Showing results by narrator "Patrick Kelly" in All Categories

When I requested a secure room at the Silver Spoon Falls Inn, I didn't realize it came with sassy commentary from the desk clerk. Nor did I think I'd enjoy the thought of spanking that attitude right out of her. But here we are anyway. Sight unseen, I'm already hooked on Francesca. And the moment I set eyes on this curvy little spitfire? I'm sunk. Now, I just have to convince her that a grump of a CIA agent like me is exactly what she needs. Forever.

In the aftermath of the Chase, the world is divided. Struggling to maintain its chokehold on the population, the World Coalition broadcasts its persecution of the Liberated—those who celebrate life free from the law—including Sheila Kemp, who is suffering the unbearable cost of telling the truth.

The chaos and anarchy following the Great Collapse nearly brought the world to its knees until the unchanging Law brought order and peace. Generations later, the 12 alliances of the World Coalition come together once a year to allow their best and brightest young people to compete in the Chase. The prize? A chance to pass exactly one new law. When a mysterious new racer with knowledge of the outside shows up at their orbiting training center, the natural order of the Western Alliance trainees is upended.

You live on a lake and it's Christmas. You go skating and you happen upon a man frozen under the ice. Who is he? No, don't ask! You're in a horror story.

What if God decided to try again in the Garden of Eden? Humanity 2.0 turns out to be more to the Deity's liking. But of course, the eternal Adversary must always have his say. A comic remake of the book of Genesis - with a sting.

It's Christmas and one of the aliens wants to go shopping at the mall to get in the proper holiday spirit. The trouble is, he doesn't know an elf from an elephant. Here's a wacky Yule story about intelligence, diversity, and too many tins of fruitcake.

Here's an emotional tale of family secrets set in 2038. Jen has been estranged from her father, a Shakespearian actor, ever since he got divorced from her mother years and years ago. But when her mother dies, Jen is astonished to discover that she has left her ex-husband a fortune in her will. Jen tries to confront her father but first she must get past the robot that cares for him. A Hugo, Nebula, and Sturgeon nominee and winner of the Locus Award for best short story of 1997.

What is love? A profound and life-changing emotion or a heady brew of neurochemicals washing through your brain? Two young medical students take a break from their studies to enjoy a night out at a neuromance palace, where for a mere $40 you can fall deeply in love and out again in a single carefree evening. Here's a romantic comedy about sales techniques, square-dancing, and hormones gone wild.

An overweight draftsman with a love for science fiction answers an ad in the back of his favorite magazine. It promises an incredible weight loss miracle, but the return address is from Brimstone, Texas. In this wacky tale of diet and revenge, getting what you wish for might cost your immortal soul.

The story of the Cage family, begun in "Solstice", continues. Wynne Cage has grown up and is working as a spook journalist, covering a gang attempting to pull off one of the most spectacular heists in history. When things go very, very wrong, she is forced to throw herself on the mercy of the mysterious owner of Chillon castle. Who is Francois Bonivard and how did he come to be so hideously disfigured? Wynne may be a reporter, but this story soon gets personal.

Chip's luck has run out. He's been on the dole for most of his life and now the government wants to ship him off to fight in the never-ending war in Mexico. But he has two things going for him: a cocky attitude and his thinkmate, an all-knowing personal digital assistant named Mr. Jimmy. Maybe the way to escape is to get in line to step through the mysterious door down the alley. Hundreds of people have passed through, but no one has come out.

Here's a slapstick fable for modern times, which will tickle the child in all of us. And you thought you understood the way the government works.

A young man signs up for a writing class because he thinks it will be a good place to meet women. The woman he does hook up with tells him a fantastic story and gives him more than he bargained for. A horror story for English majors.

Crispin has been following Lisa around since she was a child, only no one can see him but her. She hopes she's isn't crazy but she can't be sure. And of course, the dead people who talk to her are no help at all.

Welcome to a survivalist's nightmare. On the day a nuclear war is threatening to break out, his wife's car dies 20 miles away from the bunker he has so painstakingly prepared. He has to go get her, but what price is he willing to pay to keep his family safe in the face of the impending holocaust?

In a future where virtual reality shows are the dominant entertainment form, a damaged young woman has the uncanny ability to impersonate the dead celebrities of the late 20th Century, bringing them to life once again for the nostalgia market. A bittersweet tale of fame lost and found, with an ending you'll never guess.

Les hates the artificial baby that Birth Control has given her, but she tries to take care of it because she wants to have a real baby of her own. But now the baby is sick and needs a doctor, and Les is broke and on the run. She has a gun but no ammunition. Yet.

A revolutionary young woman and her sentient spaceship have the technology to travel through time. In the aftermath of a space battle they are hurled 20 million years into their future and stranded there. When they find that civilization has all but vanished, they set out to learn why. This pyrotechnic space opera was nominated for both the Hugo and the Nebula awards.

As humankind's first starship accelerates past the speed of light, an astronaut wakes up and finds that he is all alone. The crew is gone, the sensors give no readings, and he is trapped. Alone? Not quite. His imaginary wife keeps him company and helps him keep a tenuous hold on his sanity.

Here's a cautionary tale about a day in the life of a baby boomer in the not-so-distant future. Climate change has led to economic collapse and social unrest, and yet Ruth lives comfortably enough. But when she sets off on a simple trip across town to visit her friend Matt, she comes face to face with the grim reality of the world she has helped to create.