Resent

“Alright, I got one,” slurred Don from the head of the table, prompting eye rolls. “How do you shoot a blue elephant?” Edna’s trunk froze halfway to her mouth, salad tumbling onto the tablecloth. She looked down to see how much skin she had visible, and then immediately hated herself for doing so. “With a blue elephant gun!” chortled Don, Read More

Forecast

“As you can see from our second quarter numbers, our growth profile has remained steady over the last two fiscal years. We’re well ahead of our competitors and compare favorably to similar businesses in other industries. We’re a solid bet, and this planned expansion will put us over the top. Phrederick, why don’t you show them the projections.” “Um, yes, Read More

Daria Tessler

Feast your eyes on this pachyderm-filled dreamscape by Daria Tessler of Animalsleepstories. Silkscreened on archival paper, this artwork so amused me that I held onto it at Christmas time. It’s true that elephants never ascend, but they do enjoy the occasional boost! I met Daria herself at the Union Square Holiday Market in downtown Manhattan. After chatting about artistic drive, Read More

Format

Shani sighed and looked at the clock: 4:12 PM. Okay. Time to bear down and make the magic happen. For good measure, she made a face at Pariyat’s gray, retreating back. Then Shani opened the file that she needed to format. Flipping through the slides, she started comparing what she saw with the list of edits in Pariyat’s email. After about Read More

Acquit

“Guilty on all counts,” read the forewoman, setting off a flurry of reactions and camera flashes. Alice collapsed back into her chair, too stunned to care about decorum, too cold suddenly to react in any other way. It was such bullshit. But everything had gone wrong since she’d met that white tortoise in the FedEx uniform, so Alice didn’t know Read More

Transmit

“Damn! They just took out the eastern control tower.” First officer Anders slammed his gloved hand against the bridge display. “They’re definitely coming in force then,” pronounced Captain Caldwell. “All crews to their ships, Anders, and we must alert the planet.” The first officer barely glanced up from his monitor while hurrying to relay the order. “Yes, sir,” Anders replied. “Ensign Read More