he awakes a free man. The teeth of Wilson's bracelet rattle. Luke Turner has harvested all of Wilson's faith, and that prisoner with the ink shifting beneath his skin has no reason to suspect those tattoos mark him for a terrible warden waiting beyond those prison walls. Views: 761
Jayce and Beverly detour to visit the memorial commemorating a community’s victory over an alien invasion. Guided by the cemetery’s caretaker, they consider the stories told by the holograms installed within each grave, neither suspecting that following the caretaker too far might reveal a buried truth far unlike the history preached by figures of light.Twenty-five years ago, the aliens arrived in the star-filled sky and attempted to conquer the world. The carnage of that battle poisoned the environment, but it also united humanity in defiance of the extraterrestrial invaders. Guided by the Starwatch, humankind vows to be prepared should the aliens ever return to battle for Earth. Starwatch gives those surviving on a sick world hope to push onward until the world can recover from the poisons the alien menace delivered to the planet.Jayce Gorman and Beverly Wilcox visit the memorial dedicated to the community of New Bethany, which fought off the alien invasion before those attackers could establish a foothold on Earth. There, they listen and watch as holograms of the deceased sparkle in the night air to share their stories of defiance with the living. They are guided by a sad caretaker, who seems powerless to combat the cemetery weeds.But the caretaker knows more than Jayce or Beverly first assume, and he slowly pulls secrets out from his sleeves, until he contradicts the fables told by holograms with a history he witnessed first-hand, so that Jayce and Beverly must decide how deep they dare dig to know the truth of what appeared in the night sky. Views: 756
James returns to Addieville to finish what Mr. Turner started years ago when the old boneshaker burned his books and set half the town aflame. James returns to recover Mr. Turner's runes and so link his bloodline to that of a cursed family whose study of an ancient and lost alphabet doomed them to suffering and pain. But to James, such a curse is a small cost to pay to bury a dead town’s bones.Addieville offers no friendship to James Frost’s family. James’ father refuses to remove that vile book of Mr. Turner’s poetry from the town library, and so the residents of Addieville view the Frosts as a family undeserving of their trust. Mr. Turner doesn’t allow the kindness the Frosts show him go unreturned, and as Addieville begins to torment the Frosts to drive them out of town, that old poet unravels captivating magic to their son James. Mr. Turner and James learn they share much more in common than their ugliness, and the young boy and old man begin a last ritual for Addieville when they burn books upon a great pyre and spread a cleansing blaze through town. Views: 752
Mankind can only guess how long the alien water baskets have stood upon the planet of Sutherland. No clues have been found of the alien race who constructed such delicate mechanisms so long ago to harvest water from the arid planet's atmosphere. Those of the United Systems simply recognize the water's value, and so they refuse to allow the settlers of Zeb to jeopardize such ancient artifacts.The actions of those settlers who call Zeb Griffin their teacher, mentor and prophet once again mortify Operative Sheridan, sent to the barren and rocky planet named Sutherland in order to protect the ancient water baskets that harvest moisture from a dry sky. Some settler of Zeb has broken an ancient water basket. Some settler of Zeb has failed to appreciate the water baskets' value and splendor. The baskets represent the first traces of another intelligence other than mankind's amid the stars. The water baskets harvest water, mankind's most precious resource in the colonization of the stars. Yet those who claim to follow the long-dead philosopher named Zeb Griffin still damage the mechanisms their clumsy hands cannot work, whose design their closed minds cannot understand. Operative Sheridan holds the pieces of a water basket destroyed by a careless settler of Zeb, and his crafty mind hatches a plan to secure those incredible devices from the settlers' folly. He will fire no shot, nor request a single soldier. Yet in the end, those who call Zeb their mentor will serve as puppets to Operative Sheridan's designs. Views: 750
