B. Morris Allen's Blog, page 11
May 10, 2019
Beginnings 040 – “Oh no, not again”
With a soft fizz, space expanded, contracted, and just plain oscillated. The fabric of space-time frayed, cosmic strings unwound, and muons dissolved into the merest hint of sub-sub-atomic matter. Reality was suspended, if temporarily, and with a note from its doctors.
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““Oh no, not again””
BMorrisAllen.com
Published 24-Feb-2013
About the story: Explaining one of my favorite parts of The Hitchhiker’s Guide.
May 9, 2019
Beginnings 039 – At Stake
The smoke is thicker now, a greasy yellow-grey that swirls and dances between me and the crowd. They are not getting the show they paid for, and it makes them angrier. Even the hiss and crackle of green leaves and dry logs cannot disguise the hatred in their voices. If I still cried, I would take advantage of the moment to cry in private, but even now, the air is hot enough to keep my eyes rough and dry.
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“At Stake”
Metaphorosis: a collection of stories
Published 22-Jun-2013
About the stor...
May 8, 2019
Beginnings 038 – Palimpsest
A man arrived as a force of nature, cyclone and sandstorm bound up in one, thunder and earthquake with a purpose. He approached the town in a crash of energies, a flare of fuss, but was halted at the town limits by an octagonal sign.
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“Palimpsest”
Metaphorosis: a collection of stories
Published 22-Jun-2013
About the story: Change is for the better. Isn’t it?
May 7, 2019
Beginnings 037 – Coup de Tart
“I didn’t do it!” a voice cried.
The cell door slammed, fraying the voice with the shards of brittle echoes.
“I don’t know what it is,” the speaker whispered to the silence that followed. He leaned forward against the chains that held him upright, arms outstretched like a martyr fresh from temptation. The rough metal cut into his wrists, and little rills of blood oozed slowly down to his elbows. The tickle of it was worse than the pain. “But I didn’t do it.”
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“Coup de Tart”
Non-Binary Revi...
May 6, 2019
Beginnings 036 – The Girl Who Just Went Wrong
I live in the shadows. There are lots to choose from when he’s around, so I guess I’ve made a virtue of necessity, as Mom likes to say. She should be proud.
She isn’t. She told me so just the other day.
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“The Girl Who Just Went Wrong”
Start with Stones: collected stories
Published 22-Jun-2013
About the story: The girl who just went wrong, and why she did it.
May 5, 2019
Beginnings 035 – All’s Fair
In a dark, dank cave, the dim glow of spent coals sent spiky shadows jerking across rough walls. The old forces sat in silence for a time, pondering the dismal morning to come. At last, however, one rose to her feet.
“I have done my best,” said Pain, “I have devised weapons that burn, that maim, that crush. My assistants Injury and Torture have worked without rest for decades. My creativity is at an end; I have no more ideas.” She sat back down on her chair of nails.
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“All’s Fair”
Spinetin...
May 4, 2019
Beginnings 034 – Parabolic
An old man sat in a cave, surrounded by an audience that strove to follow him, though he did not move. After a day and a night of silence, he spoke in a creaky voice:
A man chose a massive gravestone,
Of thick granite with deep-cut letters.
“I shall be immortal,” he said.
“So thought Ozymandias,” cautioned a friend.
“Ah,” replied the first,
“But you know of him.”
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“Parabolic”
Metaphorosis: a collection of stories
Published 22-Jun-2013
About the story: A lonely hermit speaks only in opaque...
May 3, 2019
Beginnings 033 – The Dark Distillery
There’s a gleam of light from up above, and I spin rapidly, throwing my black cape up as a shield. But it’s gone, and the room is dark again, the way it should be. It was my daughter, no doubt; she found the removable knot in my bedroom floor a full year younger than I did. She’s become wayward since my wife had to go, but she’s still young enough to mind her father.
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“The Dark Distillery”
Tocsin and other stories
Published 27-Feb-2015
About the story: What if you could distill and refine...
May 2, 2019
Beginnings 032 – The Dark Still Towers
Dark, still towers rise into the sky, forcing a reluctant sun to struggle past them into the heavens. The towers are out of place on the shifting, turning sand of this desert island. If the island were larger, one might imagine that they were intended as markers, reminders, placekeepers of a sort, but there is clearly not enough sand to cover even one of the structures, let alone all four.
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“The Dark Still Towers”
About the story: A boy trapped on a strange island until a mysterious sailor...
May 1, 2019
Beginnings 031 – Waning
The old king rattled his bones. That was what the younger knights at the table called it, when they thought he couldn’t hear them, when they thought his famously keen senses could be overcome by the riot of laughter and ribald conversation. Despite the fire in the great hall, he shivered again, and Norda smoothed the blanket over his knees, beneath the table. The knees were the worst for painful pops and cracks, but the shoulders were bad as well. Around the keep, they joked about the noise....
