31Oct I set the effigy of wire and straw on the pavement in front of the John D. Bailey Center for Palliative Care and reached in my pocket for my lighter. The “John D,” as it was known, was built in the 60s to be something of an urban fortress of public safety. A striated-brick block jutted from the ground floor into the U-shaped visitor’s … Continue reading Time to end it
30Oct Five years ago, a Jewish mystic living in Denmark was found impaled on the struts of a medieval spire. It was not clear how she had gotten there since all points of access to the roof were locked and sealed. She seems to have been propelled with force, however, since a couple of her limbs had been literally ripped free of her body. They … Continue reading The pulsing breath of the sky
29Oct I waited another two hours after the lights went off before entering through the sewer. I cut the city padlock on the gate and looped the chain around a hook. I hung the broken lock through one of the links. Down a short arched passage was a four-foot-high concrete slab. Atop and at the back was a bolt-studded iron door with no handle. There … Continue reading Have you come to kill me?
“The Stars My Destination,” second in my five-book formal tour of the history of science fiction, is a work of extremes, which makes it hard to say anything balanced about it. What it does well, it does very well. The rest is flat pulp, the equivalent of an off-brand cola. But since Bester doesn’t dawdle, the flat bits never last very long — none of … Continue reading Science Fiction: The Stars My Destination
28Oct She had company. I could see through the second-floor window. I couldn’t tell who was there, but there were definitely two shadows, both female from the looks of it. I was across the street under a tree that was still clinging obstinately to the last of its leaves. It was raining, but not very hard—just enough to make everything damp, just enough to loosen … Continue reading What do people do?
25Oct I dodged calls from Hammond, and from my brother Fred. I can only imagine the one called the other. I went to Sully’s, my favorite dive bar, the kind of place that didn’t care if you broke the city’s no-smoking ordnance, and sat in a booth at the back with a cigar. It was the middle of the afternoon so the place was nearly … Continue reading It wasn’t enough
24Oct My dress shoes click-clacked on the courthouse floor as I walked to the stairs and up to the third floor. I exited the open stairwell and fought the urge to wipe the lipstick off my face with the back of my hand. I turned a corner and stopped in the middle of the hall. Sitting alone on a bench across from Conference 5C was … Continue reading What kind of monsters?
