Sad Elf New Pants
by Ray N. Franklin The alien spacecraft lands, flattening a Tesla parked in front of Starbucks in Seattle. A hatch opens, revealing darkness, the citrusy tang of wood polish and the sounds of rearranging furniture. Two aliens walk into Starbucks. They have metallic legs and brown,...
Wardrobe Disabilities
by Ray N. Franklin Five paces outside the Super-Ultra-Mega-Hyper-Loop train from LA, Carston Thurgood the Fourth cursed a blue streak, bumped his friend out of the way, and knelt by a column to retie his shoelaces. “What’s up, old man?” Raj Singh said as he too...
About Trending, A Man Story
by Ray N. Franklin Spoiler Alert: this article is about “Trending, A Man Story” the SF short story. It reveals important details about the original. If you haven’t read the story, click here to read it now. Rating: PG13 Adult Themes Like most of my story...
Trending, A Man Story
by Ray N. Franklin Rating: PG13 Adult Themes Charlie rolled out of bed and staggered to his bathroom. Sarina was already showering in hers. He wasn’t really a morning person, but when her day started, his day started. He had never mastered sleeping-in after Sarina got...
About Twisted Kiss
My ideas about Twisted Kiss originated with a 60 Minutes story about the Circus Trees of Santa Cruz, California. Farmer Axel Erlandson began shaping trees around 1925, for his own pleasure. He bought land near Santa Cruz in 1945 and created more trees with the goal...
Twisted Kiss
by Ray N. Franklin I saw Mori one morning in early summer when I first opened my eyes. I had made camp in the dark the night before, taking this place to be a protected hollow surrounded by dense shrubs. One of those shrubs was not...
Why Would I Care?
Middle-aged monk staring at ground, flashes past in blur. Why would I care? Hot. Heavy traffic, Renaldo driving recklessly, unbelted, typical. Purple beam, crackling thunderous energy, outer system battle-stray. Slashes across hood, metal spattering windshield, tipping forward, front end rolling away from us, steel rends screeches....
