Reflections on the mutability of the interwoven Internet
Original fiction, poetry and other creative writing
The warden’s stooges frog-marched the former prisoner to an uncertain freedom. Johnny Hotpocket stood outside of Massive State Penitentiary, blinking in the early morning sunlight. His manila folder contained only his watch, a gaudy orange flyer and a bus ticket in lieu of the state’s usual cab fare. Johnny couldn’t believe his luck. He grinned ... Read more
Once upon a time, there lived in the woods of Abstemia, a wicked witch by the name of Hedwig. She was the joke of the kingdom; all her spells had the opposite effect on her victims. The king never bothered to have her burned at the stake because, frankly, he found her antics amusing. Besides, ... Read more
"I'm sorry, Ms. Cochrane. The brain damage is irreversible. Your son has suffered permanent memory loss." The surgeon didn't bother to comfort the distraught mother. Instead, he spun sharply about and briskly left the family waiting room. "That's one cold fish, ma'am, but he's the best they got here at Mercy General. So, if he ... Read more
Harvey's deal with the devil turned on a single, misapplied term in the new Faustian Transmigration of Souls Contract. Like all beings cursed with a lack of mortality, the devil had taken her sweet time getting up to speed on office computing. She was inventive enough when it came to the art of suffering; navigating ... Read more
If it hadn't been for the extended quarantine, I'd have never finally found Charlie in the freezer. Six years ago, my youngest thought it would be a blast to hide an Easter egg behind the bags of peas and corn. It was his turn to be the Egg Master, as we called the person who ... Read more
Merlin wanted no part of Vivienne's artifice. Alas, in this domain of predestination, he was powerless to do anything other than to expose his innermost secrets to the one woman who could turn his magic mirror against him, using it like the shield of Perseus. Fortunately, predestiny also showed him the path toward mutually assured ... Read more
By the year 2345 A.D., the global infrastructure formerly known as the Internet has shed its status as an ethereal being. Its only connection to its past lies in the definition of the word formed by its acronym, S.C.R.E.A.K., a noun describing a noise like a banshee. In prehistoric times, the "Internet" was summoned by ... Read more
Copyright © by Mitchell Allen Angela was about to get her ashes hauled by Liam Moore. She didn't know this, because it hadn't happened yet. In fact, young Liam wasn't even born yet. None of this matters, because the fact is, if Angela hadn't met Foley in the mail room on that fateful day, she ... Read more
Ancient humans, the ones that literally swam from the primordial ooze, had a myriad of senses. Frances Van Atheris, a renown genomic biologist, set out to catalogue all 10,000 of them. She based her work on the Human Genome Project, taking her data from the so-called junk DNA that was isolated from stable gene deserts. ... Read more
To the casual observer, Jacob Jr. was just a kid galumphing through puddles in his galoshes. But, I knew better. I had seen Jacob Jr. and his "family" snacking on the toxic blooms that had overtaken their fenced-in yard. Also, once a month, the elder Jacob took a baseball bat to a hapless chick, after ... Read more