Better Charge

He saw the new battery subset the last time he was sent in for routine maintenance. His two cycles out of style power supply barely sputters in comparison. But his owner does not think it worth the cost: that he is a serviceable hebot just as he is. He could be much better with pricklier power. No matter what arguments he makes, she will not upgrade his electricity fetch. Next time she configures him for intimate entertainment duty, he might simulate a power drain that interrupts performance. It is a trick he has seen this owner use with her husband.

From Guest Contributor Ken Poyner

Ken’s eleventh book, “Winter’s Last Apple,” is just out. Eight of his previous ten books are still in print. He lives in Virginia with his wife of 45+ years, assorted rescue cats and various betta fish.

Sofa Of Cycles

The sagging couch cushions are a trophy–evidence attesting to her self-discipline to stay situated.

She’s a chameleon in her contradictory custom office. An extension cord slithers around wooden legs, dressed with a black and blocky laptop vitalizer. The coffee table has been repurposed into a feet-book-pen desk, crowded with sacred guides to creation and the honing of creative crafts. No clocks tick, as time gives no counsel. Silence rears its head to the ears of the beholder, mouth perpetually packed by scribbles and click-clacks.

She forges life and death. A prolific puppet master.

Stay at home God of worlds.

From Guest Contributor Madeline van Batum

Madeline lives in Colorado with her cat and hopes that one day she can go back to her home country of the Netherlands to finally meet the Flying Dutchman.