Works in Progress

Rest Station Three

Rest Station Three is a short story about a future where a giant highway has been constructed from New York City to London. This highway, that goes over the ocean, has many rest stations where drivers can pull over. These areas are strange small towns are home to few permanent residents. One of those residents is a young woman named Abby. She works at the one hotel at rest station three, which is owned by her parents. The story is a small character study of her life so far from real civilization and her desire to somehow get out. Some themes present is this work is alienation, adolescents, and desire. This story has been rejected by about three magazines.

The Hyper Intelligent Gorilla

The Hyper Intelligent Gorilla is a humorous short story about a gorilla named Maximus who has been discovered to be highly intelligent. He is taught sign language and math. Eventually he writes a book about international business law and goes on a speaking tour. This is first time Maximus is away from his home in Africa, and he wants to pursue a career at Harvard, but finds he can’t understand much of what is being taught. After realizing he isn’t as smart as he thought he was he decides to return to home and help teach other gorillas. This story has many of same themes the pervious story, alienation, adolescents, and identity. This story has been rejected by two magazines.

The Wolf-Boy?

The Wolf-Boy? is another humor short story about a young couple who have just moved into together. The story follows Tara and how she reacts to boyfriend telling her that he wants to see if he is a wolf and that he wants to go live in the woods. This absurd story follows Tara dealing with how much her boyfriend means to her when he always seems to be doing things like this. The themes in this story is love, and identity. This story is still pending rejection at a magazine.

Unnamed Novella

This is my most recent work. A science fiction novella about a future where simulations are used to mine data from people’s brains. The story follows a man named Swan as he taken from Earth from a young age and sent to a compound on the moon where he will place inside simulations where he captain of a spaceship. After living on the moon for years, he is offered to captain a real spacecraft with a real crew. Swan is suspicious, but he accepts the mission. During his time on the ship, he befriends the real people, as he has not seen real people in years, and remembers what human connection feels like. After a daring mission the crew doesn’t think it is best to return to the moon and a life of servitude. This novella is a completed first draft and needs to be edited before I look for publication. It has themes of connection, love, ownership, and control.