Stories Online

J. C. Conway Stories on the Internet

Worlds Less Traveled, Copyright (c) 2012 J. C. Conway
Available at Comets and Criminals

My anti-psychotic field shifts to low-power mode. Sparkling clarity rushes in.
On Brumal, lightyears from Earth, I activate my Pocket Paralegal, Penelope. Her soft voice resonates in my ear. “Yes Mr. Maynard?”
I respond sub-audibly. “The McLeary generator is failing…”

Love, Death and Overlapping Bosonic Singularities,
Copyright (c) 2013 J. C. ConwayAvailable at The Lorelei Signal

First Amy’s senses returned as the world coalesced. Where now? She assessed, finding herself seated in a conference room full of attorneys. She saw no signs of alarm. They seemed unaware that reality had just dissolved and reassembled itself in a different order. To them, this was a normal moment in a reliable space-time sequence … 
They were wrong …

Seed of Doubt, Copyright (c) 2012 J. C. Conway
First Published by Untied Shoelaces of the Mind, Nov. 12, 2012

Solitaire handball was not enough. Bobby Fisk kicked his dusty rubber ball and surveyed the neighborhood. Madison Tucker played in her shabby yard with a set of construction toys. Bobby jammed his hands into his pockets and sneered. “What’re you doing?”
Madison didn’t respond…

November Elf, Copyright (c) 2012 J. C. Conway
First Published by Hogglepot on November 11, 2012

I paused between the office and the parking lot to appreciate the feel and smell of the glistening, rain-washed city. The towers of glass and marble, framed by now-cloudless skies, sparkled in the low afternoon sun. 
In that instant I was not an aging attorney forgetting deadlines, phone numbers and birthdays. I was a creature, alone and at one …

Fog Light, Copyright (c) 2012 J. C. Conway
First Published by Romance Flash on November 1, 2012

Shelly should have been a shoe-in for the Master’s program. She was smart, her professors liked her, she knew how to write … but she met Justin her sophomore year, and for twenty months she decided her social life was more important than school. She still had a shot at it, but only if she proved herself this final semester…

Separation Anxiety, Copyright (c) 2012 J. C. Conway
First Published by NewMyths.com on September 1, 2012

Judge Bell pushed the stack of files to the end of his mahogany desk, buzzed for his clerk and slipped into his black robe. He glanced down through half-open horizontal blinds in his window. The noisy crowd below chanted, “Stop Playing God!” and waved signs displaying slogans like “Quantum State?Police State!” …

Letters to the Luminiferous AetherCopyright (c) 2012 J. C. Conway
First Published by Bewildering Stories on June 11, 2012

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Garvey, Thank you for your letter…

From return correspondence it appears Mr. and Mrs. Garvey are in a relativistic fix. Is there a solution to their plight? And if so, will the Garveys welcome it, or dread it?

The Bender Beamer, Copyright (c) 2012 J. C. Conway
First Published by Lark’s Fiction Magazine on May 13, 2012

The world ends twice a day; three times on Sunday.
Junior Bender Wanted to believe it. It was the closest thing to advice his father had ever provided. But all it meant was nothing is carved in stone–fresh starts happen every day.
He could use a new start now…

Procyon Descent, Copyright (c) 2012 J. C. Conway
First Published by Farther Stars Than These on May 3, 2012

The day comes too soon. I work up the length of the crop terrace. My waist-high row is lined with scrawny beets sucking what they can from the muck of the nutrient stream. Across is a row of an old Earth grain called barley, followed by eight rows of sheet fungus and more rows of stuff we call food, lining the curved floor that turns up and out of sight…

Another Wrong World, Copyright (c) 2012 J. C. Conway
First Published by Indigo Rising Magazine on April 8, 2012

His shock and interstellar meandering now behind him, Maxwell nudged through the patrons of the End-Of-The-Line Club, forcing his way to the center bar. It was the seediest tavern he could find–a backwater haven for non-human thieves and drug addicts, a hell-hole carved from the belly of …

Early Retirement, Copyright (c) 2012 J. C. Conway
First Published by Static Movement on April 2, 2012

I met Philip Dawson at Buster’s Tavern–a dive asteroid bar in a Trojan orbit. We had nothing in common. He was huge, gregarious, and didn’t know the world was about to end–nothing in common at all.
The place had a quarter-G spin–enough to serve open-glass drinks… 

Exit Strategy, Copyright (c) 2012 J. C. Conway
First Published by 365 Tomorrows on Feb. 2, 2012

Grant pushed through the crowd, ignoring the direction indicator. He longed for elbow room and privacy, luxuries of a forgotten past. But rumor had it there were still places–distant, underpopulated islands. He only dreamed of reaching their shores … until today.