B. Morris Allen's Blog, page 11
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.
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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.”?
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.
