An old man on a flight from Southern to Northern California tells the stranger sitting beside him about the famous movie villain that had lived next door to him when he was a boy. An actor once well known for playing pitiless vampires and raving mad scientists, but who in real life had been gentle, caring and kind. And while his fame hasn’t endured the way Lon Chaney's or Bela Lugosi’s have, at the time even the movie critics who panned the low budget films he was in would concede that this startlingly ugly man brought a rare sensitivity to the roles he specialized in. As if he knew these monsters’ private pain.

Then the teller’s story takes a weird left turn. A theory about the actor’s supposed suicide which---as preposterous as it might all sound---would be nice to believe. Saying that rather than having drowned himself on that drizzly spring day in 1941 Max Grosz may have found his way to a second chance at life, and a different kind of movie stardom that would win the hearts of a nation...

The U.S.S. ACCELERATOR has been accelerating at one gee for 45 days 7 hours, and 13 minutes -- 3.914 * 10⁶ seconds -- since its departure from the Inner Solar System.

CAPTAIN: Lefty! Do we have the latest measurements? How close are we now to the speed of light?

Leslie stands before the full-length mirror in the Master bedroom. Her other two wives were in the shower. In the last few days, while they have been traveling from Hawaii to Los Angeles, California she has been feeling strange. It wasn’t anything to cause her any concern until she looked at herself in the mirror today.

 

Doctor's Orders

"So what's the verdict, Doc?" I asked.

"Well, I don't want to get to technical here, Tom, but you're getting old."

CHAPTER 1
“Yes, can I help you?”

I really needed to ditch the burner for a new phone. Too many people knew the current number, and that could mean leaks, and leaks meant problems. Not always, not immediately, but almost inevitably. I had managed to keep the address quiet, but, just like the phones, it was only a matter of time. How on Earth had I ended up in this line of sort-of-work?

“Rory kidnaps pretty girls and brings them to see the sunset.” He gestured, and I gasped as I got another glimpse of technicolor glory.

A New Direction?

On the Sunday we had a big spread in the papers, photos of both bands and a good review of the show with a special mention of the last four numbers and how different they sounded.

“Do you mind? Oh, it’s you.”
“Yes, me…and who are you?”
“You don’t know who I am? No, no, of course you wouldn’t. What does a great messenger have to do with a creature from the depths below?”
“We are in agreement on that.”
“You’re not the least bit curious?”
“Not really…unless your intentions are nefarious.”
“Me? What gives you that kind of idea?”
“I believe you’re the one that brought the black plague to London…”
“Oh, so you do remember me?”
“Is it Linda…Lucille-?”
“LYDIA!”

I’m Holding on To Love

Carla & Julian - Chapter 7

By Julie D Cole

I couldn’t speak I just focused on her eyes hoping for some sort of recognition since I didn’t feel different. She didn’t get angry nor did she burst out laughing. Instead she let go of her suitcase and Rosa stepped forward to stop it toppling over.

Sunny: The Hippie Chick

By Dawn Natelle

Reviewed and Edited by Eric

Chapter 14 – I look at the world, and I notice it's turning While my guitar gently weeps

Sorry for the long delay on this. I’ve had a bad back. It’s better now, and hopefully the next chapter should be within a week: Dawn.

HAD TO GROW UP