Image copyright © by Marcus Trahan

Beatnik Bayou

It is said that if you really want to learn something, you should teach it.

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The Bellman

Someone once asked Benjamin Franklin “What possible use are balloons?” He answered with a question, “What use is a newborn baby?” Here are many answers…

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A Christmas Story

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In Fading Suns and Dying Moons

Fermi asked of extraterrestrials, “Where is everybody?” Perhaps we might not want to know.

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The Flying Dutchman

Ever had a hard day of traveling? Not like this.

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Truth, Justice and the Politically Correct Socialist Path

An infant who might have become Clark Kent came to Earth in Stalinist USSR, instead becoming Kyril Kentarovsky with Murphy’s Law in overdrive.

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Good Intentions

Politics makes for strange bedfellows. The devil is in the details.

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Her Girl Friday

(from Steel Beach)

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Just Another Perfect Day

You have only today to live — again, and again, and again.

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A Valentine

(with PJ Beese)

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Tango Charlie and Foxtrot Romeo

Anna-Louise Bach discovers new meanings to the expression “dog days.”

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The Unprocessed Word

Even among creative minds, there may be resistance to change.

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Press Enter ■

Modern technology is powerful, and that power can be used for good or…

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The Manhattan Phone Book (Abridged)

If every picture tells a story, every person could tell even more…

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The Pusher

When time does not flow evenly for all, how can romance be sustained?

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Blue Champagne

No matter the technological wonders that come to pass, it is still a story of human needs and desires that effervesce.

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Options

It is said that to understand someone, you need to see the world through another’s eyes. What understanding would come through another’s sex?

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The Persistence of Vision

What is the difference between looking and seeing? What senses do we need for each?

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The Barbie Murders

We all want to be part of the crowd, but we all want to be unique. Sometimes the tension can be lethal.

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In the Hall of the Martian Kings

Mars will be colonized, but just what might we find?

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Air Raid

Needed: People for repopulating a future humanity. Whom do you get?

This short story was the basis for the novel (and screenplay and movie) Millennium.

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Equinoctial

We each need another, but what happens when that other truly becomes part of us?

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Good-Bye, Robinson Crusoe

Ever want to get away from it all? Traveling to faraway places is not the only possibility.

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Lollipop and the Tar Baby

Spacetime might not be the only thing that gets warped near a black hole.

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Overdrawn at the Memory Bank

There are many lessons to learn, and many ways to learn them.

PBS turned “Overdrawn at the Memory Bank” into a 3-(out of 10)-Star, made-for-TV movie starring Raul Julia.

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The Phantom of Kansas

Art can take many forms, some more obvious than others…

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The Funhouse Effect

Ever been in a situation that kept getting worse and wonder about hitting the bottom? On the way to the sun, there might be more than one bottom…

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Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance

Music and motion — it takes two to tango. Or does it take more?

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Manikins

Just because you’re paranoid, it doesn’t mean they aren’t after you, and you might be right.

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Retrograde Summer

In the varied landscapes of Mercury, the truths about family might be more fluid than mercury.

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The Black Hole Passes

It may be lonely out in space, but when working out in space, you are never really alone.

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In the Bowl

What is costly and what is of value? It might take a trip to Venus to truly understand.

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Picnic on Nearside

We all change as we grow up, but some changes…

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Bagatelle

Ever get so upset that you just wanted to explode? Ever have to deal with someone like that?

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