Sunday, November 7, 2010
Of Patronage And Publicity
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My latest anthology is available!
Click Here For Preview
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My story 'In Memory Alone' is in THE BEST OF FRIDAY FLASH
I would be remiss if I didn't mention that today is my wife's birthday!
but I'd be inviting certain death if I mentioned her age.
But anyway Happy Birthday Baby!
And here is a picture of us from when we first started dating...
Roadside Velvet part thirteen
Price Breaks and Heartaches
A journal of retail and failed romance
Chapter Four
Roadside Velvet
part thirteen
...I awoke to hot breath invading my lungs and the feel of soft lips over mine. I could hear Athena saying something in the background and as my eyes opened I vowed to myself that if I found Lonnie giving me the kiss of life I flee to the remotest corner of the world and become a hermit.
“… he’s waking up!” Athena said.
A tender voice addressed me, “Are you ok Al?”
It took a moment for my eyes to clear, I groaned at what they found.
“Oh. Hi Joanna.”
“Man, good thing I was passing by huh?”
“Yeah,” I stood and dusted myself off; she kept her arm around me to make sure I didn’t pitch forward again. My skin tingled wherever her hand brushed. I stepped away as fast as I could, “I’m ok.”
Joanna had been a thorn in my side since high school; she was always talking to me and throwing smiles my way. She insisted on dancing with me at the senior prom and even worse tried to hug me after graduation. If that wasn’t bad enough I kept running into her every once in a while and it was always warm embraces and suggestions we get together sometime.
Like that was going to happen.
“You sure you’re ok?” Joanna asked again.
“I’m fine,” I refused to look directly at her, there was something about her dark eyes that kept me staring and I wasn’t having that. “What are you doing in Herkimer anyway?”
“College,” she said. “Don’t you remember, I told you all about it that time I saw you working at Empire Burger.”
“You did?”
“Yeah right after I gave you my address so you could drop me a line.”
“Oh,” I said, remembering that I couldn’t have thrown that address away fast enough.
She offered me a grin, “So I guess twenty dollar question is what are you doing here?”
I gestured vaguely “I sell pictures.”
“You work here?”
“Well I couldn’t sell pictures if I didn’t.” Athena was watching us talk, I was sure everyone was staring at me talking to her.
“You know,” Joanna tried to get me to look at her but I busied myself straightening a few Elvis portraits. “If you’re going to be in town we should get together, if this is what you do for a living I bet you’ve got some stories to tell.”
“Can’t. Too busy.”
“Oh. Ok,” she swooped in and gave me an unwanted hug. “You take care and if you keep fainting like that you should see a doctor.”
She got into her car and pulled away, when she waved to me I didn’t wave back.
Athena came over to stand next to me, “Who was that? She seemed nice.”
“Nobody,” I said. “She’s nobody.”
*
At this point in the story some of you newer readers might be wonder what the deal was with Joanna.
It’s simple, Joanna was guilty of the one unforgivable sin a woman can commit in American society- she was fat.
A woman can commit any number of cruelties or sins and find them forgiven or overlooked but if she puts on too many pounds she’ll suffer quiet scorn and snickering backtalk until her dress size returns to societal norms.
This kind of feeling was a learned behavior for me. It all began in high school when I dated a girl named Lizzie. This was after my Junior year pursuit of Lilly had ended in disaster. Lizzie had crazy eyes and a smile like a cat. We went out a few times and even started smooching. I was pretty happy with how things were going.
Then I brought her home for dinner.
Honestly folks I don’t think my family could have been more upset if I had brought home a bi-racial midget wearing eyeliner and a strap on.
And before you start wondering. No I never did. This is how rumors get started people.
Anyway after I had taken Lizzie home my family proceeded to ‘deprogram’ me. I was told that fat girls had weak moral character. I was told that much like goldfish they got even bigger after you married them. I was told that I would make the family a laughingstock.
I’m not sure how much more damage I could do to the family reputation after my stepfather had tried to run an ice cream truck off the road in a fit of rage but I was young and impressionable. I vowed from now on to stick to women that made catty remarks as they passed a Lane Bryant store.
*
Our stay in Herkimer continued and Athena and I ended up going to see the movie ‘Robocop’. It was sort of like a date except for the fact that Lonnie, Max, Conrad and Debbie were there and Paul had paid for everything with a bad check. Athena and I were enthralled by the Paul Verhoeven’s satirical and violent vision of the near future. Lonnie got confused, Conrad burst into tears and Max was more interested in hitting on the high school aged girls sitting in the row behind us. I’m not sure where Paul and Debbie disappeared to but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn they were stealing copper wiring out of the walls.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
CORPSE WARS: Attack Of The Crones episode one
CORPSE WARS
Attack of the Crones
episode one
by
Al Bruno III
Within the first few days of the crisis the evacuations began, at first people were moved to school gymnasiums and sports arenas but after a few disastrous incursions by the hungry dead martial law was declared and the army started moving the refugees to fortified locations.
A long line of people waited at the entrance to the Watervliet Arsenal; the arsenal was a partially decommissioned munitions factory that the US Army Materiel Command still kept under its thumb. Entire buildings had been cleared to make room for cots and for the distribution of food and medical supplies. Any of the overflow of refugees were consigned to the moth eaten tents that clustered in the parking lot.
Only one entrance was open, the others were triple barricaded. There were snipers on every wall prepared to repel any approaching zombie hordes with necessary force.
Mark Bradford and his parents were waiting with everyone else. Their arms were weighed down with suitcases and knapsacks, they shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. They had been there for hours.
As if I haven’t spent enough time standing around, Mark thought. He had been waiting to see the new Star Wars film when the ghoulish creatures had attacked. He had barely escaped that first incident with his life and that was only thanks to the timely arrival of his friend Alec.
But that had been days ago, Alec had headed off to make his own preparations, leaving Mark to deal with the love and exasperation of his parents. He was twenty years old but his Mom and Dad treated him like a child, they thought his obsession with the Star Wars films was a sign of immaturity. They just didn’t understand.
All around them people were glued to their cell phones, taking calls and checking news websites. Conversations filtered up and down the line, eavesdropping and misunderstandings were rampant.
“What did he say?” Mark’s mother asked.
His Dad replied, “Something about Libya invading the Netherlands.”
“What?” Mark didn’t think that sounded right, “Why would they do that?”
“They think the zombies are some kind of enemy chemical attack,” his father explained, “their armies marched right across the border.”
“Dad, I don’t think those two countries share a border.”
“Well then,” Mr. Bradford put his hands on his hips, “why don’t you tell me what countries border Libya?”
“Uh...” Mark felt himself blush, “France?”
“These are the end times,” a little old lady said. To Mark she looked like one of those women from Gary Larson’s Far Side cartoons, a frumpy dress, blue hair and horn rimmed glasses.
“Do you really think so?” Mrs. Bradford shivered, “I knew we should have gone to church more often.”
Mr. Bradford waved dissuasively “Don’t get yourself worked up Terry, this is just some kind of virus thing. Terrorists or illegal aliens probably brought it over the boarder.”
The sky was cloudy and a different helicopter seemed to pass overhead every few minutes; some were military, others were from police and the local news. The line for the Arsenal was getting longer and longer, there was already talk about having to turn people away.
What would they do if they couldn’t get in? All the other places were closed and the roads out of Albany were barely moving at all.
“This is God’s judgement,” the old woman continued, “the world is too sinful and the legions of Hell are upon us.”
Mark tried not to roll his eyes but he couldn’t stand people like her. Why was it whenever something went wrong there was someone just waiting to call it divine punishment? Talk about hokey religions. He’d rather have a blaster at his side any day.
Half a sermon later and it was his family’s turn to be admitted. The soldiers at the front gate explained they were going to have to inspect their bags for contraband and guns. At first Mr. Bradford balked at this but then they explained he could keep his liver pills. They also explained they would need photo id for record-keeping.
“Here honey,” Mrs. Bradford said, “take your grandma.”
Mark carefully took the urn. He had never understood why his Mom insisted on keeping his Nana’s ashes.
The soldiers kept their drivers licenses and then carefully opened their bags. “What the Hell is this?” one of them said.
“Mark!” Mr. Bradford rounded on his only child, “What in the name of God have you done?”
Tears welled up in Mrs. Bradford’s eyes as she realized that all their bags save for one had been packed with Star Wars memorabilia.
His father was shouting now, “What the Hell is wrong with you?”
“But... but...” Mark backed up, holding his Nana’s ashes protectively in front of him, “You told me to save the family heirlooms...”
SUCKER PUNCH may be live action Anime or a steampunk remake of BRAZIL with hot chicks or both!
The plot;
Set in the 1950s, Sucker Punch follows Babydoll (Emily Browning) who is confined to a mental institution by her stepfather, who intends to have her lobotomized in five days. While there, she imagines an alternative reality to hide her from the pain, and in that world, she begins planning her escape, needing to steal five objects to help get her out before she is deflowered by a vile man....
The trailer;
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
In The Shadow Of His Nemesis chapter eighty eight
In The Shadow Of His Nemesis
Chapter Eighty Eight
By AL BRUNO III
Saturday, December 4th 1996
Galen stayed face down as they beat Jason Magwier. Experience had taught him that a beating from the Monarchs was as precise as it was cruel. They could keep you in agony for hours, never letting shock or unconsciousness offer you even the briefest respite.
If he’d had the nerve he might have spoken up, he might have told Magwier that this is what playing at being a hero got you.
And this? Galen shifted in his bonds. This is what being a coward gets you...
Mr. Suano and Ms. McGlade were speaking in hushed tones. It sounded to Galen like Zeth had taken Miss. Ginmett off the board and escaped.
Isobel was with them, Galen thought.
Which meant she was gone, would Zeth and Hao protect her? Or would they just take the easy route and kill her?
Her chances are better than mine, Galen realized. There was an irony there, after all the girl should have been long ago.
Jason Magwier began shouting insults, the Drones beat him harder. Galen was sure he heard the familiar sound of a rib breaking.
Did the man want to die? Galen had to wonder what it was like to be so unafraid at the prospect of oblivion.
Maybe it was true, maybe Jason Magwier couldn’t die, or maybe he was one of those foolish people that believed there were things worse than death.
“Enough,” Mr. Sauno turned to face his prisoners. He was dabbing at his discolored tears with a silk handkerchief. The drones dropped Magwier’s bloodied form and stood waiting. Mr. Sauno walked over to Galen and flipped him onto his back. He glared down at him until he bared his throat.
The old instincts never died, Galen cursed them.
Mr. Sauno said, “We’re finished here. Call for an extraction.”
“...extraction?” Magwier’s voice was a drowning whisper, “Are we going to the dentist?”
With a single nod Mr. Sauno set the drones to work on him again.
A quick note for readers of IN THE SHADOW OF HIS NEMESIS
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
THANK YOU!
Reader can you spare a dime?
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My latest anthology is available!
Click Here For Preview
- - - - - - - -
My story 'In Memory Alone' is in THE BEST OF FRIDAY FLASH
