B. Morris Allen's Blog, page 10
May 20, 2019
Beginnings 050 – The Coping Saw
Commuters trickled slowly into the subway station across the street, the detritus of industry’s great machine as it patiently wore away life to leave behind the smooth outline of success. Dust motes were vacuumed away to suburbia, to be recycled overnight into grit for the commercial polisher. Mixed metaphors, she thought. Dust is too soft to use as grit. Some of the bits got stuck in the cracks to gum up the machinery. Gum made of dust and grit. Tasty! She took another bite of her sandwich....
May 19, 2019
Beginnings 049 – Autumn Mist
The dragon was old. Old and tired, and a little bitter. Oh, it was well enough for a young dragon to talk about ‘later’, when it was something far away. A young dragon had his work, his companions, maybe a little of the fancy stuff; he had a long life ahead. Time enough to worry about anything else later.
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“Autumn Mist”
About the story: What happens to Puff after Jackie Powers leaves?
May 18, 2019
Beginnings 048 – For this Rich Earth
Gather around, children, and I’ll tell you a tale of beginnings, and of ends, and means. This is a story of the early days, when the world was quiet, a story of the time before men. In fact, it is the story of the first man. Come sit by me, and I’ll tell you of how the flowers to blue man came, of how he fought, and how he failed.
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“For this Rich Earth”
About the story: An expedition finds a paradise planet. But do humans deserve it?
Based on a mishearing of a folk song.
May 17, 2019
Beginnings 047 – Start with Stones
Down by the creek, a dark figure moved in the mist. From the door of her drystone cottage, the crofter watched it curiously. A long day’s work called softly on the wind that brought leaves rustling down from hard, dry fields above. The crofter sighed as she thought of fieldstone walls still unbuilt, their rocky parts still buried in their native soil. She gathered her tools, humming softly.
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“Start with Stones”
Start with Stones: collected stories, Overcast
Published 22-Jun-2013
About the...
May 16, 2019
Beginnings 046 – The Stone in the Sword
Deep in the woods, where the trees broke into a clearing, a man and a badger sat having a picnic. The man sat with his back to a small, weathered boulder, smooth but for a narrow and strangely regular crevice in its top. He was middle-aged, but his eyes held a dark wisdom. His face was lined and weathered, as if it had seen centuries of use. The badger’s gray head was striped with white, even at the tips of his ears.
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“The Stone in the Sword”
Start with Stones: collected stories
Published...
May 15, 2019
Beginnings 045 – Crust
The bed was too short. Or, as my brother Archie would have said, I was too long. Archie was always ready with a joke. It seemed incongruous in a soldier built like a tank, but the members of his elite battalion said it took the stress away, helped them concentrate on something other than Alliance zap-rays and vacuum-bombs.
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“Crust”
Tocsin and other stories
Published 27-Feb-2015
About the story: Where do you go when the going gets painful? And how do you get back?
May 14, 2019
Beginnings 044 – Dancing Through Winter
We danced in the darkness, my mother and I, stepping lightly from note to note. If we sometimes missed our footing, we caught each other before we fell.
We could have turned on the lights, I suppose. The portable reactor on the lower level would last longer than either of us. It powered the music we danced to, the fans that moved the air, and the heating that kept us all alive. But Mom came from a generation raised to save – food, water, energy, air, you name it.
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May 13, 2019
Beginnings 043 – House of Hope
As the last merlons fall from my last tall tower, I remember I remember the first cold shock of hammer, the fractured sense of loss that preceded self. As flames reach the last timbers of my last sub-dungeon, I remember the first bite of axe, the sharp tongue of plane.
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“House of Hope”
Metaphorosis: a collection of stories
Published 22-Jun-2013
About the story: Stone and timber make a house, and much, much more.
May 12, 2019
Beginnings 042 – Tocsin
Don’t ask, as the waves crash against you, and froth covers your camera ports. The yellowish spume drips slowly down the glass again, its acid etching faint new designs over the old. The froth is tenacious, clinging until an unusually tall swell submerges you, pulling your cable taut against the anchor far below. Then the wave passes, and you’re clear, bobbing on the surface with only struts and base awash in corrosive, salty spray. You wonder when anyone last took notice of your condition.
...
May 11, 2019
Beginnings 041 – My Trip to the Awe Tanks
Dear Diary,
My class went to the awe tanks last Fivday. Mom told me to write about my trip so I’ll remember when I’m older. Dad always told me not to write stuff down, but I put a password on, so it’s okay.
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“My Trip to the Awe Tanks”
Tocsin and other stories
Published 27-Feb-2015
About the story: What do people mean, when they say, “Aw, tanks.”?
