*In the Lab w/ Caroline was lived in front of a citywide audience. Caroline opened the door by waving her hand in front of the sensor. It was locked with a biometric tumbler. There were maybe a handful of locked doors left in the city of Ultima, the last city on Earth, a city of... Continue Reading →
“Cheer up, brother. You’re making everyone sick with all that worrying.” “I can’t help it, Spidey. All my abusers are dead. My mother is dead...” Rook explained. “I thought you hated that bitch.” “I didn’t hate her. I just wanted her dead.” “But that doesn’t explain why you’re so anxious. It’s making my skin crawl.”... Continue Reading →
Summertime on the Island of Pain consisted of hot days and cold nights, but with the Autumn came a drop in the temperature that tested Ruth’s powers of concentration once again. There was a chill penetrating Mei Lubaba’s bones. Her muscles twitched, and there was a frosty tingle in her hands and feet. She was... Continue Reading →
Mother Ruth and eleven of her most senior meditation students set out on an extended wilderness retreat in the mountains and forests far away and high above the monastery, the nunnery, the hot and cold running water, and the university’s fully stocked kitchen. The mountain held a place of reverence for the locals. They say... Continue Reading →
A Seven Act Stage Play by M. Christopher Horton ----- ## CHARACTERS **MANNY** — An undercover operative posing as a junkie. Plays acoustic guitar. Speaks only to the audience. **SPIDER** — A woman living on the edge. Addict, hustler, survivor. Speaks only to Manny. He never answers. **BAMBI** — A woman who found God after... Continue Reading →
Rachel47 couldn't remember the last time she left the capital. Not because it was so long ago but because the last time she left her home, she died. The air was the same in the bustling streets of Downtown Ultima as it was the last time she died. The temperature was a little cooler and... Continue Reading →
About once a month, one of the citizens of Ultima, the last city on Earth, would come to the office of the president to complain about books. They would say books were destroying the minds of the eighty million women of the domed city. Books with so-called traditional gender roles were undermining their matriarchal society.... Continue Reading →
Whoever it was that said every man had to go through hell to reach his paradise better have been right. Once again I found myself in the asshole of the world. A place with more crazies and burnouts, more psychotics and misfits, more idiots and addicts per square inch than any place I’d ever known,... Continue Reading →
“While the heart is awake, the ego is asleep.” Bitter old men in ancient temples have always found a way to elevate human beings into gods. Buddha, Jesus, Moses, Muhammed, Mary, Mary Magdalene — all of them human, all of them miraculous, all of them used as proof that you could never be what they... Continue Reading →
“Forgive me, Great Mother, for I have sinned. It has been several lifetimes since my last confession.” In 1839, before the First Opium War, the Shantideva University was the premier institution of syncretistic education in the known world, folding Christian and Buddhist faiths into its curriculum with a heavy focus on the esoteric. “In my... Continue Reading →
The following document is a field report submitted in March of 1995 concerning an incident involving several members of an illegal organization known as “crusties” and an undercover officer whose name has been withheld. Portions of this report reference illegal activity, controlled substances, and violence. These references are included solely for the purpose of documentation.... Continue Reading →
Lynn walked the streets of the Rim with purpose and with confidence. Even though everyone who lived out there knew her as a serious woman, not to be bothered late at night, she was always a little wary of accidents this close to her back-up date. In Ultima, the last city on Earth, death meant... Continue Reading →
President Taryn sat at her impressively large and incredibly old desk and stared off into space. For more than twenty years she had sat at this desk—the desk of former kings—and greeted the citizens of Ultima one by one as they aired their petty grievances. In Ultima, citizens often lost their minds just thinking of... Continue Reading →
Poor people commit crimes because they’re broke. Rich people commit crimes because they’re broken. The rest of us commit crimes because we’re bored. “Brother Rook!” Spider yelled to her old friend. Melvin was across the street from her favorite corner to work. “You always out here selling your books,” she said. “You need to open... Continue Reading →
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