It has been twenty-four years since the Peak Oil, and fourteen – since the world-wide economic collapse (and the Peak Everything.) No, there are no nuclear fall-outs and no zombies on the streets! The Civilization lives on. But: it is a very strange new world. In some ways – similar, and in some ways – totally different from our own. What does the future hold for us?This novel is both a classic police detective and a social science fiction. Or, you may call it a dystopian warning. As the name suggests, the action happens in not-so-distant future. The detective part is thrilling: an FBI Special Agent follows a serial killer case. In the science fiction part, the reader will not find any robots, or flying cars, or super-computers. The end of our world does not come from zombies raised from the graves (although one “zombie” is positively present.) There are no viruses that kill a person in under thirty seconds (although, there are viruses that positively can kill.) There are no continent-size volcanoes, asteroid showers and aliens from the outer space, and no Noah's Flood (although one flood is positively present, but very local.) Does not sound too scary to be a good read? Well, the global catastrophe described in the book is presently on-going! The world created by the author's imagination is remarkably similar and at the same time - remarkably dissimilar to our own, and yet – believable. Views: 602
Dr. Zito lives only with his creations, Ernie and Oliver. In Ernie, the doctor has created a universal donor, a clone ready to give Dr. Zito any part should one of the doctor's organs fail. In Oliver, the doctor has created a robotic surgeon, ready to harvest from Ernie any flesh the doctor may need. Only, the doctor never anticipated the friendship that forms between his clone and robot.Ernie lives knowing that his death could fall at any moment. Ernie's mortality is linked to Dr. Zito's health. Only a clone, Ernie can voice no objection when the obese doctor partakes of another bourbon after another rich meal. Ernie has no right to encourage the doctor to seek even a little exercise to help strengthen Dr. Zito's failing heart. Ernie is only a clone, only a commodity, only a closet of organs and parts maintained in the best of health to be ready to save Dr. Zito from the health emergency arriving perhaps next year, next month, or next week. Ernie rebels against the purpose endowed by his creator, however, when he makes a new friend in the world of his online adventure game. Ernie suddenly cares for his tomorrows. Only Ernie must convince the robotic surgeon and guardian named Oliver that a clone deserves an opportunity to at least meet the face behind a game's avatar if a clone does not deserve a future of his own. Views: 595
Naomi guides her spacecraft through the stars in search of the starfly world. Humanity wants revenge for the invasion those aliens launched upon the Earth. It is a daunting quest for Naomi, for there are so many stars to explore. Yet she sacrifices her years and floats through the nothing to chase the tiny hope she might find a way to deliver vengeance to those aliens who sing a song of chimes.Shimmering creatures called the starfly create magnificent relics in honor of their golden spires of crystal. The spires provide that alien race with a common home, a location anchored amid the infinite planes where the starfly can gather to share ideas and love. The starfly fail to notice until it's too late how the pull of those spires tears at their wings, and the time comes when the starfly must throw themselves into the stars in a desperate search for a new world they might call home.Humanity tosses its bravest space captains into the stars to search out the home world of the alien creatures who draped the Earth in a net of crystal and brought the armies of man to their knees. Humanity has no way of knowing what star the starfly planet might orbit. Humanity has no way of knowing if the starfly, in truth, originate from any planet at all. Yet the thirst for revenge is too great, and however small the chances may be of ever taking the war to starfly, humanity tosses itself into the stars.And both races are surprised to discover how dreams bond them together. Views: 593
PART I THE CUBHOOD OF WAHB [Illustration:] I. He was born over a score of years ago, away up in the wildest part of the wild West, on the head of the Little Piney, above where the Palette Ranch is now. His Mother was just an ordinary Silvertip, living the quiet life that all Bears prefer, minding her own business and doing her duty by her family, asking no favors of any one excepting to let her alone. It was July before she took her remarkable family down the Little Piney to the Graybull, and showed them what strawberries were, and where to find them. Notwithstanding their Mother\'s deep conviction, the cubs were not remarkably big or bright; yet they were a remarkable family, for there were four of them, and it is not often a Grizzly Mother can boast of more than two. [Illustration] The woolly-coated little creatures were having a fine time, and reveled in the lovely mountain summer and the abundance of good things. Their Mother turned over each log and flat stone they came to, and the moment it was lifted they all rushed under it like a lot of little pigs to lick up the ants and grubs there hidden. It never once occurred to them that Mammy\'s strength might fail sometime, and let the great rock drop just as they got under it; nor would any one have thought so that might have chanced to see that huge arm and that shoulder sliding about under the great yellow robe she wore. No, no; that arm could never fail. The little ones were quite right. So they hustled and tumbled one another at each fresh log in their haste to be first, and squealed little squeals, and growled little growls, as if each was a pig, a pup, and a kitten all rolled into one. They were well acquainted with the common little brown ants that harbor under logs in the uplands, but now they came for the first time on one of the hills of the great, fat, luscious Wood-ant, and they all crowded around to lick up those that ran out. But they soon found that they were licking up more cactus-prickles and sand than ants, till their Mother said in Grizzly, "Let me show you how." She knocked off the top of the hill, then laid her great paw flat on it for a few moments, and as the angry ants swarmed on to it she licked them up with one lick, and got a good rich mouthful to crunch, without a grain of sand or a cactus-stinger in it. The cubs soon learned. Each put up both his little brown paws, so that there was a ring of paws all around the ant-hill, and there they sat, like children playing \'hands,\' and each licked first the right and then the left paw, or one cuffed his brother\'s ears for licking a paw that was not his own, till the ant-hill was cleared out and they were ready for a change. Ants are sour food and made the Bears thirsty, so the old one led down to the river. After they had drunk as much as they wanted, and dabbled their feet, they walked down the bank to a pool, where the old one\'s keen eye caught sight of a number of Buffalo-fish basking on the bottom. The water was very low, mere pebbly rapids between these deep holes, so Mammy said to the little ones: "Now you all sit there on the bank and learn something new." [Illustration: ] First she went to the lower end of the pool and stirred up a cloud of mud which hung in the still water, and sent a long tail floating like a curtain over the rapids just below.... Views: 574
One day Isaac Newton sat thinking in his garden, when an applefell. Then he realized. The direction the apple fell, along with everyother object on this round earth, was always toward Earth’s center. Itwasn’t just that the apple fell, but that it tried to go to Earth’s center.That was Newton’s Eureka Moment. He realized that Earth had drawnthe apple to it. He realized that every object in theOne day Isaac Newton sat thinking in his garden, when an applefell. Then he realized. The direction the apple fell, along with everyother object on this round earth, was always toward Earth’s center. Itwasn’t just that the apple fell, but that it tried to go to Earth’s center.That was Newton’s Eureka Moment. He realized that Earth had drawnthe apple to it. He realized that every object in the universe draws everyother object—probably in proportion to its mass. Siddhartha sat beneath a sacred fig (Ficus religiosa), known ever after as the Bodhi Tree, and settled into meditation. After countless daysand nights, one day, as the morning star rose in the sky, SiddharthaGautama realized enlightenment and became a Buddha.Mother Nature has given us tremendous inspirations since the advent of man. Philosophers, writers, intellectuals, scholars, scientists,and religious leaders always have a very special relationship with nature—that of profound discoveries and realizations. Nature offers theprecious opportunity even to people who are trapped in their egos ofloving and being loved unconditionally. The author realizes that MotherNature can tell us even more things if you care to know about the hidden messages. Give Yourself completely to the act of listening, observing, and experiencing. There is something greater to be understood.When we get lost in a maze of compelling world problems, we shouldknow where to turn to; when we have forgotten how to be ourselves, tobe where life is in the here and now, we should know where to turn to. Views: 569
Bryce Munson resents the dreams of the automata. The robotic writers have monopolized the publishing industry, and their dull paperbacks lull the reading public to sleep while the world falls to ruin. A frustrated Bryce becomes a keeper of the machines, and through the robots he distributes the words he hopes will change the world. He fails to understand how his story might set his city to flame.Bryce Munson lives a miserable life. The generic paperbacks of the automata offer him no pleasure. Unable to find enjoyment in the neat categories of robotic fiction sold in the bookstations, Bryce scribbles his own stories, but there seems to be no one left in his wasting world who is interested in reading words that are not produced by the publishing world's machines.Yet a new hope visits Bryce after his desperate effort to destroy a writing robot with a little gun fails to spark the rebellion he desires. A beautiful and dark woman teaches Bryce how to become a keeper of the automata, and how his life might find the purpose it requires in the intricate work involved in maintaining the writing machines. As a keeper, Bryce finds a fellowship of writers. And in short time, he shares a love with the woman who offered him meaning within a repair shop.Too much of Bryce, however, still worries for the world. Too much of his pride still resents how his words must be subservient to those imagined within artificial intelligences. Thus Bryce forms a plan to finally spark the rebellion he hopes will save his world, and he puts everything on the line to topple the automata. Views: 568
Sheriff Conrad looks upon the deflated oddity discovered behind a compound of mobile homes and fears the bombs connected to that fallen and decayed balloon will force his community to reappear on the road map. He convenes his neighbors, and the villagers decide the best plan in coping with the bombs' dangers is restoring that balloon so their village might simply return the oddity to the wind.An enemy vanquished over fifty years ago crafted the balloon bomb from streamers and paper. The weapon’s creators simply set the balloon adrift in the wind before praying fortune delivered destruction to their enemy’s homeland. Rural villagers decades later find one such balloon entangled in the swamp bordering their community. The bombs fastened to the balloon threaten peril, but no one wishes to contact the outside world for help, and thus remind the larger world of their aging community hoping to be forgotten. With new paper and paint, with new stitches and hydrogen, that rural community brings the balloon bomb back to life, never stopping their work to wonder if it might be best to let one weapon of a lost age simply fade into ruin. Views: 554
The Family Reunion has been described as the Walton family meets Stephen Leacock. It is a collection of vignettes and character sketches woven together around a family reunion. Put your feet up and be ready to chuckle – A light read for the whole family.The Family Reunion has been described as the Walton family meets Stephen Leacock. It is a collection of vignettes and character sketches woven together around a family reunion. Put your feet up and be ready to chuckle – A light read for the whole family. You will find yourself reading to the family at the dining room table or at your next family reunion. The author says "They are stories and personal characteristics that I see in myself and in others. They are simply the launching platform buried between truth and fiction."A must read, family fun book, to be shared around the fire or the dining room table for all to enjoy - young and old.> I just finished "The Family Reunion". What an uplifting and warm piece of literature. I could not put it down. I simply devoured it. Thanks so much. Views: 538
Ralph sticks his tongue between the terminals of a nine-volt battery, and so becomes initiated into the pack of children who assemble to fight the beast lurking in the river, draining their town of life. The monster has stolen precious treasure from each child who pedals his and her bicycle towards the dark to confront the monster, and those young warriors speed out of town to earn their revenge.Ralph's legs burn as he pumps power into his bicycle's pedals to race to the river bottoms to confront the monster Lacy claims lurks in the water to steal life from their fading community of Beckford. Ralph envies the weapons each of his friends bring to wield against the monster, and he fears he possesses nothing with which to combat whatever monstrosity they discover outside of town. Each rider pedaling towards the descending dark feels their childhood slipping for the sorrow the bottom beast has manifested. Thus they have all tasted a nine-volt battery's spark to count themselves among the initiated pack that swears to make that monster return the treasure it has stolen from their families and lives Views: 536
Mankind shows no mercy to those of the Black Sun Temple. For those cultists who warn those alien sirens are mankind's doom jeopardize the melodies those creatures share with humankind. But that zeal for justice blinds mankind's empathy, until the executioners attending to their duty upon Ganymede push too far and ruin any chance to some day sing alongside those incredible sirens mesmerizing man.Gunner has executed uncounted cultists of the Black Sun Temple as a sentry and executioner stationed on the penitentiary built upon Jupiter's moon Ganymede. War has ravaged his body, and escorting so many condemned prisoners to their deaths has shredded Gunner's soul to tatters. He would have forsworn his duty long ago had he not been blessed to hear the sirens' alien melody that heals the most wounded of hearts. For the sirens sing a different song to every prisoner facing whatever form of death Jackson Hardcase and his gameshow deliver. The sirens sing, and their notes lift the condemned and chase fear from their hearts. But Gunner's wounds are deep and unhealed, and even the most loyal of executioners can serve for only so long before his resolve shatters to show the sirens the frailty, and the danger, inherent in mankind. Views: 516
Anton risks more than his carnival when he makes a place for Bora and his magical creatures. Anton worries that Bora's monster swells too quickly within its cage, and he frets that the monster might soon escape to feed upon the world. But Anton risks that danger because he needs a unicorn's magical horn to heal his girl, and he cannot have one magical creature without the other.Ancient Bora holds his breath and feels the world balance upon his magical creatures. An empathic world would nurture the young unicorn, until that animal realized its glorious potential to wield miracles capable of healing any affliction - like the disease that grips Anton Finnegan’s daughter Marcia and prematurely ages that girl. A dark and resentful world would feed that monster of tendrils and tentacles moaning within the confines of Mr. Finnegan’s house of horrors. Such a monster’s girth would know no bounds, and such a monster’s mass would swell until it choked the land. Bora carried his creatures to the bright lights of the carnival, thinking a carousel’s song would provide a wonderful melody for a young unicorn. Yet Bora still worries that even that nation of wealth and luxury has little to provide to a unicorn. Views: 515
Kate no longer runs in the field with her loyal dog Gyp. Gyp worries for Kate's exhaustion. Gyp sees how the color fades from his beloved master. He knows how Kate sweats through sleepless nights. Gyp suspects a terrible sickness gripping Kate, and he fears the family cat Isis holds a terrible secret from him, one which Gyp is determined to learn no matter if he has to shake that cat apart.Gyp is a champion of a loyal dog. Gyp closely follows each of his master Kate's commands. Together, they are a team, and Gyp loves nothing more than running through the training field and pleasing Kate with his cunning and speed. But when a sickness grips Kate so that they can no longer take the field, Gyp will brave even the family's ancient, temperamental cat Isis to learn what can be done to bring health back to his Kate. Gyp will not flinch before that cat's eyes, and the dog will complete any challenge, or pay any cost, to pull Kate back upon the green fields. Views: 514
The community of Monteray's suffering budget dooms the park's baseball diamond to demolition to make way for development. The community gives Mr. Harmon the task of informing Coach Boyle of the decision. Mr. Harmon's conversation with the aging, yet still powerful, coach proves a difficult one, for the the gap between the two men assign them each to a different time.Jas Boyle upkeeps the memories to be found between a baseball diamond's first and third base foul lines. Raking the infield and mowing the outfield grass does not take all of Jas Boyle's time, and the aging man often still grips a wooden bat to face a pitching machine. Mr. Harmon hears the cracks from that bat as he approaches that field to tell Jas Boyle that the community of Monteray will no longer require his services. Waiting for the pitching machine to empty as Jas Boyle takes his hitting practice, Mr. Harmon is amazed to watch the older man still send majestic fly balls far beyond the outfield fence - towards the direction of the looming bluffs, towards the direction of a lost age. Views: 511
Thomas Frederick Dixon, Jr. was a Southern Baptist minister, playwright, lecturer, North Carolina state legislator, lawyer, and author, perhaps best known for writing The Clansman — which was to become the inspiration for D. W. Griffith\'s film, The Birth of a Nation (1915). Views: 504
The world's troubles make Mrs. Queen hum. But when her son threatens to separate her from her grandson unless she gains control of her behavior, Mrs. Queen vows to master her nervous habit of humming. The world's wars and famines, storms and earthquakes, fail to cooperate with Mrs. Queen, and the sweet woman must decide if chasing away her hum is worth placing her neighbors in peril.Fear constricts Mrs. Queen’s life. Anxiety turns her to stone. And all of Mrs. Queen’s worry overflows into the hum forever spilling from the trembling woman. Recognizing how the nervous habit has consumed his mother, Maven refuses to let his son David visit his grandmother until Mrs. Queen promises to follow the prescribed steps required to regain control over her trepidation. Mrs. Queen forces herself to cease fretting over her diet. She volunteers throughout her community to again socialize with her peers. She even tosses her emergency radio into the silence of her closet. Yet the woman's environment seems to unravel all the more furiously with each of Mrs. Queen’s efforts, until the world itself shakes in an attempt to make Mrs. Queen return to her humming. Views: 493
