Caleb doesn’t mind defending his family, but too many of the Celebration teams have started acting like the real point of it is the shootouts i
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Caleb doesn’t mind defending his family, but too many of the Celebration teams have started acting like the real point of it is the shootouts instead of the holiday specials. Lyle Odenkirk is a cheerleader for bloodshed, and his ratings suggest many Americans feel the same. To Caleb this borders on blasphemy, a legacy perversion from the days when open-carry groups started patrolling the malls. To him, the guns were never the point. It was about family. Still is.
a not at ALL distressing vision of the future combining reality teevee, black friday mania and a hunger games-flavored all-american celebration of guns and consumerism. oh yeah, and family. let's not forget family. i wouldn't say it's enjoyable - too many mass shootings in the real world make this impossible to enjoy, but it's a good premise, well-written, and you'll probably be thinking about it in the back of your mind for a while after you read it. for once, i'm glad this is just a short story - anything longer than this would water down the concept. AND - since i no longer write long reviews for short stories to save myself the self-imposed stress-and-failure cycle, that's all you get, chums!
Caleb doesn’t mind defending his family, but too many of the Celebration teams have started acting like the real point of it is the shootouts instead of the holiday specials. Lyle Odenkirk is a cheerleader for bloodshed, and his ratings suggest many Americans feel the same. To Caleb this borders on blasphemy, a legacy perversion from the days when open-carry groups started patrolling the malls. To him, the guns were never the point. It was about family. Still is.
a not at ALL distressing vision of the future combining reality teevee, black friday mania and a hunger games-flavored all-american celebration of guns and consumerism. oh yeah, and family. let's not forget family. i wouldn't say it's enjoyable - too many mass shootings in the real world make this impossible to enjoy, but it's a good premise, well-written, and you'll probably be thinking about it in the back of your mind for a while after you read it. for once, i'm glad this is just a short story - anything longer than this would water down the concept. AND - since i no longer write long reviews for short stories to save myself the self-imposed stress-and-failure cycle, that's all you get, chums!
It was not unusual for a cough or sneeze to slip out unexpectedly, drenching a plate as it went out to a customer, or even a whole pie that Bhu pulled
It was not unusual for a cough or sneeze to slip out unexpectedly, drenching a plate as it went out to a customer, or even a whole pie that Bhu pulled steaming out of the wood-fire oven. Bhu found ways not to care, ways to justify his lack of caring, but one reason won out easily over the rest: Bhu wasn’t going to get anyone sick, because everyone was already sick. He saw the symptoms everywhere. In the customers’ heavy, bloodshot eyes, in their puffy lips and cheeks, the swelling in their necks and fingers, the sweat that coated their hands and the damp bills that they passed to him when he worked the register. He wore blue gloves for when he handled the bills, and at the end of his shift the fingers were stained and corroded, the latex pocked with small blisters.
YOU GUYS, IT COULD BE WORSE!!
in a world of the sick and the dying, insect swarms and squatters, and germ-covered pizza, it's good to know you can still count on man's best friend, even when your bestie is...a little gross.
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it's lucy the bulldog mix, chubby and leaky, mangy and near-toothless, relying upon a wheeled back-leg prosthesis to get around, doing that alarming snort-breathing thing that brachycephalic dogs do, her eyes and nose wet with tears and mucus, slimy as something dredged from an ocean trench.
[image][image]
taking care of a pet is a big responsibility that only becomes moreso when the world in ending, food is scarcer, and your dog is a picky eater. fortunately, bhu works at a still-very-popular italian bistro, and his boss phan has some food to spare—something large and meaty down in the basement, something that keeps his restaurant filled with customers while everything else falls apart, something that makes lucy's mouth water and her body stronger.
under ordinary circumstances, owning a pet is an act of optimism, but owning a sick pet in the endtimes is a roll of the dice.
He liked to think, given the state of things, that the world would end long before she did.
but that was before...THE MEAT.
this is a fun, FREE story for our nowtimes. but if i catch anyone sneezing on my pizza, neither man nor beast nor lovecraftian nightmare creature will protect them from my wrath.
It was not unusual for a cough or sneeze to slip out unexpectedly, drenching a plate as it went out to a customer, or even a whole pie that Bhu pulled steaming out of the wood-fire oven. Bhu found ways not to care, ways to justify his lack of caring, but one reason won out easily over the rest: Bhu wasn’t going to get anyone sick, because everyone was already sick. He saw the symptoms everywhere. In the customers’ heavy, bloodshot eyes, in their puffy lips and cheeks, the swelling in their necks and fingers, the sweat that coated their hands and the damp bills that they passed to him when he worked the register. He wore blue gloves for when he handled the bills, and at the end of his shift the fingers were stained and corroded, the latex pocked with small blisters.
YOU GUYS, IT COULD BE WORSE!!
in a world of the sick and the dying, insect swarms and squatters, and germ-covered pizza, it's good to know you can still count on man's best friend, even when your bestie is...a little gross.
[image]
it's lucy the bulldog mix, chubby and leaky, mangy and near-toothless, relying upon a wheeled back-leg prosthesis to get around, doing that alarming snort-breathing thing that brachycephalic dogs do, her eyes and nose wet with tears and mucus, slimy as something dredged from an ocean trench.
[image][image]
taking care of a pet is a big responsibility that only becomes moreso when the world in ending, food is scarcer, and your dog is a picky eater. fortunately, bhu works at a still-very-popular italian bistro, and his boss phan has some food to spare—something large and meaty down in the basement, something that keeps his restaurant filled with customers while everything else falls apart, something that makes lucy's mouth water and her body stronger.
under ordinary circumstances, owning a pet is an act of optimism, but owning a sick pet in the endtimes is a roll of the dice.
He liked to think, given the state of things, that the world would end long before she did.
but that was before...THE MEAT.
this is a fun, FREE story for our nowtimes. but if i catch anyone sneezing on my pizza, neither man nor beast nor lovecraftian nightmare creature will protect them from my wrath.
From the time she was old enough to understand it, the scientists had always told her she was the only one. That she was unique. That she was [image]
From the time she was old enough to understand it, the scientists had always told her she was the only one. That she was unique. That she was alone. Now the idea of another individual like her, or even more than one, is so momentous she can barely breathe.
She makes herself breathe.
whooo.
i was very excited to see another free tor short from this guy, after i loved-loved Our King and His Court: A Tor.com Original. that one had some violent bits that were maybe not for everyone, but this is more deeply sad and upsetting in a non-squirmy way, so i strongly suggest you all go read it. it is FREE. and it's been a rough week for people who seemed to have their shit together opting out, so there's a timeliness to reading a story so full of how desperately lonely this world can be, and the lengths to which people might go to feel connected, no matter how illusory. it's hard to exist in the world sometimes, but i promise you this story has a heartening ending, a sad-but-hopeful ache.
From the time she was old enough to understand it, the scientists had always told her she was the only one. That she was unique. That she was alone. Now the idea of another individual like her, or even more than one, is so momentous she can barely breathe.
She makes herself breathe.
whooo.
i was very excited to see another free tor short from this guy, after i loved-loved Our King and His Court: A Tor.com Original. that one had some violent bits that were maybe not for everyone, but this is more deeply sad and upsetting in a non-squirmy way, so i strongly suggest you all go read it. it is FREE. and it's been a rough week for people who seemed to have their shit together opting out, so there's a timeliness to reading a story so full of how desperately lonely this world can be, and the lengths to which people might go to feel connected, no matter how illusory. it's hard to exist in the world sometimes, but i promise you this story has a heartening ending, a sad-but-hopeful ache.
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