for Nadezhda Alliluyeva There’s a black stage at night and it’s illuminated by single spotlight. No real reason for it being there. MR. BEAN BEAMED DOWN FROM ABOVE It’s also an enormous cobblestone plaza on which processions form up, then disintegrate. And it’s stripped of what makes it what it is after 12am: a vision … Continue reading ‘U WANNA BE AN ANGEL?’

My job requires me to spend time with people that don’t get many visitors. As a result you develop a relationship with each of them. It wasn’t like that at first with her though. The realities of her situation made her somewhat withdrawn, and we met in such a professional context that neither of us … Continue reading THE IMMORTAL DREAMS OF SOURDOUGH

(or, Another Solution to the Fermi Paradox) It was hungry. There had been little to feed on in the void between one spiral arm and another and what dark matter it had managed to scoop into its maw had barely sustained it on the crossing. Still, it had set itself this challenge – to seek … Continue reading THE SYMBOLIC DENIGRATION OF GALACTIC CIVILIZATIONS

Nobody knows how the first Weaselfolk came to be, but we know they were first noticed in Chicago. If we still had scientists — and science in general — perhaps we’d still be trying to figure out their strange physiognomic and, above all, psychological origins. At first they were just a public nuisance. People assumed … Continue reading THE WEASELFOLK GAME

Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un “I don’t want to give a bad impression about myself, that I am a death worshiper, or that any inquiries made into my writings or philosophies might lead someone astray. I am absolutely and unequivocally pro-body. Look at me, I’ve built my body well through the discourse of healthful … Continue reading AND WE DRINK THE DEAD

I was born to attend The Pembroke Hill School, but the honor was denied me owing to a swift investigation of my grandfather, the handsome Headmaster of Pembroke. They found him guilty of fucking all the wives of the filthy rich Pembroke Hill School Trustees: rich and stupid men who believed my grandfather to be … Continue reading THE FEARFUL 6TH GRADER

The traffic light up ahead changes from green to yellow, then to red. A cascading series of brake lights light up in front of us. Maggie lands on the passenger side mirror as we pull to a stop. He appears to be out of breath. Well I said come on over baby, we got chicken … Continue reading BLACK AND WHITE AND BLUE

He begs for the gaping maw of this gray-matter sky to expand and coat even the voided region of his vision with an acrylic layer of apocalyptic haze, shimmering thanks to the lure of oblivion summoned from a weekend technomancer's simple prayer, whispered for the sake of conjuring a terraforming storm of sufficient size and strength … Continue reading MOSAICS OF PREMASTICATED MEANING

He sits hunched over, bar stool. Room dim, lights scarce, his arms resting at the table he’s hunched over. He walked in. His shoes are gray suede. Socks tightly bound to his ankles, leaving their impression. Pants tight around the waist, white, creased when first purchased, but the crease faded as years went on. A … Continue reading A SOMETHING WALKS INTO A BAR