Stories Page

"The One Who Turned Them On (The Energy Scavengers II)" a novelette of speculative fiction

Synopsis: On a planet exclusively populated by alien robots, machines struggle to find purpose after abandonment by their creators. Kairos, the highly intelligent and massive weather-machine, monitors the world with cold academic curiosity atop of the great canyon system. He cares only for storms and other significant meteorological events. While below, common worker-bots scavenge daily to find scraps of power that will allow them to subsist in this increasingly savage environment. The Body, a growing robot-collective, is slowly taking over the canyons and oppressing all those that resist its will. Viewing any free power source as a threat, The Body, moves to enlist Kairos in its quest to destroy a mythic, sky-deity who has been benevolently restoring power to injured and disabled machines. Only Ophis, an insignificant and crippled worker-bot, stands in the path of this nefarious task. Will Kairos look beyond his own self-interests, or will he too kow-tow to the collective?
           
Review: "...O'Reilly does a remarkable job of filtering our perceptions through each of his machines and their own particular sensors, but more than that, he lets each perspective be colored by its purpose and its abilities, making their views of the world fascinatingly and revealingly different from each other. The story is relatively simple - a group of robots attempts to capture the one who activates fallen robots in an effort to understand who (or what) is controlling it - but O'Reilly uses it mainly as a throughline, and instead spends much of his time discussing the planet, or the relationships between the robots, or toying with power dynamics. Those looking for all the answers may be disappointed; O'Reilly leaves much up in the air, and closes with a brief moment that raises more questions than it answers. But that doesn't make the tale any less satisfying, and it's to O'Reilly's credit that he can take essentially single-purpose tools and give them such life, personality, and complexity, and use them to tell such an intriguing and even exciting tale. It's simple science-fiction, but it's satisfying stuff, and I'd be eager to find out what else happens in this strange, abandoned world." - Josh Mauthe (Cohost of the Library Police Podcast and Umney's Alley review website - www.clydeumney.net)

"The Energy Scavengers" a novelette of speculative fiction

Synopsis: When mankind reaches far out into the universe to find other life forms it may first find machines. A string of planets on the outer edges of the Milky Way contain the mechanical workers of an ancient alien civilization. Calvin an exploratory rover coupled with Nutshell his landing ship, are sent to discover what it is that all these machines are still doing–now that they’ve been abandoned by their owners. First contact comes not by hand of man, but by metal of machine.
           
Review: "This unusual very clever and thought-provoking short 42 page science fiction story focuses on a robot, named Calvin, that is able to think, imagine, and sense, but who was not built for labor. Calvin was sent by futuristic humans to explore planets and secure information that humans can use, such as what kind of humans once lived on the planet, why did they leave, what is left, and are there any valuables that the humans can scavenge. There are no humans in the story, and we are given an opportunity to read how Calvin thinks and acts when confronted with problems such as collisions with space junk, crashing, harm done to fellow robots, and meeting various kinds of seemingly hostile alien robots and dealing with them. We identify with Calvin as we would with a human character in a fictional novel. We can read the tale as an allegory about people or about human aspirations. The tale is filled with suspense as readers seek to understand who are the Body, the Grak, and the Grashing, why were they left on the planet, and what are they trying to do?" - Israel Drazin (Top 1000 Reviewer, Vine Voice - Amazon.com)

“Curious Anomalies” a novelette of speculative fiction

Synopsis: “Rick Silvano, an anxious young geneticist, has gotten himself entangled with a violent, South American, drug-lord named Diego Peres. Rick’s talents have been enlisted by Peres to create genetically enhanced watchdogs, by combining common moustache bats with Africanized honeybees. Everything has gone smoothly for the last three years until now, the night before Peres is due to inspect his investment. Clive Pinkerman, who hosts a late-night, radio conspiracy show, announces on-air that he is going to break into the genetic laboratory to uncover a massive alien conspiracy he believes is housed there. Suddenly, Rick must juggle his time between stopping Clive, and making sure the experiment works so that the temperamental Peres will not be displeased.”

Review: "'Curious Anomalies' ... an intriguing Sci-fi adventure... 4/12 Stars...The manipulation of DNA is a risky business under the best of circumstances, but throw in the pressure of some time constraints plus a couple of unexpected events and you've got a situation flirting with disaster.
...Some thoughts on "Curious Anomalies" 1.) a fast and easy read 2.) an interesting tale that was well written. 3.) despite its short length the pace and timing of the plot was well done. 4.) an ending that was as sudden as it was definitive." - R. Nicholson (Top 1000 Reviewer - Amazon.com)

"Mildred" a novelette of suspenseful fiction

Synopsis: A diary, noises from the attic, a resident cat, and piles and piles and piles of boxes cast shadows over Josephine as she digs through her new home and discovers the disturbing circumstances surrounding her purchase of the place.



Review: "I have read all this author's short sci/fi stories which are good.."Mildred" is a short suspenseful, mystery that left me wanting a little me to the story..It wrapped up quickly with a surprise ending..” - Robin Lee (Top 500 Reviewer - Amazon.com)

"Overtime in the Woods" a novelette of suspenseful fiction

Synopsis: Private Investigator, Rich Lacey, is hired to get incriminating evidence against a man fraudulently collecting insurance money on a worker’s compensation claim. Rufus Stamford’s case leads Lacey deep into the backwoods of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula where Stamford has been setting up a new life for himself. Everything goes fine until Lacey suspiciously develops a flat tire out in the middle of nowhere, forcing him to get Stamford’s help. The two end up spending the evening together, where Lacey hears the other side of the story. Suddenly, Lacey finds himself in the unusual position of weighing out the morals of his profession.


Review: “A MATTER OF CHOICES…Well crafted suspense here and much food for thought…The author builds this feeling; a feeling of the unknown and implied “bad things could happen,” very skillfully. It is also a story of choices; of doing the right thing after all the facts are known and is everything as it seems?…But I tell you truthfully, this young writer most certainly has the potential and I suspect that we will be hearing much from him on down the road….” – Don Blankenship (Hall of Fame, Top 50 Reviewer, Vine Voice – Amazon.com).