short story length work

We Mete Justice with Beak and Talon

A published in , September/October 2018.

In a near-future Kansas City, the police have deployed new technologies aimed at dealing with crimes committed via aerial drones.  Special “Passenger” tech is used to mentally link a trained eagle and a human officer, forming a third gestalt mind. Together, they patrol the skies and deal out justice with beak and talon.

There is illicit prey in our skies. OUR SKIES! we scream, indignant. We are dimly aware of the radio chatter: “10-71,” “sniper drone,” and some frantic beat cop screaming, “The mayor is down!” These details matter little now and we push them aside to focus. There has been a violation of the law and we are called to serve. Already we’re dipping our wings and turning as our Passenger directs us gently with a feeling as if the magnetic poles of the world have shifted. We will capture our prey. We will earn commendations and the tastiest morsels of meats.

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The Dissonant Note

A published in , January 2018.

How do you kill a virtual mind and take their place? What could possibly go wrong?

Cee in the Sixth Octave, daughter of Eff in the Fifth Octave, sang an invitation to her sister. A single, crystalline note rang across the private mindscapes of eight hundred sister-mothers within the bio-survey ship Agatha Bhatti.

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Men of Unborrowed Vision

A published in , January, 2015.

A story of near-future lefitist politics, protest movements, drones, and right-wing genetic engineering designed to end it all.   When protest organizer Mara’s ex-boyfriend brutally murders his roommate, Mara is called home from college to investigate.  And when fellow protesters drop out of the movement one by one, she begins to suspect a conspiracy. We […]

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Wet Fur

A published in , August 2014.

This story came to me wholly formed in a dream one day.  I wrote it in a white hot tear, desperate to capture all the details and emotions that had seemed so immediate in the dream.  It’s about how our pets live such short lives compared to us.  It’s about what happens when someone tries […]

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Groob’s Stupid Grubs

A published in , 2011.

Once upon a time, Black Gate was a fiction magazine, and when they were, they published a story about my favorite goblin dad, Groob.  Groob lives in a city built in the safest place possible–atop a giant machine that is devouring the world.  He’s smarter than your average goblin, but he has grubs to feed, […]

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One Click Banishment

A published in , 2010.

Another tale in the Magic P1r4cy setting, where spells are turned into programs called sprogs.  In this story, we learn that it pays to read the terms of service when using magical SaS. STUCK THREAD * Six Lessons Learned in MAA’s Captive Servitude Posted by Hidr at 7:42 PM Yesterday Yeah, the rumors are true. […]

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