Novels & Novellas

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The Trillium Project by Zenaida Gómez “Spectacular! … [Gómez’s] prose delights with sophistication combined with good-hearted earthiness. … The machinery of the plot is well crafted, with momentum and surprise. Great bad guys!”– Jeffrey Scott Johnson Eight hundred years in the future, Esty Ramirez, 17, is selected to join the first starship crew. The next … Read more

Falls

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The book, Spooky Action at a Distance, by George Musser started off like many books for the layman concerning quantum theory: stories of who disagreed with whom and why and when. He interprets the statements and objections made by Einstein somewhat differently than i’d heard before but mostly it was the same-old same-old. Toward the … Read more

The Grim Creeper

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After Melissa, my Lyft passenger, closed the door, i tapped the “Drop Melissa” button on my iPhone, tapped the far right star, and then tapped the “Tell us what you enjoyed” button. I pasted in my standard, “Delightful!” with the smiley face and tapped “Submit”. It’s mid afternoon, my bladder is feeling a bit full, … Read more

Mooney 201

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Sherry and i hatched a delightful plan for a weekend excursion. A trip to visit Sherry’s good friend, Cat, who lives in Santa Barbara. We would load our bicycles into the 1966 VW Bus, drive to Buchanan Field in Concord, put the bikes in the UC Flying Club’s Mooney 201, fly to Santa Barbara, and … Read more

Devil’s Slide

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Is “Closet Ecdysiast” an oxymoron? Stripping naked in front of strangers and walking about in “the buff” is a rebellion against polite society and against the essence of what our mothers and kindergarten teachers tried to instill in us. But it is also an affirmation of what we are: furless apes. I wear clothes in … Read more

The Blood Worm

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We were three Americans and a German couple on the ferry boat from Palma to Ibiza. It was the summer of 1969 and we were sharing humorous stories and cerveza in the couple’s cabin. Uncharacteristically, the two Germans were not very fluent in English but since i had a couple of beers, i happily butchered … Read more

Night Rush

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It is precisely 70 miles from the ramp onto I-80 from University Avenue in Berkeley, to the University of California Marine Lab dormitories near Bodega Bay. The final 30 miles are a motorcyclist’s wet dream of sweeping bends, tight turns, brief straights, and challenging compound esses. I’m enrolled in the course, “Marine Invertebrates” taught by … Read more

Floor Play

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Dad was terrific. He made the number plates (#22) for my 250cc 2-stroke YDS2 Yamaha, set up his dial micrometer for truing the wheels, generally helped prepare the motorcycle, and he rented a trailer. Don Vesco was likewise terrific. He got me racing pistons and recommended how to modify them. He gave me a set … Read more

The Chevrolet

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Late in the afternoon i pulled into a gas station in San Luis Obispo, shut down my Yamaha motorcycle, removed my helmet and gloves, fed the nearby pay phone, and called Alan Hughes. He used to be in Griffith Hall with us at UC Berkeley but transferred to Cal Poly. Alan gave me directions to … Read more