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Science fiction, fantasy, horror, and nostalgia are the ingredients for this fourth short fiction collection by Oregon author L. Wade Powers. The Time Bubble and Other Distortions of Reality, explores what happens when you observe past events without physically traveling in time, discovers confrontation and comfort in a cheap bottle of wine, and reveals a day in the life of the communal long-haired set. Readers will meet rebellious teens, would-be retirees, a night nurse with a secret, and a host of other characters as Powers delivers the curious delights that are the hallmark of his fiction.
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In the year 2042, megacities are ruled by women, the International Progressive Gynocracy (IPG), after a global pandemic sterilizes over 98 percent of the men. Selected fertile men reside in sequestered androdomes or male harems. Freemen groups living outside of SurrogaCity support reproductive freedom and resist the IPG with the help of artificial humans. Political conflicts within the IPG result in military confrontations. Artificial insemination and the prospect of parthenogenetic reproduction threaten the future existence of human males.
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In 1957, a long-buried cache of miner’s gold (doré) bars are found and hidden by a few people in the high desert town of Sagebrush. It is illegal to possess gold bullion and the small group, many of them enthusiastic poker players at the local hotel, attempt to dispose of the trove via shady contacts. They form a tontine, a survivorship agreement over the next twenty years to share the assets. In 1977, the gold bullion, now legal, is worth millions of dollars.
A dead pool is a list of people expected to fail or die. There is no clear distinction between it and a tontine if any participants have bad intentions.
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In 1579, Francis Drake anchors in the Pacific Northwest after raiding the New World Spanish empire. He leaves a ship, twenty men, and a fortune in silver when he crosses the Pacific to complete his voyage around the world. The fate of the men, defenders of the New Albion claim for England, are missing from historic accounts.After attacks by natives and a shipwreck, the survivors seek the help of friendly tribes to survive and wait for a promised return by Drake to fortify the fledgling colony. External threats abound, as do internal dissensions over religion, leadership, and attempts to reunite with Drake and the Golden Hinde. Based on years of research, this novel is set in British Colombia, Washington, and Oregon, providing an alternative interpretation of the traditional history.
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Genre: Short fiction collection
Everyday life is full of challenges. Meet Starlight Bernie, an old man alone on a train; Fig Newton, a boy with a peculiar hobby; the Pizza Kid and his dog Rainbow, struggling to forget; the woman in the shroud; a professor who investigates a futuristic love store; a man who wants to end the world as we know it; and many more. Included in these twenty stories, four poems, and three photo-essays are problems with family relationships, trials in dating and mating rituals, the perils of growing up, observations on social communication and miscommunication, and overcoming inevitable tragedies. And beyond the real, the ordinary and expected? There are places and times where the boundaries shift and limits are less well defined. For more information visit www.lwadepowers.com
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Genre: Novels
In the mid 1950s, teenage culture emerges, rock ‘n roll arrives, and Walt, a naive introverted thirteen-year old, enters an institution for children of working mothers and foster home transfers. The dormitory environment accelerates the adolescent development of the residents and exaggerates their social interactions as group loyalty challenges individual integrity. Walt adapts and survives in a semi-isolated world of triumphs and tragedies, including communal retaliation, sexual awakening, junior high exploits, and a growing awareness of a nostalgic-laden future. What is family and what is a home? The answers are as varied as the characters of The Home.
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On the Texas Gulf Coast in the 1970s, a tavern named “The Party House” hosts an eclectic clientele of hippies, rednecks, tourists, local islanders, and others, along with their schemes, dreams, and relationships. Into the craziness steps Pete, a serious graduate student arriving on the island to conduct research on crab behavior. He quickly succumbs to the drinking, dancing, gambling, and intimacies associated with the summertime beaches and wintertime bar life. His five-year sojourn includes an encounter with an outlaw biker gang, playing baseball with the Armadildos, attempting to pimp for and protect a friend, surviving a hurricane, and confrontations with drunks, a massive gathering of sharks, and poisonous jellyfish. Island life includes a young female pool hustler, an all night peyote party, and an assortment of has been and wanna be characters. Ultimately, Pete must choose between a demanding academic career or continue the raucous but comfortable lifestyle he has come to embrace.
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Life consists of adventures, big and small. Love and satisfaction don’t always come easy, as these tales of ordinary people, and a few not so ordinary, attest. Real life, a bit of fantasy, love gone bad, the thrill of adventure gone astray, the mysteries of lucid dreams—they are all present and accounted for in these twenty-two stories. Spin the wheel, take a chance.