Translated by Sue Burke
As a consequence of the scarlet fever, Francine’s skin became covered by a rash. In certain spots, her skin became scaly, swollen, and gangrenous. Six days into the illness, a finger began to putrefy, the little finger of the right hand. On that day, Descartes repeated incessantly: “Nothing that I think makes sense if I can do nothing when my daughter loses a finger.” Franciscus answered, “A finger is just a finger. Let us proceed.” And that is when it all began.
Read MoreFrancine (draft for the September lecture)
I turned away with my face in my hands, but my eyes met again with Buddha’s gaze and I remembered that Aethra was a specialist in deriving anthropomorphic reactions from the absolute absence of consciousness. I turned again towards the window. It was looking me in the eyes. As I lowered mine, I noticed the small plate on the pedestal: Imaginary Self. That kind of humor was beyond me.
Read MoreAethra
This is the age of Kinship, a new era that has ousted fascism in India. Behold the light in the surma-streaked eyes of a man who tilts the chin of a woman wearing a large red bindi upward to kiss her.
Read MoreSamsāra in a Teacup
My spirit aches. Reality is severed. I’m trapped in a glass room. Time is water, streaming by. I’m underwater in the current of time, watching time float by. My hand on the room’s thick glass, unable to shatter it, unable to get out. Even if I escape, time will drown me.
Read MoreDreamports
I breathed in. It had a complex smell with many layers. I sniffed until I sneezed. It reminded me of luxury fragrances composed of many aromas and varying notes. But these fragrances only become perceivable with time, whereas the flower’s essence was, let’s say, simultaneous. There was the scent of vanilla and dust, of sand and musk, of the damp of a cave, of salt and blood.
Read MoreThe synchronism of touch
Godmother watches over us all. The AI’s face beams out across the city from a billboard, wearing a nurse’s cap and a beatific smile befitting her name. Nickname, to be precise. Her official name, ZolaMX3, was scrapped only days after she launched
Read MoreGodmother
Just as I might back out of a noisy room. I was never good with noises. According to the doctors, I lacked the mechanism to filter them out. Part of my condition, they said…
Read MoreRobin’s Last Song
There were two terrorists inside her house. Inside Mami’s house. They were named Alfredo and Gui as they didn’t seem to be worried about hiding their names while talking with each other. The only thing they’d asked of her was a first aid kit, so she grabbed the one Marcos had given her as a gift and that she’d never used.
Read MoreSoil of Our Home, Storm of Our Lives
Black Edie was trying to restart the Benz. The old hermit kept turning the key and stomping on the gas pedal so hard she was bouncing on the driver’s seat. By way of a reply, the car she’d owned since Jesus was a toddler wheezed, smoked ... and died. The look of dazed resignation on Black Edie’s face infuriated Fitzsimmons even more.
Read MoreThresher of Men