Much as I try to stay focused, I'm easily distracted by a quick story - in the moment I think, I have time to read that! And yet, it adds up to hours a week. Some days, even hours a day.

Here I capture stories that resonate with me. Stories I embrace as reflecting my past, future or desired self, the world or humanity. I hope these stories bounce around in my head and heart and reach out to my muse.

Most of the stories I capture on this list are free and fictional along with a smattering of paid and/or non-fiction of one form or another.

The stories are listed from most recent reads - downwards into the past. I learned from Madeleine Thein's Do Not Say We Have Nothing down is where the future is.

To me, the future is composted from the past. This past headed list twists into the future through the work composting these stories with the rest of my experiences and imaginings to create new stories and essays in the future. Ever may my mind be a mind like compost*.

The Stories

NOTE: When possible, I've provided a link to the story and sometimes the publisher which worked at the time I read it. I make no guarantee they've stayed available and/or free at the time you read this list.

September 3, 2022 John Wiswell, D.I.Y. on Tor.com

 September 3, 2022 Sunyi Dean, The Thief of Memory on Tor.com

August 20, 2022 Jay Lake, A Long Walk Home on Subterranean Press

August 19, 2022 Carol Scheina, Please fill out this form regarding your loved one on Nature's Futures Series

May 14, 2022 Lauren Hunt, Law School on Split Lip Magazine

*Memorized during a high school English class, sometime back in the 80's, Gary Snyder's poem On Top