Author
Marge Simon
As an artist as well as a writer, the concept was so horrific that I had to write a story that had a similar theme. It was first published as a short poem in Strange Horizons.
The Hour Glass
Their apartment building was very old. He had tended it a long time, knew every inch of brick and mortar. In the basement, the pulse of its heart. He kept it alive, though no other tenants will need it now. He kept it alive for this. Her body waited at his feet, wrapped in clean…
The Snow Globe
Once a time ago, a child is given a snow globe by an aunt or an uncle, he can't remember which. Inside the globe, a little man sits on a bench looking at a little woman. On her feet are silver slippers, and her arms are outstretched as if to embrace the sky. When he shakes it,…
The Girl
She lives in the compartment below us with the potter. She is not his wife, she's much too young for him. Many nights I hear her screams. I try to block them out. I keep to myself, as is the way of all good Citizens. Last night it went on too long. I find her naked on the floor.…
Eel Soup
So, the time has come. He can't stand watching her suffer any longer. He prepares their last meal from scratch. He has procured the vegetables from the neighbor's garden. The onions are still good, as well, the carrots and potatoes. A can of stewed tomatoes, peppercorns and…
The Fallen Girl
Since her untimely birth in the Brothels of Lemorrah, she was mothered by many, daughter of none. The city spawned more children than the poor could afford. Boys were sent to work the streets; young girls to Lemorrah. She'd witnessed them be broken in for service. When it came…
The Adjunct Professor's Alien Girlfriend
Let's say she obtained a green card, stating she was a formerly a resident of the Isle of Man. She got away with it, too. No problem for a confident young woman and being attractive helped as well. As she was already a fine specimen of humanoid, any slight difference was easy to…
The Sinner
May the gods forgive me, for I must have sinned. It began six months ago when I broke out in great welts all over my body. Every pore of my skin was on fire. This wretched condition finally subsided, but then the skin started peeling off my hands and the soles of my feet. When I…
Found in the Wreckage
A giant silver ship burst though the Great Blue Dome and hurtled toward the earth. There was an explosion that shook the ground. The native found her in the wreckage. He prodded her with his foot. She whimpered, so he squatted down to watch until she coughed and sat up. He tried…
The Human Guest
They arrived in a glory of light during a summer month. Glory isn't quite how we perceived it. Their ship destroyed a vast amount of our harvest. But their translator used the word glory, which we were given to mean a very fine thing. We come in peace. May the light of our…
Susan 3342 A.D.
In an overcrowded world, a high bar on reproduction was enforced. The odds were high, but after seven years came notification that we would be allowed one hemaphrodite offspring. Which of us would bear the child? You picked two of our fine black orchids and stripped their…