TWENTY-FIFTH DAY, THIRD PART, 30 Days Has September
My small cleft was filled with Marines by the time the day moved into late afternoon. I’d finished my letter home, once again extolling the virtues of the local fauna and flora and how the nearly continuous monsoon mist was such a relief from the harsh pounding of the...
Chickenman, Episodes 17 through 20
Well, I found a few more fabulous Chickenman Episodes to share with you. Enjoy the fun and please comment below and share your reactions to Chickenman Episode 17 finds our fearless fantastic fowl questioning Miss Helfinger about the validity of the...
THE MIDNIGHT HOUR, Short Story.
THE MIDNIGHT HOUR… The water beating on the cold lakeshore was incessant. Tom lay between the two dumpsters in the alley half a block from the lake, the water lapping along the edge if the nearby shore probably intended by God to be comforting, but it was not....
Island In The Sand, Book 2, Part XIII
ISLAND IN THE SAND Book II Part XIII The sand played out before her, and the mild wind ate away any moisture she’d carried through whatever device she’d traveled in, to the point where Star Black felt she might evaporate herself. The place she was in was inhospitable...
THE CAT, Chapter XV
The cat found a place near the bottom of the mildly inclined slope face. He settled in under the outward thrusting branches of a huge pine. The aroma, the deep bed of needles no insects could inhabit, and the gentle wind that wafted its way among the easy waving...
THE CAT, Chapter XIV
The hike down to the falls proved more difficult than either the boy or the warrior imagined. Attempting to stay inside the outside edge of the forest, in order to remain invisible from any observers that might be located up on the canyon rim, was difficult. The...
THE CAT, Chapter XIII
The cat rested through the day, occasionally looking out of half of one eye, toward where the new members of the pride passed back and forth, all of them making believe the cat wasn’t there. The cat passed semi-conscious moments reflecting on how easy it would be to...
Searching for Paradise, a Short Story by James Strauss
Searching for Paradise The fire was over but not long gone. The California Santa Ana kind of winds had blown through the town of Paradise with a blowtorch intensity, turning most homes to little more than cinder foundations and ash. I wasn’t coming home to Paradise in...
TWENTY-FIFTH DAY, SECOND PART, 30 Days Has September
The red river was a rivulet of bloody water that happened to be running down the valley, back from the direction the company had to head up into. The major problem, as the Gunny pointed out, was not our movement, air support or even hauling Zippo and the bodies that...
TWENTY-FIFTH DAY, 30 Days Has September
The only 25 series radio military occupational specialty in the company, not already serving one of the platoon commanders, was Hultzer. The only thing I knew about him was that he had been assigned to one of the Project Hundred Thousand privates sent in by special...
THE CAT, Chapter XII
The cat moved carefully but quickly through the night. Although a path down from the canyon wall would be much easier to negotiate, it required a lengthy easy walk through the trees along the top of the lip of the abyss. He knew right away that it was the night wind...
THE CAT, Chapter XI
The cat lay flat inside the cleft, sleepily glancing out toward the scene before him, from time to time. He could not remember ever feeling so relaxed, the great ball of fish flesh resting inside his stomach, while his tribe worked at doing interesting stuff outside....
THE CAT, Chapter X
The boy took almost no time at all to spear another fish, this one not quite as large as the last one, but still large enough to force him to get completely wet before he could land it on the near shore. He used his knife to gut and clean it as best he could, holding...
Island In The Sand, Book 2, Part XII
Harriet worked for a few seconds on the keyboard. She didn’t even have to step back before a shudder went all through the house, followed by an underground muffled boom that reverberated for several seconds more. When silence once more pervaded the space, Star looked...
Editorial: That One Thing
Editorial by James Strauss Dateline December 12th, Geneva Shore Report THAT ONE THING The process of writing has little to do with writing at all. Writing can be dictated, scribbled, typed or put down in calligraphy. It can be done in many languages using all manner...
THE CAT, Chapter IX
The big cat carefully and silently backed up into the cleft and then, using its extraordinary strength and sinuously maneuverable body, eased up out of the rocks and moved slowly toward where the humans from further up the valley had descended down into his territory....
THE CAT, Chapter VIII
The cat had not disappeared. He’d withdrawn back into the clustered thickness of low scrub that dominated the bottom of the forest, like a wavy and near limitless thick rug. The writhing and waving plant growth of small size, where rivulets of wind were able to creep...
Island In The Sand, Book 2, Part XI
ISLAND IN THE SAND BOOK II PART XI Star stared at the robot, Ninety-One. The house was no longer communicating? Star knew her life, and the lives of everyone in her band were almost totally controlled by the house, while they were inside it, or the transport,...
Island In The Sand, Book 2, Part X
ISLAND IN THE SAND ~ BOOK 2 PART X Star stood in the cave, staring at the machined walls of metal. She knew instantly where she was, although the shock of being in a conversation back at the dwelling while looking out over the valley below, and then instantly standing...
The Cat, Chapter VII
THE CAT Chapter VII Slowly, ever so slowly, the cat withdrew back into the underbrush, using the super sensitive fur on his backside to assure that he guided himself silently, and without touching anything substantial. Flicking the tip of his tail, he brushed...
Island In The Sand, Book 2, Part IX
Island In The Sand BOOK II PART IX Star’s mind went into overdrive. Sly, and his newly reinforced band were on the way toward the dwelling. His attempts to break in using heavy firepower and brute force had failed previously, but what else was he capable of coming...
Island In The Sand, Book 2, Part VIII
Island In The Sand Book 2 Part VIII Star was more frozen in shock than she would have believed. How could the explosives not have been placed where they were ordered to be placed? Jordan had agreed to the placements of both the supply pile and the ground zero for the...
THE CAT, Chapter VI
The boy reached out toward the trunk of the large but slender oak but stopped himself when he looked into the cat’s eyes. The cat had gone to the tree first, upon hearing the approach of something not natural or native to the surrounding area. The boy had been slower...
Island In The Sand, Book 2 ,Part VII
ISLAND IN THE SAND Book II Part VII No sooner had Jameson secured the hatch, then Star realized that she had not asked or advised Jordan about the exact timing under which the careful shock tactic they were planning would be implemented. With Ninety-One no longer able...
THE TWENTY-FOURTH NIGHT, SECOND PART, 30 Day Has September
I’d lost something indefinable, aside from my illegally promoted scout sergeant. I’d lost something like a loyal friend, but it was deeper than that. I moved through the jungle, low and almost on full automatic. How had the young black man eaten his way into my very...
Island In The Sand, Book 2, Part VI
ISLAND IN THE SAND Book 2 Part VI Star stood staring at the console. There was no question about what action she was going to take. That was dictated simply by the fact that the survival of the band had to be central to everything she did. Her mission was the...
THE CAT, Chapter V
The cat lay erect, able to give over a good portion of its living existence to sleep without ever having to slip into a languid defenseless slumber. His eyes filmed over, his translucent third eyelid drew across his eyes for protection, and to moisten them while still...
Island In The Sand, Book 2, Part V
ISLAND IN THE SAND Book 2 Part V Star stepped forward and exited the lift, feeling Jameson following right behind her. Upon clearing the open doors and making certain that there were no threats present, she turned to examine Ninety-One. The robot had not moved....
Island In The Sand, Book 2, Part IV
ISLAND IN THE SAND BOOK II PART IV The thunder of horse hooves tearing up the forest floor dominated everything, as hundreds of them penetrated the perimeter separating the trees and beds of pine needles from the dry flat grasslands just beyond. Star wasn’t...
THE CAT, Chapter IV
The cat reacted in shock, the unexpected recovery of the hominid, from what seemed like deep sleep, surprising him to the point of near shock. The cat froze in place, its own eyes staring into the dark, shiny and unblinking eyes of the human. The meatball was...
Island In The Sand,Book 2, Part III
ISLAND IN THE SAND Book 2 Part III Star Black stood in shock. Ninety-One’s voice but not Ninety-One, instead of some entity, another entity, that she had just been introduced to by no one at all. Star thought for a moment before commenting, knowing her comment was...
THE TWENTY-FOURTH NIGHT, 30 Days Has September
The third time, I thought. The third time in so few days that our company had been called in to be saved from an attacking enemy, but in every case having to save Kilo Company, while they were being sent to do the same for us. The helicopters had flown an unlikely...
THE CAT, Chapter III
The light faded from the valley, the sunlight descending the canyon wall beyond the river like a curtain slowly falling on life itself. But not to the cat. The night brought stealth and slow-moving life to a very busy but also very elusive forest during daylight...
Island In The Sand, Book 2 Part II
ISLAND IN THE SAND Book 2 Part II Star stepped forward and stared down into the canyon bottom far below. The distance was such that it would never occur to any human to wonder about what a fall into it might cause in the way of bodily damage. A fall would be a one-way...
THE CAT, Chapter II
The cat rested. He lay as he’d been before, not wanting to deal with the things that had been circling around in his head. He knew he was risking a small bit by returning to the bear ravaged den, and he hated the scent the grousing, rolling predator had left behind,...
Island In The Sand, Book 2, Part I
ISLAND IN THE SAND ~ Book II Part I Star loped through the forest, following behind her small charges, with Jameson to one side and Wren to the other. The band worked through the floor of lush pine forest like following vastly long strings of cooked pasta carefully...
THE CAT, Chapter I
THE CAT Prologue A very minor tendril of the lightning strike caught the running cat’s head on its left side. The thin super-heated tendril split the cat’s ear half way down and tossed its body down and to one side. The cat lay seemingly lifeless while the...
Island In The Sand, Part XXXIV
ISLAND IN THE SAND Chapter XXXIV Star stared at the three-dimensional image appearing atop the console and could not believe her eyes. All thoughts of aliens, Distants, artificial intelligence, and even the complex disappeared from her mind. She concentrated on the...
THE TWENTY-FOURTH DAY, SECOND PART, 30 Days Has September
The Ontos moved forward, with the Gunny swinging both armored back doors of the tracked vehicle closed behind him. I followed, slowly dropping back as the vehicle picked up speed, to stay clear of any back blast. I’d wanted to ask the Gunny if I could use a spare M-16...
Island In The Sand, Part XXXIII
ISLAND IN THE SAND PART XXXIII Star could only stare at Sly, wondering how the boy had changed so much since she’d last seen him in the forest not so long ago. His appearance had gone from unkempt to neatly clean, except for the soot and debris that covered...
Island In The Sand, Part XXXII
ISLAND IN THE SAND PART XXXII Ninety-One glided almost silently past Star’s right shoulder before she had any idea what the service robot might be doing. Her rifle was aimed, supporting Jameson’s rifle, at the same well-disguised crack which would likely open to...
ELEANOR…A Short Story
Eleanor, A Short Story No politics. No crime. Just a good story. Probably not believable. I call the story ‘Eleanor.’ One day three years ago I was at my office when a hundred dollar bill turned up in an unmarked envelope. My people at the Geneva Shore...
Best Friend, 1993
This is a good story. No politics. No crime. Just a good story. Probably not believable. I call the story “Best Friend.” It was around 1993 when my career with the CIA played out and I had nothing to do except lay around to see what kind of reward-labeled...
Island In The Sand, Part XXXI
ISLAND IN THE SAND PART XXXI The hatch to the tunnel closed slowly behind them. Star and Jameson stood side by side, rifles held out and down in front of their chests, ready to be brought into firing position if any threat appeared in front of them. But nothing...
TWENTY-FOURTH DAY, 30 Days Has September
First light was almost upon us. I peered around the left edge of the ammo box. What I saw told me that there would be no more pawing around through the supplies dropped by the choppers in the dead of night. Through the misty rain, and what was left of the gently...
Island In The Sand, Part XXX
ISLAND IN THE SAND PART XXX Star would have liked to do nothing but she couldn’t. The dwelling was seemingly impenetrable, except for the tiny openings created by the special weapon Sly and his band had been able to find and bring into action. That this was the second...
Island In The Sand, Part XXIX
ISLAND IN THE SAND Part XXIX Star slept like she’d never slept in her life, awakening knowing that the depth of her sleep and her feeling of renewal and near total recovery was different from any other ‘get through the darkness of night’ experience of her life. She...
Island In The Sand, Part XXVIII
ISLAND IN THE SAND PART XXVIII Star looked into first Wren’s and then Jameson’s eyes before saying anything. Her stares were returned with the same stupefying looks she knew she had to be sending to them with her own facial expression. “Why can you not…” Star...
THE TWENTY-THIRD NIGHT, 30 Days Has September
Nguyen was gone into the night with the 106 round. I hadn’t given any thought at all as to whether the ammo box was marked with a flechette designation for its contents or not. There was no way to tell by feel, and there was no way I was going to use the flashlight...
On the Road Again 2018, Hawaii Bound
Dateline: July 31, Heading to Hawaii I love to tear United Airlines apart. I’ve been enjoying myself with that diversion, when I travel, down through the years. I think United was ready for me on this trip, however. The plane was half an hour late getting off...
On the Road Again 2018, New Etiquette
Dateline July 31, 4:00 AM, Chicago I am at O’Hare with nothing to do. So, I’m watching the people, many of whom look like they were in that pod science fiction movie. No expression. Sitting outside a gate and just watching. I could write the lyrics to a...
On The Road Again 2018, O’Hare
Dateline: O’Hare Airport, 3:30 AM Not much traffic at O’Hare, what’s wrong? A guy walked up to the skycap just before me and then stopped, to let me go first. I demurred and thanked him. How nice to start the trip out that way. The skycap was totally...
Island In The Sand, Part XXVII
ISLAND IN THE SAND Part XXVII The artificial intelligence built into the complex was different than the one built into the house, and then there was Ninety-One, an artificial intelligence (possibly greater than the other two), and it was independently and strangely...
TWENTY-THIRD DAY, 30 Days Has September
I scrambled, slid and crabbed my way through the low growing debris spread like small islands of living flora all over the mud flat I was trapped on. The NVA gunners had opened up high or were trying to take out the Ontos instead of shooting at a few scavengers trying...
Island In The Sand, Part XXVI
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