Bringing you stories, book and game reviews, writing tips, and updates from author S.G. Baker.
Question marks surrounded me. Big, pale, spray painted on every trunk as far as I could see. Glowing in the gloom beneath the spreading branches of enormous pines. All facing me, like the disapproving gaze of a fussy uncle. Just a moment ago, the forest had appeared as any other cluster of trees. Embarrassment overtook … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – A Punctuated Demand
In a disintegrating room stood a girl in a white dress. She had her back to me, hem trailing among broken bricks. She was about to begin. "What's that sound?" She turned toward the wrecked wall, then she stumbled backward and fell over. Her form drifted apart like fingers raked through mist. After a moment, … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – The Role of the Witness
A face loomed in the darkness outside our stopped subway train. Outlined in glowing white lines. Xs for eyes. A hand-drawn, rictus grin. A mask. It bobbed along up and down the cars, pressing against the windows, fingertips tapping the glass. Giggling echoed down the tunnel, accompanying a high-pitched voice asking, "Who smiled? Whooo smiiiiled?" … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Smiling at Strangers
Thunder sounded as a herd of horses broke from a stand of trees, hooves drumming on winter dead grass as they passed. One, the color of butter with black tail and legs, paused beside me, dancing and snorting. "A mountain lion follows," the horse said. "Climb on, before it catches you!" A rustle in the … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Swift Hooves
Sweet, floral perfume hung on the stale air of a forgotten warehouse. Wafting among corroded pipes, which wove their way along a high ceiling and around long, dusty windows. Drifting through the trash and dead leaves scattered across a concrete floor. Reflecting off once-white walls and old, broken furniture. I was following a trail of … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Making Change
Brushed with soft pink hues in the fading evening light, full white dandelion heads stretched away from either side of a dirt path. Evidence of a wishing festival lay scattered all around me - broken, bald stalks discarded in the dirt. On still air rode the scent of sap and cut grass, warning other plants … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – A Seed of Doubt
Just peculiar enough to look like an accident, a white truck hulked beneath a tree in bloom. The pale pollen and petals piled upon its windshield, however, revealed that it had huddled below the heavy branches for a long time. Nighttime crouched like a presence between the tree trunk and the car door. A rustling … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Next Time
Light bloomed behind me in a passage I had already cleared, so bright as to drown out the glow of my flashlight. Looking back, I had to hold up a hand to shield my eyes. I could see nothing but the sandstone walls of the cavern. "Are you lost?" a voice asked. It echoed around … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Guided Passage
When I went to ride the elevator back downstairs, I found a pair of legs sticking out of the doors of the only working car. They had not been there when I first came up, looking clean but uncomfortable against the grimy concrete floor. Unmoving. Out of place. The elevator dinged and the doors started … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Getting Collected
A muted clanking sounded from the door. All of us in the room tensed, thinking the water pressure outside had at last overpowered the sealed door's capacity to keep it out. But then the clanking came again, rhythmic, like knocking. "They're here," I said. "Get ready." The group moved around behind me. I took several … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Emergency Dive
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