Tag: flash fiction

Spotted Owl

Give A Hoot—Shoot? The Controversial Plan to Save Northern Spotted Owls from Extinction

May 5, 2024

Many human cultures have considered owls omens of death, so it’s perversely fitting that we are now arbiters of their doom. After driving one owl species toward extinction, we propose to save it by killing half a million members of another. How did we end up in this conundrum of ecological ethics? How The Spotted … More Give A Hoot—Shoot? The Controversial Plan to Save Northern Spotted Owls from Extinction

A farm in California's Central Coast. Neat green rows stretch toward low hills on the horizon, under a cloud-scudded sky.

Seeds of Change: Cultivating a Sustainable Food System

February 11, 2024

I leaned over the stewpot and laughed into the fragrant steam. “When did we start eating like peasants?” It wasn’t a complaint, but a cheeky observation on our evolving household diet. Five years ago I rarely made soup unless someone was ill, and then it came from a can. Now the remains of a rotisserie … More Seeds of Change: Cultivating a Sustainable Food System

A snowy landscape, with an inky stream winding away through white marshland towards a mountainous horizon.

A World Without Winter: New Projections for Climate Change in the Arctic

January 10, 2024

Only one thing scared me about moving to Alaska six months ago. Not the remoteness. Australia got me hooked on wild environments with more nature than civilization, so this was actually a selling point. Not the wildlife. While moose and bears can be aggressive, photography has taught me to keep a respectful distance (and a … More A World Without Winter: New Projections for Climate Change in the Arctic

Flash Fiction with #VSS365: June 2019

August 4, 2019

July was a hurricane, friends. In addition to the usual demands of a full-time job by day and wrestling with revisions by night, my month included a whirlwind international business trip; publication of the fourth Brave New Girls science fiction anthology, featuring my short story “Armed for the Future”; abd celebrating the 60th birthday of one my … More Flash Fiction with #VSS365: June 2019