Steller’s Weekly
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Bring something to the table. It was the last line that he read before he finished the chapter and closed that book, which was an English translation of a Persian fable. Ever since morning, there was something in the air that was quixotic but beckoned us to venture out instinctively. The dead body was found…
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I winced as the wind blew furiously, pelting my legs with sand grains that felt more like a thousand tiny needles digging into my skin. The air was never still along the shore. A constant annoyance that I was forced to ignore. I bent down to pick up another greenish rock. A quick examination. I…
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It was Ellie’s turn. They tied the blindfold — really just an old bandanna — around her head, spun her around, and handed her the bat. Her first couple of swings caught nothing but spring air. Her third swing landed, but it was only a glancing blow, not enough to matter. It wasn’t until her…
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A cornflower blue Cessna aircraft flew toward the rafts, scarcely larger than a thread in the immense sky, and as it got closer it began to descend. A hundred feet, two hundred feet, its engine sputtering. “You figure it’s in some kind of trouble?” Auerbach asked anxiously. Leonard stared at the weathered plane. “I don’t…
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The fact that the singularity has been achieved and involves us not at all is almost as devastating to the mind as this revanchist vegetation is to the body. After decades of an evocative dance (intertwining limbs and even organs, the spreading of metal fingers at the command of the motor cortex, the heart freely…
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Marilyn Masterson awakes, sitting forward suddenly as if she’d been cozy in bed at home and one of her daughters had just cried out. But she’s not home. She’s in her office. She’s at work. She still faces the window. Outside, the rain still falls as it did when she dozed off for … how…
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Tear gas and Mike’s flamingo pink hair were two of the things on Harold’s mind as he stepped from his car. A strong gust of unusually cold October wind swept the hat from his head. “Shit,” he said as he watched the hat tumble down the street toward the courthouse, eventually lodging in the greasy…
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The carnival that signified the finish of the summer would also be the subconscious destination of Mr. Charles Miller. Charles had business that brought him to Chicago. To his delight not only had his affairs been successfully resolved, but the matter concluded earlier than he had expected. He now had several extra days before he…
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The warm dry air seemed heavier than normal. Something was brewing… The sky. It wore an unwelcoming orange blazing face over a mid-western American forest. “It’s dry, too dry,” a chipmunk observed with a paw full of sand, “Where’s the rain? What happened to the wet season this spring? This forest is a tinderbox ready…
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Caleb Yoder was dying. Everyone knew about his imminent death, for everyone had witnessed his monthly, then weekly, and then daily decline due to the terrible progression of his cancer. We also knew it was probably only a matter of days – if not hours – until he passed. The whole community prayed for him,…
Mountain Jay Books 