You might call the very continuing existence of The City a blasphemy if you've got the evangelistic bent. Los Angeles — even the old name is a holy reference: Our Lady of the Angels in Spanish, of course'sits off a vast chaparral desert atop the San Andreas Fault, a...
Gina Davies sighed inwardly and thinned her lips. This was the last time she'd rescue a stray waif as a favour to her English friends. She liked being hospitable, she liked meeting new people, but she did not like housing morose depressives with nothing to say. Even...
It had gotten so bad he dreaded going home. As soon as he walked through the door, the interrogations began. She demanded he account for every second of his day. She would tear open the mail and inspect it, especially the credit card bills. A restaurant charge set off...
"So?" Patricia's smile isn't just a sisterly greeting, and her drawn-out, one-word sentence isn't just a question. Both are impudent—or seem that way, and her voice has an edgy, aggressive tone, like a schoolteacher confronting a truant. She puts her mocha frothy...
Father James Murphy thought about God a great deal. It was his business after all. At first, in the seminary, he rarely felt God's presence but now, after twenty years serving in His name, James knew God was with him all the time. Even as he stood, naked, with a scarf...
Let me say up front here, before I get on with my recollections of Mrs. Priestly, and before you form an opinion, that I am not particularly proud of the fantasies I held back then, around that same time, about these things which I called Fuck Units. I mention this...
"Quigley!" came the voice up from the basement in that sharp sour tone that made his nerves ache. "QUIGLEY!" it snapped from the box of Frieblow's Pickle Brining Jars that had been down there for at least 33 years. "I want a cucumber!" it rattled. "I want a cucumber...
Will Ryan raised his chin and stretched his neck. He tossed back the shot of Jameson and let it trickle down his throat trailing a mellow burn. He followed it with a sip of Guinness. Tommy the bartender busied himself wiping glasses and checking his stock. Will...
Newly reformed woman seeks man the same, Sam read aloud. Now what the hell is that supposed to mean? Oh Jeeze, Sam, you're reading the Stranger personals again. Don't you have anything better to do? Donna plopped down in the chair opposite her brother. She picked up a...
Penrose Carrington sat looking at his smooth skin and square jaw in the tall mirror that was far across the room. Surrounded by a heavy golden frame it reported back an image that amazed and delighted him. He could see his own strawberry blonde hair, his pale blue...