Welcome
Welcome to Ooter's Place, the on-line home of writer Karl El-Koura. On this website you can read some of Karl's short fiction, view his bibliography, or catch up with the latest news on the blog. Have a look around and feel free to contact Karl.
Featured Work
Beat-Down
(now available in the October 20, 2009 issue of Every Day Fiction).
"What's up?" Patricia said to Adrian.
Jason already knew; of course he already knew. "Beat-down," he said.
Adrian nodded, the smile growing larger, more leering, more malicious.
"No," Patricia said. "Don't."
But it was too late—Jason and Adrian were already running across the empty street.
Read
this story at
Every Day Fiction.
Atheists Against God and the Devil of Destruction
(now available in Fear and Trembling under the title "Confession.")
Am I rambling? Well maybe you would ramble too, if a bunch of people were dead and it was all your fault.
Read
this story at
Fear
and Trembling.
The Kedari Virus
(in Issue 9 of Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine.)
Brackle didn't care either way. A few moments ago, he'd wondered what he'd do if Tracy had been captured. Now he knew.
Without turning around, the Captain said, "It's too late for her."
"It's too late to save her life," Brackle said. "But that's not what I intend to do."
$ Order a copy from the Neo-opsis order page.
Postcards from Pluto
Almost at Pluto, and I just had a thought: when I get there, you and I will be just about as far away from each other as possible.
Latest news
Bike Log #7
(posted on 18 August 2010)
I've been cycling to work as much this summer as last year, but I've written less about it (in fact, nothing so far this year). This silence is in part due to having less free time, but it's also because the excitement has faded in some ways. Last year, cycling-commuting was a revelation; now, it's just the way I get into work every day and I don't spend too much time thinking about it.
How to Print Like You Don't Hate the Planet
(posted on 11 April 2010)
As a writer who likes trees and hates waste, I've tried to cut back on the amount of printing I do.
Chuck You
(posted on 18 February 2010)
If you haven't yet heard of a TV show called "Chuck," do yourself a favour: get your hands on Seasons 1 and 2 and clear your schedule. There may have been more meaningful, better-written, or more insightful shows in the history of television, but I'm hard-pressed to find one that's more fun to watch than "Chuck."
Featured Recommendation
Braveheart is to my generation what Shakespeare may have been to an earlier and more literary generation. When it came out in 1995, my friends and I could quote entire scenes, especially the stirring speeches Mel Gibson gives as freedom fighter William Wallace. Although it's been accused (among other things) of historical innacurracies and of fetishizing violence, the movie is a brilliant piece of storytelling and a model of good filmmaking.
