J. R. Kruze Short Story Collection 03
The third collection of short stories by J. R. Kruze.
Known for a unique take on common situations, and a dry wit, Kruze is also able to look at usual circumstances and see unusual aspects to write about. These stories will let you start wondering about the world around you.
Mystery, fantasy, paranormal, romance and science fiction are a few of this mixed genre collection.
Enjoy seeing your world through J. R. Kruze's eyes...
This anthology contains:
- The Girl Who Became Tomorrow by J. R. Kruze
- The Autists: Brigitte by J. R. Kruze
- Dark Lazurai by J. R. Kruze
- The Girl Who Saved Tomorrow by J. R. Kruze
- A Dog Named Kat by J. R. Kruze
- The Saga of Erotika Jones 01 by J. R. Kruze
- A World Gone Reverse by J. R. Kruze, S. H. Marpel
- The Arrivals by C. C. Brower, J. R. Kruze
Excerpt:
I TORE OFF THE HEADSET with it's VR goggles and earbuds. They skidded across my massive desk, scattering papers and files like a mini cyclone. Only stopping when they wrapped around the very solid, unmovable gray base of Lady Liberty.
Someone had cast her as a thick bronze piece, originally created as a classless idea of a lamp support. I took out all that wiring and plugged that hole so she again stood for something. It's original message of friendship between two nations, united in the birth date of universal independence and freedom, had been altered by marketing to mean wanting "...huddled masses yearning to breathe free."
But those weren't my favorite lines, which were at the beginning, "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!"
I stood at that thought, and walked over to the two walls of plate glass, floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked that N'Yack harbor. Clear days would allow you to see that Gray Lady standing with her back to us, far out in the harbor.
And my thoughts always went back to my own grandmother and her grandmother - who had started and fostered a lineage of independent geniuses, ones who kept that legacy of pushing forward the technologies of this culture.
They didn't come here through that harbor, but instead were born and raised in the Heartland. Extreme geniuses with talent far beyond their time, education, and sex.
Along with that natural-born freedom to think, to innovate, to create a better world than the one we each were born into.
I brushed a black lock out of my eyes and swung the rest of that long dark mane out of my way. And put my arms akimbo as I stood there, defiant against the history that had brought me here to this point in time, this office.
That's what I thought as I looked far out across that harbor, looking for the real Gray Lady out there.
Not for long.
Because right about the time of that thought, I got a blinding flash of intuition and my reflexes soared me into action. Literally.
I ran, leaped, and flew across to the other side of my up-armored desk, where I landed and curled into a reverse-rolling ball of tucked knees and arms. A ball that bumped to a stop back under that tiny desk crawlspace.
Just before the explosion blew what was left of those two glass corner walls out into the streets below. And ignited the rest of my former office into a fireball.
At least that's what they later told me happened.