“Are you serious?” Amanda hoped the scorn in her voice would disguise her excitement. “I’ve never heard of La Rana.” David laughed. “The Suedos family isn’t exactly into tourism. The last time anybody dropped in on them it was probably… Continue Reading
Abydos, Egypt Second year of the Pharaoh Khasekhemwy 2704 BC Merit-Ptah heard the shouting first, and then the struggle as two guards pushed a man through the door-flap of her house. “I’m with a patient,” she began in anger, but… Continue Reading
It is dark when you leave class today: twenty minutes late out of what is already a night class, having stopped to ask the professor a question about Murphy’s Law. The campus is empty in a way that you’ve only… Continue Reading
I paint a line of blood down his face. “Thanks, Kate,” Ricky says. “How do I look?” “Like you’re too old to go trick or treating.” I suggest we begin at the Bennetts’, notorious for king-sized candy bars. “But everyone… Continue Reading
“Laurel! How many times have I told you!” I swipe the locket off the table and bang open the bathroom door, yelling to be heard over the running shower. “You never take it off. Never!” “Just while I’m—” “Even in… Continue Reading
The bombers were coming again, the sirens screaming. Rita pulled away from the crowd exiting the nightclub and started toward the coat check station. She could bear the cold but not what would happen if she didn’t make it back… Continue Reading
Stevie Dawes sank pints like Nelson sank ships. He drank Courage Best, three at a time, except when his guts played up, when he drank Guinness and told everyone about it. Stevie was a fixture at a South London dive… Continue Reading
Across the face of every freshman streaming into the lecture hall on the fall semester’s first day was the same unspoken question: “Am I in the right class?” Professor Bill Meriwether had every intention of answering that question — just… Continue Reading
It was the dead of night, when everything good and clean went to bed and everything else came out to play. This wasn’t the choicest part of town but there were worse places to be. She was all legs and… Continue Reading
The Director yells “Cut!” on the sound stage and Security descends to escort the actors to their trailers — code for holding pens. The actors are fed genetically engineered food pellets to promote optimum weight, complexion and youthfulness. Exact amounts… Continue Reading