This story is written as a response to the Muse on Monday writing prompt for July 14, 2025: Write a story about coffee or tea or another hot drink. Tea Minutes Left How long did a cup of tea last? Mike had never considered it before. In truth, he almost never remembered the actual drinking of the…
This Familiar, Alien Air
This Familiar, Alien Air The air here smells familiar now, which means I’m forgetting my home planet. It’s been decades since I crash-landed on this world. The inhabitants were initially wary but respectful. Their language is subtle, but I get by. I live in this ruined castle I found, adding bits of technology I salvaged…
Muse on Monday – July 14, 2025
There seems to be a hidden divide, at least in my culture, between coffee and tea people. Not that there is any fighting, but people generally prefer one over the other (I like both, but I am definitely a coffee person). Then there are those special cases who only drink hot chocolate or something else….
Bringing a Knife to a Laser Fight
This story is written as a response to the Muse on Monday writing prompt for July 7, 2025: Write a story about an anachronism. Bringing a Knife to a Laser Fight They told us we could pick any weapon we wanted for the semi-annual battle royale. It was all in virtual reality, so no one…
Super Commute
Super Commute “Begone, dastardly Crabman!” “It is you, Captain Buffalo, who will soon be cooked.” I looked away from the superbeing duel causing a traffic jam on the bridge in front of me. —Gonna be late, I texted my boss. Bridge fight. —You took the bridge? You know that’s a magnet for epic showdowns. Take…
Muse on Monday – July 7, 2025
Recently, I visited an island with no cars or motorized vehicles at all. Everything was done with horse-drawn wagons and carriages. It was like stepping back into the 19th century (except, luckily, for the air conditioning). Still, it was charmingly anachronistic. An anachronism is anything that doesn’t fit in the current time period, either because…
The Murder House (Allegedly)
The Murder House (Allegedly) There goes another one, walking into the quaint Island Meats house. The problem is, people go in but no one comes out. I’ve been watching from the café across the street for the last four hours. Tally: 56 people entering, 0 exiting. Finally, I called 911. “. . . and I…
Muse on Monday – June 30, 2025
This week, I want to look at birds. Birds are pretty fascinating for a lot of reasons: the fact that many of them travel long distances every year, much more than land animals; they have a big range of sizes and diets and characteristics, from the hummingbird to the ostrich, and they live in every…
Best-Friend-Teddy
Best-Friend-Teddy I should probably just go ahead and die. But, somehow, I still feel like living. Most citizens died long ago in the Terrible Event. The survivors fled. Now it’s just me: bad-back-white-haired-half-blind me. Me, and Teddy: that missing-eye-singed-fur-depleted-stuffing bear I found while scavenging. Teddy sits across from me at dinner, and I tell him…
Muse on Monday – June 23, 2025
The novel Leviathan, by Scott Westerfield, takes place in World War I. The situation is the same as the history we know except that the British have living machines made through genetic engineering and the Germans have steampunk mechanical machines, like walking fortresses. This is what is known as alternate history, where we imagine history…
The Green-Walled Treehouse 