"JOHN, I JUST MET A ghost who's dying." I raised one eyebrow, waiting for the punchline from my favorite time-bender." No, it's not what you think. I haven't gone off the deep end. The government made him into something they call a ghost.” Figure if the government's involved, then it's going to be screwed up...But a ghost, dying?” Running out of juice, actually. Kept alive on some sort of weird life support that he won't fix to save himself.”...

Things were going well, until we got arrested. By our own security. No lawyer, no rights read, even our own boss turned on us. Because now we were being studied like the very people we were studying before. Or trying to. You see, we couldn't find any trace of those people, except for faint traces of biological material that were old enough to be historical. Everyone was starting to think they were some sort of urban legend. Until we went on a...

Walking down the highway barefoot, feverish, and in only a nightgown. At least the storm had quit. Now if I could get my chattering teeth to stop, it would help, maybe. Up ahead, I see some stopped cars. Some have their lights on. Maybe I can get help. Too bad I can't travel any faster the way I am. That's odd. Nobody in them. Lights on, but no one at home. Except for a crying baby. And no one answers my calls either. No, I can't leave her alone....

Something's not right here, I stated the obvious. "Looks like a trap," Sal returned. Bernie heard it first and ran toward John. That courageous dog knocked John down just as the incoming explosion hit. Sal got her shield up and I returned fire, giving them what they gave. Then it got quiet, too quiet. I turned around. Sal had tears coming down her face, and she didn't dare to let go of her shield. Bernie and John were both down, twisted...

The result of all these civil wars was complete destruction. Maybe we should have taken a hint from all those wars we fought "over there" and the footage came back showing entire cities now only towering, shattered icons that stood in piles of rubble. Uninhabited. uninhabitable. Yet this one woman stayed there. This was her new home, she repeated stubbornly. She wasn't leaving. Even though it meant eventual death. If the warring armies didn't...

A different take on time travel. Very different. What if the "grandfather murder conundrum" didn't exist? Where you could freely travel in time without affecting your or anyone else's present? The trick is that this also tends to "haunt" you, even drive you insane... Try talking to a time-bender and see if you don't get confused half-way through the conversation. Because your idea of the past isn't what a time-bender experiences. Your time is linear....

The more circuits in any machine, the more it's likely to get "haunted." When you connect it to the Internet then you can get more than you asked for. Installing a home system seemed obvious at the time. Having the "Internet of Things" to give you your every whim seemed a dream come true. When our broadband costs rocketed, we looked to see what usage was happening - too many videos, too many games, was someone parked at the curb outside our house...

He knew something he was listening/watching was poisoning and killing him. Slowly. Painfully. Sinking into a gradual depression and dying of apathy. He'd seen this happen to others. Suicide, drug overdose. All a permanent solution to a very temporary problem. Then she showed up. Not your typical haunting ghost or vindictive spirit. Different. In a good way. She'd come just to solve his mystery - the one he didn't know he had. It was a haunting...

DO ELECTIONS REALLY HAVE CONSEQUENCES? This saying is repeated often, and seldom fully understood. So this collection of pure fiction came into being, which explores the choices that politicians make, as well as those who manage them and follow them. We can see the results of their choices in these fantastical worlds. Told through the lives of those affected, often as unintended effects on those lives. Because that is the best way to tell stories,...

Be transported into speculation on the world we live in and those we might still.This first quarter anthology of short story fiction by S. H. Marpel and various co-authors brings you new ideas to digest - all in the short periods of time you have available. Solve the mysteries of the paranormal as common-place - If you can.This Anthology contains:- Walkaway Mary by S. H. Marpel- Empress Oracle by S. H. Marpel, J. R. Kruze- The Healers Chronicles:...