With Two Cats and a Flood

NC flood

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

“Our house, is a very, very, very fine house
With two cats and a flood…”

He stopped singing the old song and listened to the water coursing down the street.

“Sure, I’ve been stuck on the floor days, your food has run out, and no one can get here to help, but we have each other.”

Chloe and Spike had been sitting on the coffee table staring at him for hours. He’d fallen out of his wheelchair and his usual attendant couldn’t get to the house.

The cats looked hungry and as he said, the food had run out.

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2024: A Year in Review

2024

It’s close enough to the New Year for me to post my annual “year in review” comments. 2024 has been pretty good as far as he number of stories I’ve had published.

It started out with my short story “I Don’t Want To Be Human” appearing in the Cloaked Press anthology Spring Into SciFi 2024. This tale goes back to my roots in terms of sapient robots, AI, while flying in the face of the common trope that all humanoid robots want to be like people.

Next up, I’m particularly proud of the 16-part science fiction serial I wrote for Starry Eyed Press called Our Legacy, The Stars: A Tom Corbett Adventure. It’s currently on Amazon’s Kindle Vella platform, but Vella is going away (you still have time to read it). The folks at Starry Eyed say they’ll republish my work in book form, hopefully in the coming year. I’ll let you know.

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For I Was Hungry And You Fed Me

chairs in snow

PHOTO PROMPT © Jennifer Pendergast

Bundled up, Jake sat outside and watched a thin, pink sunrise of Christmas morning.

“Another Merry Christmas to the world,” he said raising a cup of coffee to his lips. “Wonder how many more I’ll get to see?”

At seventy-eight, his bones ached more than he wished, especially after having been up all night. “Guess I’d better get ready to visit the grandkids.”

He stood and smiled at the memory. It was his eleventh year of passing out blankets, food, and coffee to the growing number of homeless in his hometown. “God be willing, I’ll do it again next year.”

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Retro Review of “Thor: Love and Thunder” (2022)

love and thunder

© James Pyles

Strolling around the DVD section of my local public library yesterday, I decided to finally check out the 2022 movie Thor: Love and Thunder. It had the benefit of me not having to pay to see the film.

I have now joined the vast legion of people (online anyway) who’ve gone on record as hating, detesting, and loathing this movie. I almost shut off the DVD at the 12 minute mark and then again at 15. However, I forced myself to watch it just so I could render some sort of opinion.

The only Marvel movie I did stop watching at about a third of the way through was Eternals (2021). I even managed to make it all the way through The Marvels (2023) before totally panning it.

Honestly, if this is the best Director Taika Waititi can do, he can stop making films right now (alas, he hasn’t).

The story starts on a barren planet where a man Gorr (Christian Bale) and his young daughter (played by Chris Hemsworth’s daughter India Rose Hemsworth) are dying. Gorr prays to his god for deliverance which does not arrive. Instead, his daughter dies.

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Make It Burn

chan

PHOTO PROMPT ©Sandra Crook

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

“See? What did I tell you.” Brad waved his arm dramatically in the direction of the chandelier.

“You’re right.” Katie’s mouth hung open aghast. “It must rate a nine-point-five on the Richter scale of bad taste. And whoever thought that god-awful purple light added anything to the room?”

“Yeah,” added Brad. “That lampshade is strictly 1970s puke terrible.”

“You’re sure they’re not coming back tonight.” She looked at him, suddenly serious.

“Off on a Bahama cruise for the next week. No pets. No house sitters.”

Katie opened her gas can and started splashing the contents around. “Let’s torch this place.”

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My Space Opera “The Fallen Shall Rise” FREE This Week!

me

Cover art for “The Fallen Shall Rise”

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My space opera novelette The Fallen Shall Rise, a 224-Verse tale published by Starry Eyed Press is available to download onto your Kindle device FREE!

From today (as I write this), December 17th through Saturday the 21st, just go to the book’s Amazon page and download it absolutely free.

The Amazon blurb for my book says:

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My Novelette “Ice” Has a Five-Star Review on goodreads (and now on Amazon)!

ice

Cover art for my fantasy novelette “Ice”

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My 2021 adventure/fantasy novelette Ice just got a five-star review on goodreads (and now on Amazon five days later).

Read the image below for the specifics.

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Book Review of “Ascension, The Ymir Trinity” (2023)

ymir

Cover art for “Ascension: The Ymir Trinity” by A.M. Leishman

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Last night I finished A.M. Leishman’s short novel Ascension, The Ymir Trinity (2023). It’s supposed to be book one in a series, but so far, no other books have been published.

I first encountered Leishman on twitter/X but he’s also on bluesky. We indie authors have to stick together.

I won’t lie. For me, it was a hard book to get into. I felt like I was walking into the middle of a movie. Cute, teenage psychopath Dawn encounters older and more reserved Alma walking into her local public library and fairly swoons over her. The two have been in contact with an entity named Ymir who has been giving them instructions about an impending interstellar war and pushing them to ally themselves specifically with the U.S. Military.

The two of them plus General David Trauger form an alliance that takes them to the highest levels of power, both on Earth and beyond.

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Not Just Another Job

dale bench bike

PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson

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Elizabeth left the dorm room letting her eyes adjust to the daylight past the bicycle and gate. At thirty, it was a stretch for her to play the role of a co-ed at the university, but that’s what it took this time.

She’d been a professional for ten years. This was the first job where she felt anxious. She took a few steps forward and forced down her emotions. She had to treat it like any other contract.

Except it wasn’t just another hit. Somewhere on campus was the man who had killed her sister. She would make him pay.

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Bubbe’s Tchatchkes

tchatchkes

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

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“What’s a tchotchke?” Jessica was the youngest of the cousins exploring Bubbe’s house. The grownups were either in the kitchen or watching the game on TV.

“Just a bunch of junk I think,” answered Michael. He was the oldest and annoyed because his Mom told him to watch the rest of the kids.

“You mean like knick-knacks? Bubbe sure has a lot seashells for someone living in Missouri.” Joel knew just enough Yiddish to “get it,” but his older sister Rachel knew more.

“It’s also a pretty girl,” she said. “Like the one reading the Torah for her bat mitzvah.”

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