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300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 73	No trumpets sounded. No horn was blown. There were low-voiced orders from the officers and quiet nudges from the petty officers. The oars had been dipped in fresh fat to slide easily in the oarlocks. The sails were tied tight to the masts to avoid rustling. No lamps were lighted on the ships. It was not yet midnight w...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	The Noose Tightens	Themistocles looked at the eastern horizon, where the sun had just risen. Then he turned his gaze to the empty sea stretching out for half a mile before him, in front of the first ships in the Persian armada. He looked at it carefully, searching for the signs the fishermen had told him about. When he saw dark bands beg...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 76	Artemisia was taking her place on the east side of the Persian formation when she heard the voice of the lookout from the bow. "Nothing yet, my lady. All their ships are still on shore." She turned and looked over the mass of Persian ships. Behind her not an inch of sea was visible. The ships were crowded closely, in...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 77	Xerxes sat on his shining throne on the mountainside and looked at the sea straits with shining eyes. He saw the retreating Greek ships as well, and his mind was already carried away by the brilliant victory and the glory awaiting him. Next to him, General Mardonius amplified his enthusiasm, trying to increase his sha...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 78	On his ship, the tallest and heaviest of the Persian fleet, Mervalos looked in puzzlement at the forty Greek ships sailing to the west. "They are leaving, master" said the helmsman standing behind him. It was difficult for him to hide his joy. "They are running like rabbits!" The Phoenician admiral did not share his ...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 79	Adeimantos and his division have withdrawn" said the messenger sent by the lookout on the hilltop. "Is the Persian formation complete?" "Some of their ships are still in the middle. All the rest are in position." "Good…" Themistocles looked at the white clouds on the surface of the sea, where the water was not prote...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 80	What is happening, Mardonius?" "They have boarded their ships and started, my king." "Finally…" The emperor leaned forward, full of excitement. The hour he had been waiting for so many years, had arrived. "Finally…" he repeated and ordered the imperial scribes to open their papyri and record his triumph in detail.
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 81	From the west end to the center were the ships of Athens, exactly opposite the Phoenician formation. If that broke, the rest of the Persian fleet would break up. On the east side were the sixteen ships of the Spartans and next to them the ships from the island of Aegina. In the center of the Greek formation were the s...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 82	"They are afraid. That's logical" said Xerxes, and laughed out loud. "Fear holds empires together. It destroys armies and fleets." "That is true, my lord" Mardonius agreed cheerfully. But his eyes remained fixed uneasily on the western side of the Greek armada, where the ships of Athens were drawn up with their rams r...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 53	The road twisted up to Breckenridge. Back and forth, winding like a snake with a bellyache. It was summer, so there was no snow to fight, just vacationers in their oversized campers taking up both lanes. Jim supposed it should be a pretty drive, but the circumstances distorted the beauty of the scenery. When she got a...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 54	She would go to the left, he to the right. But the place looked deserted. She didn't look back at him. Her brain was already on her mission. Jim's brain was deciphering what his gut was screaming at him. Would Sophie leave her hostages unattended after so much careful planning?
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 55	Ava moved out. That left him no choice. He turned and headed in his assigned direction, skirting just inside the tree line. The yard was narrower on his side, bringing him closer to the house. Glare from the sun blocked his view inside the tall front windows. A cheerful spring wreath with white birds on it adorned the...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 56	No sound. Jim was deafened. His legs were numb and he couldn't breathe. No way this was good. He tried to breathe, drew in water. In a panic his lungs coughed out the fluid. Jim tried to move his arms. They answered. In an instant his body returned to the normal responses to his mental commands. But his hearing was ...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 57	The cell phone on the dash started talking. A ring tone. The cartoon. Marvin the Martian. "Where's the Kaboom? There should have been an earth-shattering Kaboom." No need to respond. It was an electronic message sent from the device planted under the cabin. She closed her eyes, ignoring the road. The bastards had fou...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 58	A man came running around the back of the house. He was tall, red-headed, and had a dry phone in his hand. He fell to his knees beside Ava. It was clear he was talking. Some sound was drifting through the haze of Jim's hearing. Not enough to understand completely. Call maybe. Others? Jim shook his head no. At least h...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 60	Jim eased back in his seat. They should be getting close to the small town where they believed Sophie was holed up. Locals had done a drive by and someone was in the house. That's all they were asked to do. The fruity smell of the Tahoe made his stomach turn. He was in the back seat. Maybe this had been a K-9 unit at ...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 62	"You stole a baton from a cop?" O shook his head. They made their way past the property at 11103 Southwest Highway. Its driveway led into the dark. No way going in the front door was going to work. They had gone to the next farm road and cut through the woods on foot. O held his gun at the ready. Jim had managed to f...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Prologue	[ Fifty eight years earlier ] [ Babylon, 538 B.C. ] Cyrus the Great, ruler of all Asia, grasped his gilt scepter and swept the landscape before him with a direct and focused gaze. He beheld the endless plain of Mesopotamia watered by the imposing river Euphrates. In the distance, a few miles away to the right and lef...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Athens, 514 B.C.	The music of kitharas could be heard in all the neighborhoods of Athens around the Acropolis, in all the narrow streets, in all the one-storied and two-storied houses. In every garden, in every temple and in every grove of sacred olive trees. The procession of the Sacred Veil of the great Panathenaia festival was about...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 6	Dust and choking heat. The air was like the air in a blacksmith's workshop. As the sun climbed higher in the sky, foreheads were moistened with sweat and faces turned red from the burning rays. And from excitement. Thousands of people were crowded together under the rock where the Persian fortress and the headquarters...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 7	The bull bellowed frantically. Tied with five thick ropes of braided strips of hide and with a forged chain around its neck, it was dragged by ten men while several more goaded it on the rump with sharpened canes. The uproar and the dust kicked up by the maddened brute covered the whole of the little valley, because on...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 8	The tenth bull had been sacrificed. The hour was approaching rapidly. Luckily her hands had stopped trembling. As the sun sank into the west, as the pits filled up with blood, the girl felt her body dry out and the beating of her heart slow down while her mind relaxed. It was not just that she was getting used to the s...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 10	They moved with what little strength they had left in their stunned bodies. Their legs trembled from fatigue and from the trauma of the slaughter they had seen. They ran desperately, striding barefoot over fallen bodies and around those who were kneeling, about to die, without noticing the cuts on their soles from the ...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 12	The girl ran up to the first dead soldier. She quickly examined his helmet, his breastplate, his leggings and blue cloak. Then she looked at the other soldier. His breastplate was pierced by an arrow and so was his helmet. No, that wouldn't work. The first one was better, his gear was in better condition. She quickly ...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 83	"They are afraid, it's obvious" muttered Mervalos, looking at the low Greek triremes bobbing up and down on the waves like walnut shells, and then at their own heavy vessels with the raised rails and the dozens of marines on their decks. "We'll make one mouthful of them…" "They are afraid, my lady." "How can you be s...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 84	The Greek ships stayed still at the center of the straits, a position which is very difficult for a ship to hold without dropping its heavy anchor and with the wind hitting it from the side. The rowers did not pull the oars out of the water at all, but moved them back and forth in a short, rapid motion, their hands and...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 85	"Avast and battle position!" The white flags were taken down from the sterns and red ones were hung in their places. The Greek ships stopped abruptly and with the help of the helmsmen and the calm waters, they quickly drew up in a straight formation, one next to the other, with their rams pointing forward. "Avast! St...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 87	On the Cassiope, Artemisia was trying in vain to maneuver her ship into battle position. To port and starboard her other four ships were crowded, before her was the stern of a ship from Lycia and behind her the bow of another from Cyprus. If she rowed backward so as not to ram the ship in front of her, she was in dange...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 88	Eyes narrowed. Lips hermetically sealed. Xerxes watched the sea battle with increasing discontent, unable to believe his eyes. His ships were crowded together and they were retreating, leaving an empty space to the Greeks, a space that was very useful in this narrow strip of sea. "Who commands the Phoenicians?" he a...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 89	With the help of the ships of Adeimantos that had suddenly returned, the Phoenician fleet was rapidly pushed back to the east. The last lines ran aground on the rocks off the coast and were smashed to pieces. The Persian marines sank straight to the bottom in their heavy armor, while the Phoenician rowers who tried to ...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 91	"It is the Cassiope, the ship of Artemisia." The messenger had just returned from the eastern lookout, bringing the answer to the question the emperor had asked a short time earlier. Xerxes nodded and told his personal scribe to note down the name on his papyrus. "Why?" asked Mardonius, who had expected her to final...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 53	"Wars are not won by repetition" Leonidas was saying at the same moment. "What do you mean?" "Wars are won by surprise. Tomorrow we will not draw up on the field of battle. Now the Persians know our tactics. Their generals will have studied our movements and taken their measures." "So we're not going to fight?" Dien...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 54	The next morning the Spartans did not gather their phalanx, did not raise their spears or go out before the wall. The Persian scouts looked for them in vain from their raised lookouts. The sun was high in the sky but the area in front of the Spartan wall was still empty. Even the gate with the sliding wooden door at i...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 55	He looked at the yellow cloth of the ceiling with the intensity of a priest before carrying out a ritual. His gaze motionless, his lips pressed together, lines of thought on his forehead. Not a word had come from his mouth for some time. Artemisia sat and turned towards him, looking him in the eyes. "Can I be of servi...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 56	The Immortals. The renowned, elite imperial guard. Professional soldiers, terrifically impressive, trained hard in many years of war from India to Egypt. But not all of them. It was only one of their battalions, one thousand out of ten thousand. They resembled priests at a ceremony. They were wearing their colorful ga...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 58	He withdrew, enraged and frustrated, to his apartments, and lay on his bed thinking about the unexpected, unheard of defeat of his enormous army by a handful of fighters for the second day in a row. He lay still while the tears drew lines and made paths over his dark face. Not from grief for the lost Immortals, but fro...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 60	The moonlight gleamed on the ornaments as the figures walked hastily up the narrow path between the steep canyons of Mount Kallidromo. A few hours earlier, immediately after the night's trumpets gave the signal for silence, half the force of Immortals, having in the meantime replaced the huge numbers of men they had l...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 61	The small boy was still out of breath. The sheepskin he wore next to his flesh was soaked with sweat and the clay amulet hanging on his chest, carved with the form of the goddess Artemis, went up and down like a little boat on a stormy sea. "Are you sure?" "It is summer, my master's sheep are still high on the mounta...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	THEMISTOCLES	[ Athens, Greece ] Dozens of voices sounded together, high up on the rock of the Acropolis, before the sanctuary of Athens. The eighteen-year-old youths of the city were giving the Ephebic Oath. I will fight alone and with others and when die I will leave my country stronger than I received it. I will willingl...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 16	For the first thousand yards the whole group ran together like a pack of wolves falling hungrily on their prey. The eighty pounds of bronze armor seemed like a light sack and their feet flew over plants and branches, stones and pits. Besides, the first thousand yards were the easiest. They were still in the cleared val...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 18	He sat without moving and watched the water in intense frustration. The large lake was an insuperable obstacle. His mind was paralyzed, he had fallen into a languor in which scenes from his childhood played before his eyes, sights he had seen in the Agora when he was going to his teacher's house and even earlier, in st...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 19	He used the spear to push the boat, sinking the point to the bottom of the lake and poling steadily and firmly. The raft started to move towards the opposite shore. At that slow speed, though, it might take hours to cross the distance of half a mile. While pushing on the spear with all the strength he had left, he rai...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 4	Alma sped through her last 'vacation' week in a few days of subjective time. Preparing lesson plans was more important than questing for magic or seeking better housing, so she reluctantly put adventuring aside. Instead she did pretty much what she'd done on Earth: sit in restaurants, reading and writing. Until the ro...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 7	That night, or Tuesday or whatever the hell time it was outside, Alma slumped against the bar and smacked her empty milkshake glass down. It didn't break. "Another." Kai was the only real person on duty right now. The dim bar-and-grill had a midnight feel with few customers and with the TVs muted. He backed his long c...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 10	Hours later, she wished she could open that portal to the beach and dive through to escape. The students sat in front of her, fish-eyed, expecting nothing in particular. The school was only using her as a babysitter! The administrators hardly even cared what she supposedly taught. She lectured, "What I'm trying to say...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 12	Alma found Meg packing up a booth at the Newcomer Fair. "Meg, are you an evil harpy?" The feather-armed lady grinned. "According to my ex-husband! Why?" "The design on your coins matched some Forces of Evil ones. See, the other night I helped kill Gerard and looted his corpse. That's going to be awkward at our next b...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 13	Meg vanished, leaving Talespace to do Earthside things. Alma stretched, letting her tail flutter, and walked over to greet Poppy. "What do you make of FoE? Meg and Gerard are with them." Poppy, too, looked done selling for the day. She dumped a box of coins into a bag and hefted a backpack over one shoulder. "Are they...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 43	Leonidas smiled for a long time. Then he looked away from the Persian. He looked first at the three respected elders of the city council who waited, standing a little farther back, for his decision. Then he turned and looked at his men, standing motionless in the lines of their phalanx like armored statues. At an almo...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Come and Take Them	Besides the Thessalians, Thebes and the city of Argos that sided with the Persians out of long-standing enmity with Sparta, all the other Greek cities agreed to participate in the war effort. They sent soldiers and ships, and they swore to the gods to hold to their decision with all their might. The ships would gather ...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 46	A chorus of shouts came to their ears. Almost the whole Greek camp had climbed up on the wall or else the slopes of the mountain and was looking to the north, towards the depths of the plain. A large plume of dust rose from the low hills at its end. Just at the edge of sight, black dots moved in lines like great, super...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 47	Then followed four days of waiting, with tentative moves by the Persian infantry and harassment from mounted archers who galloped up to the wall, shot a few arrows and then returned to their camp. The Spartans did not shoot back. They couldn't be bothered. Guerilla warfare was not warfare for them. They had not learned...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 48	When he heard those words Leonidas clenched his fists to break his rage, as he had been taught to do in his training ever since he was a small child. For a Spartan, there was no failing worse than treachery. Without saying another word, he strode firmly to the wall, the gaze of all his men fixed on him. He climbed the...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	The Gates of Fire	The waiting was over. Early in the morning, before dawn, the Three Hundred and their allies from Thespies got up from the ground, washed their bodies, arranged their hair, polished their shields and helmets with sand, rubbed them with oil, put on their clean tunics, offered libations to the gods and their ancestors, an...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 26	Shall we call our own Mages, great king?" "No. It is not necessary..." The Persian Mages of the royal palace were not needed to explain anything. The meaning of the vision and the oracle's prophecy were clear for all to see. Everyone knew that the olive is a tree that does not grow in Persia but grows in abundance in...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 30	Let me give you some advice, cousin…" The voice that was heard in the royal hall of symposia with its colorful stones and gilded fountain, was not hoarse or heavy. It was not an old man's voice, like the voice of Sindos. It was as soft as light fabric fluttering in the breeze, tinkling and musical like the water of th...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 32	He looked at the stars and thought about his life. Themistocles considered himself a lucky person, blessed by the gods. He hadn't been born an aristocrat, nor was he descended from noblemen, but he had lacked for nothing all his life. His father was a knowledgeable man, shrewd and circumspect. Although he came from a p...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 33	The shapely figure stood upright next to two large couches. Lower down, on a wooden table decorated with ivory and terracotta, there were figs, walnuts, honey and sweet grapes, and a delicate amphora full of wine from Samos with two silver cups. Farther back, the doors to the balcony stood wide open. The light veils h...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 34	Themistocles felt as if one of Zeus's thunderbolts had fallen next to him. He forgot all of his witty replies. His eyes started out of their sockets, looking at Artemisia. "What kind of game is this?" he asked, stunned. "It's not a game. Our house has governed the city for three generations. I do not wish to put some...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 36	Days later, on the way back from Sardis, Themistocles was surprised to find that instead of thinking about the terrifying mass of the army he had seen, he kept thinking about Artemisia. Her moist eyes as she writhed in pleasure and her moist body that he pierced like the hard bronze ram of a warship. Her soft, full li...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 39	When Themistocles and Cimonas opened their eyes, it was still completely dark even though it was summer and the nights were short. Trumpets were sounding from one end of Sparta to another, announcing the new day and summoning the people to rise. In Athens people got out of bed before sunrise too, although not for the s...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 41	Melegros approached his exasperated king, trembling with anxiety and also with fear. In twenty years with Leonidas, the old attendant had learned that no one, for any reason, interrupted military exercises. Melegros' white head turned leaned towards the king's rich braided crest and he began to whisper furiously in hi...
300 The Empire	Theo Papas	[ "historical fiction", "Greece" ]	[]	Chapter 42	Leonidas laughed. "What kind of a joke is this?" But the ambassador remained serious. "It is that which is requested by my lord and King of Kings, the Emperor of Asia." "A little dirt and a little water, that is?" asked Leonidas, as soon as his laughter had subsided. "Did you come all the way here for a little dirt a...
10.37	Jacqueline Druga	[ "scifi", "post-apocalyptic" ]	[]	ROLL BY	It bothered Ross and Morgan knew it. His face was bruised, his arms had gashes, he looked as if he had been beaten by a mob. When in fact, in a sense, he had been. They didn't reach out and hit him, bite or scratch him, instead they acted like a boa constrictor and tried to squeeze him in. It was the fight to get throu...
10.37	Jacqueline Druga	[ "scifi", "post-apocalyptic" ]	[]	DASHING MEMORIES	Dawson gave the queerest of looks to Judd when he they passed a road sign that read 'Lodi' and Judd chuckled out with fond remembrance. "Oh man, Lodi. Bet you love Lodi." "I don't think so," Dawson said after staring at Judd for a moment or two. What's Lodi?" "Wait. You don't know Lodi, Ohio. Little dude, that's only...
10.37	Jacqueline Druga	[ "scifi", "post-apocalyptic" ]	[]	SPOT	The planned route outside of Youngstown, Ohio came to an unexpected end when the road entered what looked like a lake just west of the town of Canfield. It went across too far and wide to see. "Did we just hit the end of the country?" Ross asked. "Is everything flooded from here on in? This is insane." "That's ridic...
10.37	Jacqueline Druga	[ "scifi", "post-apocalyptic" ]	[]	CONSCIENCE	"Go." Morgan slammed her hand on the dashboard. "Go. Go, Go. Now." Hand gripping the gear shift, Ross looked forward. There were many, too many at the hood of his SUV. He peered in the rearview mirror, they were at the back gate, too. What there was of the daylight was fast blocked out by the people that mobbed the c...
10.37	Jacqueline Druga	[ "scifi", "post-apocalyptic" ]	[]	REGRET	What was Ross thinking? He wasn't a coward. He never ran from problems. In fact, he was the guy on the force they said never thought of himself when running into dangerous situations. Yet, there he was, beating the pavement racing, it was a good two blocks before he stopped, turned around and ran back. The distance wa...
32 Yolks	Eric Ripert	[ "Andorra", "food and drink", "France", "biography" ]	[]	Chapter 39	I was part of the last generation of men in France who served a mandatory military service. At the time, I think the government believed that because you received a free college or vocational education and got free healthcare, mandatory military service was a way of paying back. In retrospect, I'm happy I did it. I hav...
32 Yolks	Eric Ripert	[ "Andorra", "food and drink", "France", "biography" ]	[]	Chapter 41	All I could think about was ending things with Bernadette. The relationship was becoming more challenging because Bernadette was young and prone to jealousy, and I was so focused on my career. A plan began to take shape: I would tell her that I was going back to work in Paris, and that she had to stay and finish lycée....
32 Yolks	Eric Ripert	[ "Andorra", "food and drink", "France", "biography" ]	[]	Chapter 43	The pressure of working for Robuchon was taking its toll and too often the stress of work followed me home. At least once a week I awoke from a nightmare in which I had screwed up my mise and Robuchon was about to open my fridge. One night, after a particularly rough service, I came home, took one look in the refrigera...
32 Yolks	Eric Ripert	[ "Andorra", "food and drink", "France", "biography" ]	[]	Chapter 46	The whole kitchen staff got a reprieve when Robuchon took an extended trip to Japan. Things were so peaceful when he was away—busy and intense, yes, but it was so much easier to focus on making sure my execution was perfect without his intimidating presence. And then suddenly he was back, determined to sashimi our egos...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 36	Alma returned to Hoofland and bought the three most popular novels written by the locals. One was a standard fantasy adventure except that everyone had hooves, with no humans mentioned. The second was a family saga about a civilization in the sky, trading with the ground but never part of it until a fateful battle and ...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 38	The portal to Endless Isles took the form of a pond in a crystal forest. Alma dived into it and with a confusing flip of gravity, came up from the surface of a hot spring in another world. You have discovered Endless Isles: the Sea of Mystery! She smiled, then climbed to the grass and looked around. Water dripped fro...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 41	She took the journey through Endless Isles one step at a time. Once she reached each major checkpoint and stuck a personal flag there (crafted on a magic loom she had to fight her way to), she could come and go from the Isles at that point. Her sea voyages were a kind of peaceful conquest, marking where she'd been and ...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 43	She taught Earthside and helped invent an innovative new way to do that through multiple screens and AI assistants. She checked up on Stobor as his family prepared him for uploading, and traded congratulations with Hernandez on moving the AFS toward acceptance of uploading and all that it'd do for the country. She foug...
10.37	Jacqueline Druga	[ "scifi", "post-apocalyptic" ]	[]	LAST CHORD	They were filled with hope. Even though the slow moving trip was taking longer than it should have, they were in contact with Branson. "Radio when you're within fifty miles. You may run into trouble. We'll look for you," Bill from Branson told them. Ross didn't know what that meant, maybe they had trucks out on the r...
10.37	Jacqueline Druga	[ "scifi", "post-apocalyptic" ]	[]	BRANSON	Branson, Missouri was gone. Technically it was still there, but under water. Those who survived the drop of humanity, heard about the storms and retreated to the Branson Airport twelve hundred feet above sea level. Bill Thomas ran the airport and greeted them when they arrived. He was just like Dawson dreamt. A littl...
10.37	Jacqueline Druga	[ "scifi", "post-apocalyptic" ]	[]	SEVEN YEARS LATER	His knuckles made a popping noise when he clenched his cramping fingers into a fist. "Damn it," Dawson shook his hand. "Language." Came the voice in another room. "He heard that?" Dawson shook his head. "Man." He lay on his single bed in a bedroom he shared in the three room apartment in Leadville Nine. It was small...
10 Holiday Stories	Dara Girard	[ "contemporary" ]	[ "short stories" ]	Chapter 4	She wouldn't have recognized him, Eva thought as she stared at John. He didn't look anything like the boy she'd used to run from. And where had his vanity gone? Her mother used to call him Mr. O'Jay referring to a polished singing group the O'Jays from the past. 'Look it up,' she liked to tell him. John would never hav...
10.37	Jacqueline Druga	[ "scifi", "post-apocalyptic" ]	[]	PAIRING	That firm rule of 'Don't talk to strangers' went out the window, and Dawson was sure his mother would not be mad. After all, if the guy was all that bad, his mother wouldn't have subscribed to his videos. Dawson was glad she did or else he wouldn't have seen the notification of a new video. When it popped up, Dawson kn...
10.37	Jacqueline Druga	[ "scifi", "post-apocalyptic" ]	[]	Chapter 11	There was a phone charger on the counter and it fit Judd's phone. He plugged it in. He needed the informational resource it was. In fact one of the first things Judd searched on the internet was how long the internet would last. Most experts agreed only a couple hour because it would be overloaded with people posting....
32 Yolks	Eric Ripert	[ "Andorra", "food and drink", "France", "biography" ]	[]	Chapter 2	My father was the pride of his family. He had worked his way through the ranks of the Banque Nationale de Paris, and had done so well that he was named president of the Cagnes-sur-Mer branch before his thirtieth birthday. He was married once, in his early twenties, to a girl from back home, but the marriage ended befor...
32 Yolks	Eric Ripert	[ "Andorra", "food and drink", "France", "biography" ]	[]	Chapter 3	My father was a peculiar mixture of traits. On the one hand, he was politically conservative, as one might expect of someone who had built his career in finance. When it came to his work, he was disciplined, focused, and unwavering. But at home, he was a different man. His whole life away from the bank was the opposite...
32 Yolks	Eric Ripert	[ "Andorra", "food and drink", "France", "biography" ]	[]	Chapter 7	At the door of the apartment building, two men stood smoking cigarettes, and they looked at my mother hungrily. She cut the ogling off with a single devastating "don't even think about it" glare. I couldn't tell what she was thinking as she climbed the stairs to our new second-floor flat. She seemed at sea, like one o...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 14	"Africa?" said Alma. She'd assumed the gig was in a closer location, but that was silly. Closer to where, the data center hosting her mind? Travel was only a matter of lightspeed delay now. The Fun Zone looked much as she remembered from the other one, but the families were heavily black. She stood as her squirrelly se...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 15	They slept together that night, though only literally. A not-quite-right Chinese meal and a long talk about magic and show business took Alma's mind off her fears. They cuddled in a mass of tails and blankets inside a treehouse in Poppy's land. "Sometimes it seems like you're not having fun," said Poppy. Alma's feeli...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 17	They went through a couple of stranger encounters, including breaking in Alma's new squirrelly body and trying something biologically implausible -- and simply sitting and talking, while cuddled together. Some happy hours later the two relaxed, abandoning the well-used bed for two chairs and a table covered with dice, ...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 18	After her next day of work, Alma came home and flopped face-first onto her bed. The students had been just bright enough to invent new ways of disrupting the class. She wrote on the desk's notepad. "Ludo: Mind visiting in an hour? I want to ask about housing, and about uploading students like mine." She showered, walk...
10.37	Jacqueline Druga	[ "scifi", "post-apocalyptic" ]	[]	BOURBON, TEARS AND GUESTS	Having lived in the Pittsburgh area most of her life, Morgan had never been to Greenfield. She heard of it, and for some reason she attached a bad rap section of town to it. She supposed it was like any other area, it had its shares of trouble, but there was a certain charm to the suburb. She just wished she was seeing...
10.37	Jacqueline Druga	[ "scifi", "post-apocalyptic" ]	[]	Chapter 20	There were three things that could be found in nearly every Pittsburgher's home. Chipped Ham, Heinz Ketchup and something Steeler related. Ross had those and he also had something else… a bottle of bourbon. He never ran dry, there was never less than half a bottle. That was just his thing. He swore he could have drank...
10.37	Jacqueline Druga	[ "scifi", "post-apocalyptic" ]	[]	DAZED	"My phone is one bar," Ray said. "Sorry, I can't talk anymore. I'm buried in eight feet of water, and we're trying to get out. It's getting higher. Storms haven't stopped." "Have you had any earthquakes?" Judd asked. "Some. Minor. Nothing compared to the water. It's the storms. That much water dumping in the ocean ca...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 44	Style wise, the new safe house looked incredibly like the last one. From the first scan of the windows, it simply had one more room downstairs. Miller's car wasn't there yet. Jim showed his ID and passed by the undercover at the door. Dan was standing in the kitchen in only pajama pants, which showed off a tattoo of a...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 46	An hour past sunset and it was still hotter than snot, but at least there was a decent little breeze. Perfect for her intentions this evening. Sophie pulled the pack of matches from her homemade attack suit. It looked like a SWAT team Halloween costume with its black cargo pants and a long-sleeved black shirt with ven...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 47	Jim made it through the shower in record time. He was pulling on his pants when the bell rang. His front door. No one used the front door. This time he would have a shirt on. He had a couple clean black T-shirts left in his drawer. That was about all. Not that he cared. She knocked again as he got to the bottom of the...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 49	"My car's across the street." Agent Webb headed for the door of Jim's apartment. The rage in Jim's gut was back to levels he'd not felt since before his first anger-management class. At first he'd only gone because the court mandated it, but he soon realized the time with the group did him good. Like AA for people wit...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 50	The girl was crying. She was awake enough now to know she wasn't where she wanted to be. It was a pathetic whimper, really. Sophie needed to pee. It was midafternoon and she'd driven for hours without a break. Dan would be rousing soon too. She needed to stop and manage all three. "You ready to stop, baby?" Carla ju...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 51	The meeting room would have been drab under the best circumstances given its tiny putty-gray tables and folding chairs with chipped brown paint. The walls were decorated with a poster reporting some Vegas crime statistics, a picture of a missing kid, and several other memos. All taped to the wall. They reminded Jim of...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 52	MediBridge resided in a midsize building in Bakersfield. The receptionist was cheerful. The decor was a mix of bright orange and teal that gave the visitor the impression that the place was crisp, the business intelligent. Jim leaned over and gave the receptionist his best smile. "Do you have pictures of your employee...
32 Yolks	Eric Ripert	[ "Andorra", "food and drink", "France", "biography" ]	[]	Chapter 31	In that hushed little dining room in the 16th arrondissement, I discovered just how finely detailed a dish can be. If I thought the food at La Tour d'Argent was three stars, Robuchon was on another planet. He served dishes that no one had seen before. A ravioli, the wrapper so thin it was practically translucent, was f...
32 Yolks	Eric Ripert	[ "Andorra", "food and drink", "France", "biography" ]	[]	Chapter 34	Within a few weeks, I was promoted to demi chef de partie (a step between commis and chef de partie) on garde manger, which meant that I was now responsible for all of the cold dishes: three salads and five first courses. I had an apprentice and a commis to help me, but even so, it was physically impossible to produce ...

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