Patreon Microfiction: Food for Thought.

For the record: I thought of the pun in the last line of ‘Food For Thought’ when I wrote it. I offer that not as an apology, for I feel neither shame, nor remorse. Instead, I offer it as a reminder that great evil can lurk in the heart of even the most good-natured and innocent of men.

Patreon Microfiction: Trading Up.

Of course, there’s always of what to do with those Dark Lords afterward. The person running ‘Trading Up’ is simply kicking the can down the road. On the other hand, that’s usually a good strategy! A lot of those regimes will just regress to a boring old monarchy or something within one, two generations.

And, on the gripping hand: if there is a problem, there’s also a lot of Dark Lords out there that now owe Trading Up some pretty significant favors…

Patreon Microfiction: …Made Them Equal.

It doesn’t matter what the power is. Technology, magic, theurgy, High Weirdness — if it can be accessed reliably, somebody’s going to find a way to simplify the process and “…Make Them Equal.” Which is a good thing! Hard on the people who used to have the power monopoly, sure. But that’s life for you.

Patreon Microfiction: Ergognomics.

The theme of ‘Ergognomics’ is not unknown in science fiction. The entire concept of diffusion of innovation is really very fascinating; there’s a fairly close alternate timeline where I’m an academic who specialized in it. …And wouldn’t that world be weird.

Patreon Microfiction: Count Your Blessings.

I’m not fond of time travel, as a rule. The ethical issues are myriad, honestly. But ‘Count Your Blessings’ is there to remind you that maybe the only worse thing than changing the past might be changing the past back.