Voter Registration Drive Book Sale!

The other day I saw something about the deadline to register to vote for some special elections is like, next week.  I don’t live anywhere these special elections are happening, so I haven’t paid much attention to them.  But every election is important, especially now.  If you want to vote, you need to be registered.  And who knows what new hoops will be added to the registration process in the coming years.  So if you are an American citizen over eighteen, now’s the time to register.  The information to do so should be on your state’s website, but you can also check out Vote411.  And if you’re already registered, these sites should also let you check your voter status, because while voter lists need to be updated as people move or die, some go overboard.  Any “mistake” found now can be fixed long before the next election, making the election run smoother.

To draw a bit of attention to this, and to give some slight encouragement to register, I’m running a book sale from Monday February 24th, through Friday February 28th.  For that week, four of my ebooks will be free to download on Kindle.  I think it is against the law for someone to offer you something to register to vote, but it’s not like I’m offering you a million dollars to vote.  And it’s only four ebooks from an unknown author just to register.  If I was rich and famous, I’d be doing other things to pull democracy from the jaws of authoritarianism. 

If you’re not an American, you can still grab my ebooks.  I just ask you to participate in your government however you can.  Since America is no longer the leader of the free world, someone else will need to step up.

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Political Pies

Everybody complains about politics, but does anyone do anything about it? My attempt to do something about it is to collect forty of my short stories with a political element into my Political Pies anthology. The stories are either politically neutral or equally condemning of the national parties. Instead of trying to sway you to one ideology or another, my goal is to just get people thinking about politics in the hopes a rose might grow out of all the political manure.

Useless Cogs

Useless Cogs is a collection of forty, of my science fiction stories. They range from only a few dozen words to a few thousand and are filled with time travelers, AIs, clones, aliens, even sexbots, although not often as you would imagine. As example, there’s a time traveler that’s always a step behind, an AI that’s late on rent, and a sexbot with bad software. Some of the stories are humorous, some horrifying, and some … depend on your point of view.

The Only Certainty

On The Day, for reasons unknown, people began changing. They went to sleep as their old selves and woke in their beds in different bodies: bodies that had belonged to other people. And each time they fall asleep, they wake in a new body. Set months later, “The Only Certainty” follows Derrick Gorton on an average day in this new world as he deals with food shortages, the semi-collapse of society, and how to finish his latest novel.

The Moon Before Mars: Why returning to the moon makes more sense than rushing off to Mars

Over the last few years a lot of people have caught Mars fever. It seems a week doesn’t go by without a report of some new group wanting to send people to Mars, or some big name in the industry talking about why we have to go to Mars, or articles talking about the glorious future humanity will have on Mars. All of this worries me. In my opinion, a Mars base is currently not sustainable because there’s no way for it to make money. A few missions may fly doing extraordinary science, but if it’s then cancelled for cost the whole Mars Project may just be seen as an expensive stunt.

Fortunately, there are other places in the solar system besides Mars. While bases on the moon and amongst the asteroids won’t be as inspirational as one on Mars, they will have opportunities for businesses to make goods and services as well as profits, meaning less chance of them being outright cancelled. This will make life better on Earth and secure a firm foothold in space for humanity. The essays in The Moon Before Mars: Why returning to the moon makes more sense than rushing off to Mars allow me to describe my ideas on what can be accomplished on the moon and with the asteroids, and why Mars isn’t the destiny of humanity its cheerleaders make it out to be. 

Good signs

I live in a rather red area of Pennsylvania.  I also watch a bunch of stuff on YouTube.  So I’ve seen a lot of political ads these last few months.  Now I didn’t keep track of what ads I saw, but it seems to me that even a couple of weeks ago, for every three Democrat ads I saw, there were four Republican ads.  But now it does seem that for every three Republican ads, there are four Democrat ones.  Did the Republicans run out of money, or have they realized they’re not winning Pennsylvania so they’re putting their money elsewhere, or am I completely wrong about all of this?  Who knows.  One thing that is interesting, is how most of the Republican ads are of the doom and gloom and “They support trans people,” kind, whereas the Democrat ones are the “Here’s what we’re going to do for America,” as well as, “Election Day is November fifth.  Please vote,” kind.

Moving away from ads, I’ve seen a couple houses with Republican yard signs, but not Trump signs.  So there are some people that are Republicans, but not Trump-Republicans, which is a low bar, but too few clear it.

On the roads I take to work, I see a dozen or so Trump signs.  But last week, as I was driving along, I saw something and went, “Is that a Harris sign?” Well, it was, but it had been vandalized into a slightly rude sign.  I was still a few minutes from work, and I wondered if that person had put up a Harris sign only for someone to vandalize it, or if they had stolen a sign to vandalize it and put it up as a “joke.” Not knowing who lived there, it’s hard to say.  But it’s unlikely they drove for hours to steal a sign, so there was probably someone in the area who put up a Harris sign.  And then, as I pulled in to work, I saw a Harris bumper sticker, which was the first actual Harris sign I’ve seen.  Again, I live in a very red part of the state, and I pretty much only go to and from work.

But, the other day I had to run an errand which took me on a road I hadn’t been on for over a month.  On that road I remembered seeing a dozen or so Trump signs.  They’re still there, but this time, I saw two houses with actual, unvandalized Harris signs.  There are brave blue dots in the sea of red. 

Election Day Sale

This election is almost over!  In a matter of days we’ll know if America will remain a land of democracy, or if it wall fall into fascism.  That’s assuming in the months after the election the fascists don’t burn the country down in their attempts to steal the election.  But that’s Big Challenge Number 2.  Big Challenge Number 1 is getting out and voting to show that the majority of Americans don’t want Orange Hitler back in the White House. 

Therefore, as with every election for the last decade plus, I’m having an Election Day Sale on several of my ebooks.  From Friday November 1st, through Election Day Tuesday November 5th, the following five ebooks will be free to download.  All I ask is that you vote.  If you need it, this site will help you find your polling place.  (Also, apparently, it’s technically illegal for me to give you something to get you to vote, but if a free ebook from an unknown author was the deciding factor on whether or not you voted, then the case could be made that anything could have been the deciding factor, like choosing not to vote because you didn’t want to stand in line after stubbing your toe that morning.  And it’s not like I’m dumb enough to just give people a million dollars.  Anyway, there’s no way for me to know if you vote or not, so you can take a book and not vote.  Which is fine, except in the sense that this election will determine the very fate of the United States.)

If you’ve already voted, then reward yourself with some free books.  If you haven’t voted yet, then grab something to read while you wait in line.  And if you’re not an American citizen, grab an ebook anyway and participate in your government however you can, because if nothing else, this election has shown that the forces of authoritarianism are everywhere, and they unfortunately don’t sleep.

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Political Pies

Everybody complains about politics, but does anyone do anything about it? My attempt to do something about it is to collect forty of my short stories with a political element into my Political Pies anthology. The stories are either politically neutral or equally condemning of the national parties. Instead of trying to sway you to one ideology or another, my goal is to just get people thinking about politics in the hopes a rose might grow out of all the political manure.

 

The All-You-Can-Read Buffet

The All-You-Can-Read Buffet is a collection of forty stories covering various genres and themes ranging from six to over 4,200 words in length. Some of these stories I wrote a decade ago, while others were written especially for this collection. All together, they are a buffet of my writing. As such, I encourage you to read as much as you want. Go back for seconds, thirds, fourths even. I won’t even mind if you skip over the stuff you don’t like, but, to quote your mother, “How do you know you don’t like it? Have you tried it?”

 

Relics

This work contains some profanity and sexual situations. It is intended for mature audiences only.

A plague that kills men has devastated the world’s population. Only a few thousand boys and men were able to be quarantined. But Mike Shay is the only man known to have a natural immunity to the plague. Therefore, he is practically the only man in a world of women. He spends his days reading, playing video games, and making the occasional sperm donation. Then Dr. Veronica Barrett shows up, disrupting what passes for his life. She says she’s there to investigate his “mental wellbeing,” but is there more to her visit?

Instead of the normal, adolescent, heterosexual male fantasy of being the only guy on a planet of women, “Relics” tries to give a more realistic view of Mike’s life.

 

The Future is Coming

As a science fiction writer, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how technology will change the way we live. I’ve come up with these ten short essays about science fictional elements that will – almost certainly – one day become science fact as a way for people to start coming to terms with them. Because I’ve spent time thinking about clones and AIs, I feel I’ll be okay when they do finally show up whereas most people will probably freak out. I hope these essays will get people to start thinking about the future because, no matter what we do, the future is coming.

 

Lonely Phoenix

Partway to a new colony world, board member Geoffrey Ames is woken from hibernation by the caretaking crew of the Lucian. They require him to look into the matter of their fellow crewman Morgan Heller. Morgan’s claims – such as being over 1500 years old – would normally land him in the psychiatric ward, except he can back up some of his other claims.

Political Karens

The idea for this post has been kicking around for … I don’t know how many months.  It started when I saw a post about how some Democrats weren’t planning on voting for Biden because of how he’s handled the whole issue of Gaza.  On one hand, I fully understand the dream of only voting for politicians that fully support the same causes you do.  But on the other hand, I doubt Trump could even find Gaza on a map. 

I know some people get really put off being told they have to support the lesser evil, but where the fuck have they been living the past forty years?  Yes, the system is broken.  Yes, the only thing more antidemocratic than only having two choices is only having one.  And yes, Harris isn’t perfect.  But you know what, NOBODY IS FUCKING PERFECT!  If a politician agreed with me 100% on every one of the 8,000 issues we have in the country/world right now, I’d figure they were just lying to get my vote. 

If you took the 100 issues I care most about, and looked at, not what Harris promises to do but what she can probably actually deliver, maybe 10 of those issues will see marked improvement, 5 might actually get noticeably worse, and the other 85 will have little if any change.  Whereas with Trump, 95 will get noticeably worse, while the other 5 will have little if any change.  Will Harris bring about a new golden age of America and the world?  No.  But she will make things slightly better.  Trump will dose the country in gasoline and light a match.  The choice is between slightly better and utter destruction, and somehow people can’t decide? 

Even if every American agreed on what America should be, there’s no way to get there within a Presidential term.  And too many adult Americans don’t understand that.  They’re apparently still at the stage where if they want candy, but if their parent says no, they immediately start crying and screaming.  We can only try to make things better tomorrow than they are today, which means we are often just left with baby steps.  But they can be baby steps in the right direction.

This brings us to my concept of a Political Karen.  We all know the image of a hyper-Karen, someone who would demand the complete destruction of a pizza place as acceptable compensation for not putting enough green peppers on their pizza, even though they never mentioned extra green peppers when they ordered the pizza.  I hope most of us would not only not agree with that, but would see it as going too far.  Now a Political Karen, is someone who – watching the country be destroyed by a fascist Trump – would think that if only Harris had stated support for Policy Y, they might have voted for her, thus avoiding this whole situation.  And I would hope, that most people would see that as going too far as well.

Register to vote, or check your registration

To me, it seems the only hope Trump has to “win” is if his supporters throw so many wrenches into the voting process that there will be “questions” as to who actually won.  And then his Supreme Court stooges will go, “Since there’s no way to really know who won, we’ll just say that Trump won.” And that will be the end of this experiment with democracy.

One of the wrenches being thrown, is purging people from the voter rolls.  Yes, voter rolls need to be kept up to date as people move, or become eligible to vote, or when they die.  And then there are those who purge thousands of voters from the rolls weeks before an election for … reasons? 

So if you feel that America should remain a democracy and that the voters – not corrupt election officials – should determine who wins an election, then you need to do your part.  Right now, doing your part is to register to vote – if you’ll be 18 by Election Day – or checking your registration.  You should be able to check your registration on your state’s website, although some of them apparently don’t make it obvious.  So another site you might want to use is Vote.gov.  The reason to do it now, is in some states there is a deadline as to when you can register, and it may only be days away from when this is posted.  But if you are registered, you should still check your registration because if there are problems – from the normal glitches that happen in databases of millions of people or from politically motivated purges – you can get it all sorted out well before the election.  And the smoother things flow on Election Day, the smaller the wrench the forces of tyranny will have to destroy the process. 

Ideas for Election Stories

Several months ago, I wondered what I could do to help defeat Trump.  Without going crazy, like donating money or talking to people.  What things were there that I felt comfortable enough doing?  I figured I could write some stories, as sort of a cautionary tale of what a Trump Dictatorship could look like.  That was a great idea, but it turns out I don’t have the time, energy, patience, skill, etc., to write all these stories.  But I don’t want these story ideas to just fade away after November.  Especially if there is someone out there who could make something of these ideas to further the cause of making Trump’s defeat even greater.  So here are some story ideas I won’t get around to writing before the election.  If you can make something of them, then go for it.

Story #1

This is a simple story of some news reporter giving a glowing speech about how grand and vibrant Trump is as he begins his third term and how the Chosen People cheer him on while the Anti-Trumpers are trying to destroy the world, or some such BS.  During all of this, in the background there is video of Trump, who is just this drooling blob in a wheelchair. 

Story #2

There has been a lot of weird shit during this election.  Like, didn’t Vance once say something about only people with kids, biological kids, that is, should vote because only they have a stake in the future, or some shit?  I know it was only like a month ago, but a thousand weirder things have happened since.  Anyway, this story is a news report about how a Republican Congress passed some bill, which Trump signed, that restricted voting to only people with biological children.  The bill was named after some Senator who, thanks to the genetic testing now required to vote, learns that his kids aren’t biologically his.

Story #3

This is more of a “fun” story, in that some Republican asshole tries to impeach President Harris on Day 1.  The fun comes when someone, possibly even President Harris, rips them and the entire Republican party to shreds over it.  I think the greatest problem with this one is that there is so much material to shred the Republican party on, that you run the risk of dragging on for too long.

Story #4

This is a story I actually started writing, with the title “A Rose by Any Other Name.” The story was about some Republican asshole in Congress proposing a bill that if passed would certainly be signed by Trump, that outlawed giving gender neutral names to babies.  Like, the parents couldn’t just name their kid Sam, it would either have to be Samuel or Samantha. 

This idea began when I wondered if parents would start doing that so that the kid could decide if they were a Samuel or a Samantha or just a Sam.  I don’t know if that is even a thing parents are doing, but I realized that even if it isn’t a thing that’s happening, there are those who would spend a great deal of time and effort to make sure it couldn’t happen.  I mean, it’s not like they could spend that time and effort to try to solve an actual problem that’s harming people. 

I started writing this, and one point I wanted to bring up is there are a couple countries that have some sort of naming board.  Some of these are for cultural reasons, while others are for more grammatical reasons.  I sort of fell into a rabbit hole on this, which just confused me so I set the story aside and now I don’t have time to hammer something out of it. 

A message to political introverts

I am an introvert.  Three independent groups of people gave me the nickname Silent Steve.  I maybe say a couple thousand words a week, and most of that is at work where I have to talk to customers.  If I didn’t have to work, and talking to the dog didn’t count, I could easily be down to a hundred or so words a week.  There are several factors as to why that is.  First, it’s just the way I am.  Second, I do have interests I could talk about, but most of the people I know who share those interests are online.  And third, many of my views on religion or politics aren’t widely shared where I live.

Expanding on that third point, I think Trump was the worst President since … ever.  The next worse one would probably be Nixon, but at least he had the decency to resign.  I have a pretty good grasp of history since WWII, and I know there were some corrupt Presidents in the 1800s, but none of them tried to overthrow the government.  I’m in the rough spot of on one hand wanting Trump to be punished in prison for the rest of his miserable life for the uncountable number of crimes he’s committed, but on the other hand I see that he clearly has mental issues and deserves dignified treatment and care. 

Now I live in a very red county.  I had written that even in the weeks after the assassination attempt, I didn’t see any increase in Trump signs or hats or anything.  But in the last couple of weeks, I still haven’t seen any new yard signs, but there has been a slight uptick in people wearing Trump hats or shirts.  And even people not wearing such obvious MAGA clothing will still blurt out some MAGAish statements.  It’s not a question of if, but when I’ll hear someone make a racist comment about Harris. 

All of this is to say that I don’t talk about politics in general, but in the last decade or so I’ve become even more guarded.  So I’m not one to put up a Harris/Walz sign, or wear a button or anything like that.  And I’m too broke to help them with money.  I do write stories, such as “Hot Enough for Ya?” which shows what could happen with a second Trump term, but too few people follow me and will even see it. 

This came to a head a couple of months ago.  I felt like I wasn’t doing enough to save democracy.  Like, the fate of the nation rested entirely on my shoulders.  I wanted to do more, but couldn’t and felt terrible.  And I realized that one, it’s not all up to me, but more importantly two, I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.  There are probably tens of thousands of people across the country giving themselves ulcers worried that they, personally, aren’t doing enough.  Maybe they’re an introvert and don’t like talking to strangers about things like abortion or climate change.  Maybe they’re struggling financially and can’t really afford to give some politician $20.  Or maybe they’re a blue dot in a rabid MAGA sea and don’t want to make themselves a target.  And my message to all the political introverts out there is you are not alone.  You don’t have to single-handedly save democracy.  If the only thing you are emotionally/financially/physically able to do is vote on November 5, then do that.  The entire point of talking to people and paying for ads is to get people to vote because that’s the most important thing.  And if that is the only thing you can do, then you’ve done the most important thing. 

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And just a quick note, since voting is the most important thing, check to make sure you are registered to vote.  If you find any issues now – say you were “mistakenly” purged – it can all be fixed so Election Day will run a bit smoother for you.

An encouraging sign?

I live in a pretty red part of Pennsylvania.  Like, in 2020 Trump received 78.7% of all the votes in the county, which was an increase from the 78.0% he received in 2016.  In 2020, in my drive to work I saw a dozen or so Trump signs and flags.  And they stayed up, like, in late 2021 there were still a couple yard signs out.  And hardly a week goes by I don’t see some asshole wearing a MAGA hat or an “I’m voting for the felon!” t-shirt at work. 

But back in … June or so I noticed that I was seeing less and less of those people.  And I hadn’t noticed any yard signs.  I was thinking maybe the fever had passed, and I was thinking of writing up a post about how not seeing Trump signs everywhere was an encouraging sign, but I figured I would wait a little closer to the election before doing that.

Then, on July 13th, I was at work and this lady said that Trump had been shot.  I think she had a friend at the rally and wasn’t sure what all was going on.  It was a few minutes before I was able to get to my phone and check the news.  I saw that the bullet had “grazed his ear,” and the first reports I saw listed two dead, and I thought it said as well as the shooter, so I thought three people were dead.  I don’t know if it was just confusion on the developing story, of if I misread the report.

Now, I’m not a fan of Trump, but I don’t want him shot.  For one, I don’t want to make a martyr of the asshole, and two, he deserves to spend the rest of his miserable life locked up in prison.  And three, political assassinations should have no part in a democracy.  Although, I will admit, there were times back in 2016-2020 where I could start to see the appeal.  So I was happy that Trump wasn’t severely wounded, and saddened that three (really two) people were dead.  We’ll probably never know what troubles that kid had, but that wasn’t the way to go about fixing them.

Once I knew Trump was still among the living, I realized my job would become agonizing.  Because I expected all the magats would come out of the woodwork.  A couple years ago, someone had stickers made of Biden saying, “I did that,” and put them on the gas pumps at one of the stations down the street from where I work.  I know this, because some guy found that so goddamned funny, that he took a photo of them, and then had to show that photo to a complete stranger working at a different store.  I could have explained that the President has no control over the price of gas and high gas prices are the results of greedy oil assholes, but what are facts and reason to a Trump supporter?  So after the assassination attempt I expected a constant barrage of MAGA hats and conspiracy theories.  Like the one semi-regular customer who said that the fires in Hawaii a year or two ago were “obviously” caused by an energy weapon as some kind of false flag to convince people climate change was real.  Fortunately, I haven’t seen that guy in like two months, so I thankfully don’t know his thoughts on all of this.

But none of that happened.  I only work Saturdays and Sundays, and I counted the number of Trump hats/shirts I saw.  I didn’t keep track before July 13th, but I would guess I saw one or two each weekend.  And that’s how many I’ve seen each weekend since.  And except for a neighbor putting up a Trump flag, I haven’t seen any new yard signs on my drive to work.  And given how many customers feel the need to talk my ear off about anything, I’ve surprising not heard anyone say anything.  I thought maybe on the 13th, people hadn’t heard about it yet, but I figured it would be nonstop talk on the 14th, but it was if it never happened.

And that’s why I wonder if this is an encouraging sign.  Perhaps the Trump fever has finally broken, and there are just the few, isolated cases of foam-at-the-mouth MAGAtism.  Don’t get me wrong, most of my customers will still vote for Trump in November, because for decades they’ve been told “Republican good, Democrat bad,” and that’s about the extent of their political thinking.  So they’ll still vote for Trump, but they won’t be as excited about it as they were in 2016, or 2020.  Which, while small, is still a step in the right direction.

Fourth of July Voter Registration Drive Book Sale!

I know a lot of people are tired of being told that every election for the past decade WILL DETERMINE THE VERY SURVIVAL OF THE NATION!  But it’s true.  It seems every election now is a choice between democracy and the literal forces of evil.  And the fastest way for the forces of evil to fully seize power is if We The People can’t be bothered to vote.  To keep our democracy, we need to vote, in this election and every election.

But in order to vote, you need to be registered.  If you’re an American citizen who will be eighteen by Election Day, November 5th of this year, and you are not registered, I ask you to register.  Your state’s website should have all the necessary details.  

To try to sweeten the pot for people doing their patriotic duty, the week of the Fourth, three of my ebooks will be free to download.  All I ask is that if you download them, you register.  There’s no way for me to check if the people grabbing my books for free registered, so we’ll just go on the honor system.  Read them now, or hold on to them to have something to read while you wait in line to vote come November. 

But what if you’re already registered?  In that case I ask you to check your registration.  The list of voters needs constant updating as people register, move, and die.  And even without nefarious voter purges, it’s possible for mistakes to happen.  But if you catch the mistake now, you have plenty of time to get it fixed so that come Election Day, things will be smoother.  Your state’s website should also have the details on how to check your registration.

But what if you’re not American?  Well then, all I ask is that you participate however you can in your government.  The literal forces of evil aren’t just working here in the states.

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The following three ebooks will be free to download from Monday, July 1st, through Friday, July 5th.  The title links take you to the US site for the book.

Political Pies

Everybody complains about politics, but does anyone do anything about it? My attempt to do something about it is to collect forty of my short stories with a political element into my Political Pies anthology. The stories are either politically neutral or equally condemning of the national parties. Instead of trying to sway you to one ideology or another, my goal is to just get people thinking about politics in the hopes a rose might grow out of all the political manure.

A Man of Few Words

A Man of Few Words is a collection of fifty of my flash fiction stories. What would really happen if a “T-Rex on steroids” attacked a city? Why do science fiction writers make the best lovers? How does a company get to Second Base with VIPs? I explore these questions and more using less than 1,000 words and in various genres from humor to horror and general fiction to science fiction.

Duty

For reasons of safety and avoiding paradoxes, Time Travel Incorporated assigns a Guardian to all its travelers. So when there is an accident during political historian Roj Hasol’s trip back to 1968, it’s his Guardian Susan who sets out on the arduous task of cleaning up the mess.

Voter registration drive and book sale

I know a lot of people are tired of being told that every election for the past decade WILL DETERMINE THE VERY SURVIVAL OF THE NATION!  But it’s true.  The fastest way for the anti-democratic forces to fully seize power is if We The People can’t be bothered to vote.  And the anti-democratic forces already have too much power as it is.  To keep our democracy, we need to vote, in this election and every election.

But in order to vote, you need to be registered.  If you’re an American citizen who will be eighteen by Election Day, November 5th of this year, and you are not registered, I ask you to register.  Your state’s website should have all the necessary details.  And if you are registered to vote, I ask you to check your registration, which you should also be able to do on your state’s website.  The reason to check your registration is that the list of voters needs constant updating as people register, move, and die.  And even without nefarious voter purges, it’s possible for mistakes to happen.  If a mistake is caught early, it can be fixed early, and things can go a lot smoother for everyone come Election Day. 

Democracy only works if the people participate and the first step of participation is to take a few minutes and register to vote.  To help sweeten the pot, starting Monday, February 26th, I’ll be having a book sale for four of my ebooks.  Register, or check your registration, then grab some free books.  Well, there’s no way for me to check if you register, so we’ll just go on the honor system.  And if you aren’t an American citizen, then I’ll just ask that you participate in your country’s political system however you can, because the anti-democratic forces are not limited to the US.

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The following four ebooks will be free to download from Monday February 26th, through Friday March 1st.  I hope you enjoy, and I hope you’ll vote in the next election.

Political Pies

Everybody complains about politics, but does anyone do anything about it? My attempt to do something about it is to collect forty of my short stories with a political element into my Political Pies anthology. The stories are either politically neutral or equally condemning of the national parties. Instead of trying to sway you to one ideology or another, my goal is to just get people thinking about politics in the hopes a rose might grow out of all the political manure.

The Most Powerful Man in the World and other stories

The Most Powerful Man in the World and other stories is a collection of five, short, scifi stories to provide a sample of my writing.

A being from the distant future with almost unlimited powers comes back to help Ian Steele make the world a better place in “The Most Powerful Man in the World.” One bookstore customer has an entirely different reason for wanting books in “Black Market Books.” “Motherhood” tells the story of Thomas Gillespie, the surrogate mother for a baby AI. “Storyteller” is about an author thinking his book into existence. And “Deadworld” is about the alien world humans are reborn on – in alien bodies – after we die.

A Man of Few Words

A Man of Few Words is a collection of fifty of my flash fiction stories. What would really happen if a “T-Rex on steroids” attacked a city? Why do science fiction writers make the best lovers? How does a company get to Second Base with VIPs? I explore these questions and more using less than 1,000 words and in various genres from humor to horror and general fiction to science fiction.

An Ounce of Prevention

Like most people, Jason Fisher wanted to make the world a better place, but he doubted he would ever have the chance to make much of a mark. Then a “woman” came to him, asking his help to save humanity by threatening it.

Short story – “How Did They Get Our Number?”

“How Did They Get Our Number?”

“There he is.”

Mario waved to his three friends sitting at an outside table of the Brew Haus.  “Hey guys.  Sorry I’m late, I had a hell of a time finding a parking spot.”

Jason replied, “Sure, sure.  We were talking about the big tackle last night.  What did you think?”

“Oh, it was a thing of beauty.”

Greg shook his head.  “You’re just happy that it wasn’t-”

A piercing tone filled the air, causing everyone to clap their hands over their ears, although that didn’t seem to help.

After a few seconds it stopped.  Then what sounded like a computerized woman’s voice began speaking.  “Greetings sentient beings of Planet 23411341234.978.  I am,” what followed sounded like a slowed down version of a cat in a blender.  The voice then continued, “I am broadcasting this message to the minds of all sentients on the planet.  I represent this sector of the galaxy in the Galactic Congress.  We have just become aware of your existence and welcome you to the community of planets.  I’m sure you have many questions, and as your representative, I will work to answer them and help you in any way I can.  We will be in touch with further information.”

For several seconds there was only silence.  Mario looked at his friends.  “Did you all-”

Before he could finish, there was another piercing tone.  Then a different computerized female voice said, “Greetings sentient beings of Planet 23411341234.978.  I am,” this time the following sound was an ear-splitting screech.  The voice went on with, “I am running to replace [cat in blender sound] as your representative.  [Cat in blender sound] has repeatedly failed this sector of the galaxy by advocating war with the Andromeda Galaxy and fighting against the rights of,” then came what sounded like a drawn-out fart.  “The election,” the voice continued, “is only 8.7 of your years away, but I hope I can count on your support.  I will be sending you additional information shortly.”

“This has to be some kind of joke,” Jason said.

“But who would-” Mario began, but he was cut off by another piercing tone.

A computerized male voice began, “Greetings sentient beings of Planet 23411341234.978.  I am ….”

***

I first wrote this story back in the spring of 2012.  Back in those days, a never-ending stream of political ads seemed like one of the worst things politics could do to us.  Oh, for a simpler age.

2023 Election ebook sale!

I know that a lot of people are tired of being told that every election for the past decade is THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION EVER!  But it’s true.  The fastest way for the anti-democratic forces to seize power is if The People can’t be bothered to vote.  And they have too much power as it is.  To keep our democracy, we need to vote, in this election and every election. 

The tiniest part that I’m doing is having a sale of five of my ebooks.  All I ask – and there’s no way for me to know – is that if you’re an adult American you vote in this Election.  Here’s a site to help you find your polling location.  And you don’t have to wait until after you vote, if you grab my books now, you can have something to read while you wait in line. 

If you’re an American under 18, you can still get my books.  All I ask is that once you turn 18 you register to vote.  Information on how to do that should be on your state’s website.  You can also grab my books if you’re not an American.  I just ask that you participate in your country’s political system, because the anti-democratic forces are not limited to the US.

The following five ebooks will be free to download from Friday, November 3, through Tuesday, November 7.  The title links take you to the US site for the book.

 

Political Pies

Everybody complains about politics, but does anyone do anything about it? My attempt to do something about it is to collect forty of my short stories with a political element into my Political Pies anthology. The stories are either politically neutral or equally condemning of the national parties. Instead of trying to sway you to one ideology or another, my goal is to just get people thinking about politics in the hopes a rose might grow out of all the political manure.

 

The Most Powerful Man in the World and other stories

The Most Powerful Man in the World and other stories is a collection of five, short, scifi stories to provide a sample of my writing.

A being from the distant future with almost unlimited powers comes back to help Ian Steele make the world a better place in “The Most Powerful Man in the World.” One bookstore customer has an entirely different reason for wanting books in “Black Market Books.” “Motherhood” tells the story of Thomas Gillespie, the surrogate mother for a baby AI. “Storyteller” is about an author thinking his book into existence. And “Deadworld” is about the alien world humans are reborn on – in alien bodies – after we die.

 

A Man of Few Words

A Man of Few Words is a collection of fifty of my flash fiction stories. What would really happen if a “T-Rex on steroids” attacked a city? Why do science fiction writers make the best lovers? How does a company get to Second Base with VIPs? I explore these questions and more using less than 1,000 words and in various genres from humor to horror and general fiction to science fiction.

 

Duty

For reasons of safety and avoiding paradoxes, Time Travel Incorporated assigns a Guardian to all its travelers. So when there is an accident during political historian Roj Hasol’s trip back to 1968, it’s his Guardian Susan who sets out on the arduous task of cleaning up the mess.

 

The Future is Coming

As a science fiction writer, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how technology will change the way we live. I’ve come up with these ten short essays about science fictional elements that will – almost certainly – one day become science fact as a way for people to start coming to terms with them. Because I’ve spent time thinking about clones and AIs, I feel I’ll be okay when they do finally show up whereas most people will probably freak out. I hope these essays will get people to start thinking about the future because, no matter what we do, the future is coming.

Voting is the answer

We are forty-two days away from what may be one of the most important elections in American history.  The reason why is because we have one party that believes the people should decide the outcome of elections, but they are opposed by … basically a cult who believe that politicians should be the ones who decide the outcome of elections.  And if they lose it has to be because the other side cheated, and not because they suck at their jobs and the people fired them.  The best way to stop these wannabe dictators is to show up and vote them out.  And hopefully, the other wannabe dictators in their cult will get the message.

To do that, we need as many people as possible to vote November 8.  Midterms usually have a low turnout, but that generally favors the cult.  If you are legally able to vote, you need to vote.  So make a plan.  Depending on what state you live in, you may still be able to register to vote for this election.  Your state website should have the details on how to register and any deadlines.  If you are registered, you may what to check that your registration is still active.  The voter rolls need to be updated as people die and move, but sometimes the people updating the rolls get overzealous and remove people that shouldn’t be removed.  If you check now – your state website should have details on this as well, but if not there are other reputable websites – and find a problem, you can fix it now instead of finding out on Election Day.

So you’re registered to vote, now what?  Find out where your polling place is.  Find out what all will be on the ballot.  Elections for governor and senator get all the news, but what about school boards and ballot questions that aren’t always worded in the clearest fashion.  Make a plan to vote.  Do you live somewhere with early voting?  Can you vote before going to work, or after work, or will your employer be okay if you take a long lunch?  What will the weather be like?  Will you need an umbrella or sun screen?  Will there likely be a line to vote?  Make sure your phone is fully charged, or take a book.  If there’s usually an outrageously long time to wait, can you take a folding chair or a cooler with snacks and water? 

America can only work if the citizens take an active role in the government.  And there are factions in the country deeply opposed to that.  They don’t want you to vote.  They want you to stay home and take whatever they give you.  Fuck them.  Vote.