Story for Mertastic

This story is done. It is a sequel to "...And We Will Have Snow," a continuation of the Culver family history, a story of shamans dealing with modern reality. Don't you agree we should have someplace to go if the climate catastrophe gets too intense? Flying their drones to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, Sedna and Newt join other explorers following the call of the unknown. As always, the first explorers are often loners, bent on escaping the frustrations of civilized existence. But as ever they are soon followed by settlers, who also yearn for wide open spaces but do not care for the risks of going it alone. How does this work out in a world where going it alone at first means flying off in a drone body? Life is essentially divided into three shift, one for sleeping, one for eating and other essentials, and one for flying a drone powered by a dark matter engine and connected by a link using QAR: quantum augmented reality. Only later will humans trust their own mortal bodies to the new worlds built for them by drones.

Wonders happen every day when we're young. They're as natural at this age as a rainbow when it's raining on a sunny day or a nightingale's song in the transparent darkness of a starry May night. When adults, we get too serious, become devotees of so-called reality and betray the wonder-world of our dreams. Still, wonders exist. We just have not to be afraid admitting them in our lives. Although this is a fiction, a work of art, the background of the story are real events where two dreams gave birth to a little wonder, and two dreamers managed to escape the dull realm of "reality".

I've listed this short article as Non-Fiction, but can we really be sure of that when the topics are Tesla, Mills, and Dark Matter? What I have to say here is surely speculative, which may place it squarely in the Science Fiction genre. I'll leave it to you to decide. After that, if you want to read The Rest of the Story, start here: https://www.wattpad.com/story/99436988-and-we-will-have-snow

An eclectic ensemble of poems written in moments of exhilaration.

Two women. Poles apart in looks and lifestyle. But they share one thing in common.

This is an excerpt from one of 40 short stories in the OMP (One Million Project) Fiction Anthology. Historical fiction based around the Battle of Culloden -the last battle to be fought on Scottish soil.

Patricia is a recovering alcoholic who returns to the town where she had been a wife , and briefly, a mother. She is trying to recover lost memories around the trauma of losing her child, but instead sees a girl with her face. Strong emotions lead her to follow the girl and discover more about her past than she expects. This is my story for the One Million Project and I need help as it is the first time I have written suspense.

Jodie is a nature photographer by profession, captivated by the beauty of the natural world. An encounter with Monet's series on haystacks seen at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston inspires her to find an object in nature that she can follow through the seasons with her photography, much like Monet did with his art. She finds the perfect subject, a worn bench on the side of the lake, and makes that the center of her project. Her year-long mission is almost at a close with her final season and final time of day when she is thwarted by an old man sitting on the bench. She is so captivated by his aura that she begins photographing him, a contrast to her previous focus on solely inanimate objects. What she finds later in her studio, so baffles her that she sets out on a mission to prove that she is not crazy or imagining things. What results is so mysterious that the reader may never know the answer.

Is the ability to read minds a blessing or a curse? When Antonius's father dies, he must work to support his family. He finds employment as a servant in the Palazzo Ducal, home of Conte Valperga. Sixteenth-century Pesaro is a society governed by status, and Antonius has limited opportunities. When a competition is announced, Antonius seizes his chance. The winner will be apprenticed to the town seer. Antonius shares first place with his employer's son. The two men compete for their mentor's approval. As their knowledge of magic and alchemy grows, so does the rivalry and animosity between them. When the love of a beautiful woman is at stake, Antonius must find a way to follow his heart and navigate his future.