I mulled the concept for this short story over in my ahem, rattled mind for a long time until I came up with a setting. I am really not sure what the original inspiration was. Maybe it was my own experience with circuses as a kid. Real circuses, with animals, clowns, and yes, even lions. Not sure such a thing even exists anymore.

The inspiration for this story comes from the current human condition. Yes, this story was published to my website in the spring of 2019, but not much has changed since then. We are becoming more reliant on technology, delivery services, social media, and the health care system to sustain us, entertain us, and act as our social interaction. And this was written before the whole COVID thing.

If you have read the bible, the Old Testament, not the New Testament stuff your church makes you read, people lived to be hundreds of years old. That is, until one of our ancestors pissed off God and he took that away from us, along with adding pain to childbirth. Special shout out to our ancestors for effing shit up. Somewhere in the strange workings of my mind, I connected this concept with water. What if the one thing we cannot live without was poisonous?

I am not sure if the inspiration for this short was inspired

Hope you enjoy So Close

Alternative Universe is about…well, alternative universes. And how they might be used to live dual lives, experiencing a life you wished you had not let go, or a path you wished you’d chosen. What would be the consequences of using such a place?

Hope you enjoy.

I published this story on my website about five years ago, so the inspiration is a bit fuzzy. As a person who lives with a mountain of regret, the do-over was likely the inspiration. That, combined with my belief system, or lack thereof.

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.

- Alexander Fraser Tytler

The inspiration for this story is one of the most