Negotiations
It was mid January. And, according to my calendar it was only a few days away from National Hugging Day. Of course, we didn’t have an official hugging day in Cratersville, but that didn’t stop me from inserting one into my Calendar of Extraordinary Days after I learned of its existence on that great cloudy […]
Negotiations
Before I begin, I should let you know that I don’t have no truck with magic of any kind—at least not if I can help it. I’m not saying that magic isn’t real. Hanging with Jel, I know better than to say that. But, just because something’s real, doesn’t mean that I want to go […]
Holidays of Cratersville
The last Jolly Zings of the season are flittering about my head. They’re dropping their remaining bits of glitter and tinsel upon me as I’m writing these words. Once their magic reservoirs are empty they’ll be gone. The Jolly Zings appear along with the rest of their festive compatriots on the day after Turkey Day—also […]
Midnight Flowers
In the depths of winter, I conjure flowers. It’s a perk of being a Creator. For those of you familiar with my world, you know that I live in a realm of techno-magical construct. You might think, because of this fact, that planetary seasons would be of little consequence to life where I live. You’d […]
Sleight of Hand
After the fire, everything changed. Jellybean didn’t return to school. Their old man fled town taking his pretty assistant with him. He went to the City. The big ritzy place where his other theater was. Jelly’s dad always bugged me. He was a mind-fucker. A nod was the most he usually got from me. Heck, […]
Prelude
It was January. The weather was warm—eerily so. My father and I were standing on the roof of his theater. It was not the one in Cratersville. This was his other home. The one that suited his style best. Why we didn’t end up here in this big city of lights instead of the sleepy […]
Peace on Earth
Peace on Earth. There’s no more powerful or yearned for wish this time of year. Some people believe Peace on Earth means an absence of war or other violence. The way I see it, though, Peace on Earth means more than just cessation of conflict. To me, any world truly doesn’t have peace until its […]
Holly Days in Cratersville
Happy Holly Days! It’s the time of year I think a lot about the small town of Cratersville, where I grew up. Cratersville inhabited a desert valley located within a techno-magically created orb known as Red Rainbow Minor. The aesthetic of Cratersville was a bit of Norman Rockwell Americana with a lot of Jetson’s cartoonishness […]
Here Be Dragons
It started with a map. I still remember my sister’s glee as she unrolled an ancient-looking map of Earth in the room above our mom’s tea shop. On the map, emblazoned across a vast swath of ocean were the ominous words—Here Be Dragons. Poppy’s love of dragons had been well established long before we started […]
’Tis the Season to be Holly
Every year, right after Turkey Day, the Holly Zings would appear. These little creatures with the green holly wings would hide in plain sight amongst the other Holly Day decor where they would wait eagerly for the perfect moment to interject a little Holly Day frivolity into someone’s day. Some would hitch rides on the […]