This is my fourth collection of short stories, after "Dandelion Seeds", "First Lines" and "Scatter Plot". There's a good mix of fun and serious stories in this one. I really like "Adrift". I've had the idea of someone slipping sideways in time kicking around in my head for a while, but never got around to writing a story around it. But, hands down, "Paths Less Traveled" is my favorite, despite the pronoun issues. Harper was definitely one of my favorite characters to write.

About The Cover

I wanted something that looked like a cross between particle tracks in a cloud chamber, and the paths of spaceships wandering the galaxy. The paths were generated using some JavaScript code I cobbled together. The clouds are actual (heavily colorized) clouds.

Stories

"Hack and Slash": The robot uprising happened over a fortnight.
"Dead Sexy": Two rules about vampire lap dances: 1: No hands. 2: No teeth.
"Gaia": The Champlain investigates a hostile planet. A really hostile planet.
"Adrift": Hannah has a habit of drifting sideways through time.
"Paths Less Traveled": Harper's standing at the crossroads of life, afraid to take another step.
"Admissions": Celia was dead, to begin with.
"Disconnect": A wizened figure appeared before Carleton. Ugh. Another stupid, pushy popup ad.
"Ain’t That A Kick In The Head": Something had just fallen through Lloyd. How rude!
"Drive": Drive, she said.
"Star Struck": Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket.