I thought aliens were interested in medical experiments but this one wouldn’t shut up about Hamlet.Just before the abduction, I’d been in the middle of a student conference in which a freshman was introducing her emotional support ferret, so of course I was zoned out, thinking about how I could make more money as a […]
March 23rd, 2051The first time you walk out of a blinding white door suspended in mid-air, I’m hiking the CT to forget the accident. Your sudden appearance makes me trip over a tree root and bust my nose. We hike for three days after that, but you have no supplies, only a stick of gum […]
Larry accepts the transcranial advertising patch on his way into the supermarket. The next step in this—his Sunday morning grocery ritual—is to drop it into the return bin, where others have done the same. Supermarkets can compel you to accept the patch in exchange for entry, but they can’t force you to put it on. […]
I’ve been driving for six hours when a hotel appears on an otherwise empty stretch of road. It has turrets and a fussy gazebo, like an antique wedding cake preserved by moonlight, and a red sign promising “vacancy.” Whatever it costs, my emergency stash will have to cover it.I’m so tired I pause over the […]
Paul Kelly’s song, “From Little Things Big Things Grow” popped into my head while considering this editorial. Not surprisingly, it is an ideal segue into our April stories, which in one way or another deal with those things that change us. The song also reminded me of my own unwilling change of direction around 12 years ago when […]
This is the real me: I am the kin of armchairs and baseboards and clever lighting. I am indistinguishable from the scenery. Tonight, I am wallpaper, deep crimson with a black scrollwork pattern. I am dark but for the single incandescent lamp to my right. I am the backmost corner of a posh tavern on […]