I’m very pleased to report that Compelling Science Fiction has bought my story “The Undertow Jackpot” for their third issue (coming in the next few months).
I also realized I’ve been very remiss on this blog for failing to mention that my story “The Reality Machine” was published by Daily Science Fiction. Bad author! The first little bit of the story is below, and you can click through to read the rest of the story for free!
The Reality Machine (sample)
Michael Dudlas limped out of his car, which had rescued him from the alley and brought him to the roof of his house. Moving quickly despite the pain, he took the elevator to his basement and unlocked the large room where he kept his reality machine—or, to be more accurate, the virtual mirror copy of the reality machine. He undressed, ignoring the protests from his bruised and aching body, then sunk into the sleek, bath-like pod until every part of him, including his face, was covered by the warm blue liquid. Immediately he felt the pod’s large tendrils envelope his body and head, holding them immobile while the small tendrils slunk through his nostrils and into his brain to do their delicate work (or to undo it).
He closed his eyes because of the discomfort, waited to feel the shift and for the large tendrils to release him. When he did feel the shift—something like a sharp, instant head-splitting shock which was the result of the tendrils either implanting or removing the neural sensory infusers from his neocortex—he sat up and coughed. Usually he allowed the small tendrils to withdraw gently on their own, but this time he grabbed them and tugged, and they fell into the bath in a stream of snot and blood.
