I created an avatar to help me explore this world I’ve created beyond the stories I’m already writing. From this meta-perspective, I hope to make those stories better. The avatar is an aspiring writer. When we first meet him (in an unfinished scene), he frequently visits a pub and drinks a bit more than is…
This Space Fable is a lesson for space-born children. The idea behind such lessons is to think through the environmental and social dangers aboard a Village Ship and then write stories that would serve as warnings to the children who live there. Here’s part of the story. There once was a child who loved nothing…
This is a very early draft of the first scene of a story I’m working on called “Prepper Ranch”. This story will mark the split in humanity between those that remained on Earth and those that went to space. It explains this split from the perspective of a young couple who are trying to survive…
His trip through the Canteen line was mostly uneventful. He scanned his credit band verifying his citizen status, picked up his tray, and navigated the various food stations. He got a salad, choosing a variety of fresh vegetable toppings and a simple dressing, and a cup of soup. They had mushroom soup today. Then he…
This is a scene snippet and a draft scene focusing on Ory’s storyline. Both are part of Act II. The scene-snippet is a teaser of some intrigue between Kalindi, the Executive Office who is stepping down, and Dardános, the current front-runner in the election to replace her. The draft scene takes place shortly afterward, with…
Breakfast the next morning was a groggy, gloomy affair. Neither of them had slept well. Friste had tossed and turned, and Adelka woke with each of his movements, worried about him and ready to talk if he wanted to talk. But he didn’t, and he didn’t talk through breakfast either. He just read the news…
This scene will be toward the end of Act I for the Javier and Mētis story. It is a cross between a world-building essay and working on writing dialogue. Javier is an Earth tween who has been convinced by Mētis to live on a village ship. Javier was forced to leave his grandfather’s farmstead on…
Aboard a ship orbiting a moon that is itself orbiting a planet, a man basks in his quiet accomplishments. Before he joined, Sciencia Liberum was a tiny, plodding, risk-averse organization whose operatives dropped subtle hints to the natives below regarding how they could improve their lives through science and technology. It advanced the cause, but…
At the end of the line, Ory’s tray had a mug of jai, a bread roll, a green salad with cherry tomatoes and cucumber, and protein-rich, yeast soup. He saw Bella with her friends at a far table. She caught his eye and smiled, but then turned back to listen to their conversation. He took…
I’ve posted a world-building essay for Patrons on my Patreon site. Here’s a teaser: “Just a hec.” Wait, how long is that? A hectoSecond is 100 seconds. That’s nearly two minutes. Did you know that a “moment” is 90 seconds? The people of the System Compact use a metric time in which the basic time…
