The Questioning Way Blog is written by Dewey Dirks, author of The Questioning Way, a book about open mindedness, skepticism, the human spirit and creating your own beliefs. This blog showcases both Mr. Dirks' book and examples of work from twenty years of writing
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Monday, May 6, 2013
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Aquillerelle Magazine 9
I'm happy to announce
one of my poems has been published in Aquillrelle Magazine 9
Jan-April. Please drop by Lulu.com and check out Aquillrelle's fine
magazine:
PDF version
Printed Version
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Kinds of Paths
Kinds of Paths
We all are born
unknowing
We all have many
questions
All look for answers,
and strive through our lives
As best we can
Humans are pretty dumb
creatures sometimes
And so try as we might
We've only come up with
two ways
For finding our way
across the land
There are those who
follow trails blazed for them
Then there's
individuals who strike out by themselves
Making their own paths
across the sand
Followers always find a
hero
Like Jesus, Mohammad,
or Buddha
They listen to his
words very carefully
And try to follow his
lead as best they can
Individuals follow only
themselves
Are very stubborn,
question everything
And listen to only to
advice of their choosing
Whenever, and from
wherever it happens to land
I've known lots of
individuals and followers alike
Individuals faults are
many and varied
Followers almost always
only have two
They always have too
much faith in what some other guy once said
And they always believe
their hero was something more than just a man
Individuals doubt
practically everything but their own right to choose
Followers sometimes
resent it if you doubt their hero
And always doubt most,
their ability to decide what to do
Often no love is lost
Between those who take
different kinds of paths
Followers think
irreverence is improper
While individuals find
devotion irritating
Better that each should
treat the other
Like fans of a
different baseball team
Because the only real
difference between them
Is what they aim their
doubt at
And how many different
kinds of advice they listen to
Now, I've always been
my own kind of man
And if you were to ask
me,
I would just have to
say:
Strive always to be an
individual
Summon the faith that
you can find your own path
Follow only yourself
Find wise words
wherever you can
And if ever we should
meet
With a grin and a shake
of the hand
I'll say “You know, I
think your leader is quite an individual
He is a wise, wise man”
If you insist on
following a blazer of paths
I suggest you follow my
good friend, Prophet Hank
Hank is Gods brothers
second cousin twice removed
Right next to Jesus and
Buddha
He's got a seat at Gods
dinner table
And when it's time for
desert, he always gets first dibs
On Gods special
peach-schnapps pie
He's got Gods word all
written down
On platinum plates
Inscribed with a silver
pen
He's got a nine point
plan
That will turn you into
an uber-man
Follow it faithfully
And pretty soon you'll
feel pure bliss
All Tuesday morning and
every Friday afternoon
To top it all off, I've
personally seen him
Wave around incense
Right up there with the
best of them
Dewey Dirks
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Heaven and Earth
Heaven
and Earth
Some say heaven is high above us
and
hell lies far below.
Some
say that life for most is hell in a hand basket
but
that for a few it’s pure bliss.
Some
say earth is the land of labor
where
day by day we all break our backs.
But you know, life is a long, long walk
with
more than one place to go
and
more than one place to stop.
What
you get back
has
a lot to do with what you put in.
And
what we think we see
can
be a tricky thing
because
life is inside of you
and
outside at the same time.
Life is trouble for each of us
some
of the time
but
little bits of heaven
touch
us all every day
in
the smiles of strangers
in
the touch of your lover
in
the eyes of a child
in
jokes from a friend
in
the purr of your cat
in
the wag of a dogs tail
where
the love you give out
is
the love you get back.
Now, those bits of heaven
that
you have every day
can
carry you through a lifetime
like
a river flowing out to the sea.
But
don’t hold on too tightly
as
the moments pass by.
Love
and happiness
enjoyed
for a moment then released
return
to visit
more
than once each day.
The
roads we take
can
be a hard, winding ride.
We
all know
what
this old world can do.
If
you loose your way
just
hold a newborn babe in your hands.
Little
bits of life
spread
all around five minutes at a time
grow
into eighty years of good memories
like
a great field of cool green grass
stretching
out across the long years behind.
Dewey Dirks
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Art of Life
I'd like to invite everyone to visit my new page on Facebook, "Art of Life --Live Love Learn" Click the like button if you enjoy what the page has to offer. Here is the link:
Art of Life --Live, Love, Learn
Art of Life --Live, Love, Learn
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Love Unity and Magic
I'm happy to announce
the web journal “Love Unity and Magic” has published one of my
poems. Be sure to drop by there and take a look at all their fine
posts. Here is the link:
http://www.loveunitymagic.com/fiction#.UW6Zg8r4FRc
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Monday, April 8, 2013
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Gunrunner Novel For FREE
ATTENTION
EVERYONE :) For the next few days I'm offering my book "Gunrunner"
for FREE as a promotion. So, make sure to drop by Amazon.com and
download the complete book for FREE....(Offer ends 04-07-13) Here is
the Link:
Monday, April 1, 2013
Friday, March 29, 2013
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Atomic Pub #6
I'm pleased to announce one of my poems has been featured over at Atomic Pub Issue #6. Drop on by there to see all their fine poetry, art and essays. They also have a good newsfeed, so be sure to check that out as well.
Atomic Pub Issue #6
Atomic Pub Issue #6
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Monday, March 4, 2013
Friday, March 1, 2013
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Friday, February 22, 2013
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Sapphire Dragon
The Sapphire Dragon
Of muses the ancients
knew only nine
while wise Shakespeare
knew of a tenth
though truth be known
there are many more
but most remain hidden
from the minds of men
Here now comes the tale
of the old and wise
Sapphire Dragon
a muse of great heart
and kindness to all mankind
Now, dragons come and go
There are dragons wise
and dragons foolish
but it's said
the most foolish dragon
is still wiser than most men
There are dragons in the air,
and on the ground,
and dragons beneath the sea
Dragons made of flesh and bone
dragons of ice and fire
dragons of water
dragons of brown earth and stone
dragons of light
and dragons made out of nothing at all
Some dragons are always up to mayhem
Some dragons
don't concern themselves
with man at all
still others are very kind and help men
these we call muses and memes
Many thousands long years ago
in a time now lost to our memories
man was like every other creature
on our planet
we could feel
the divine heartbeat of life
and we could hear the great song
all the universe sings as one
Then a terrible illness befell our species
and man alone among life on earth
became deaf to the grand music
that surrounds us all
Soon too we lost our ability
to talk to other animals
and feel in our mortal hearts and minds
the song of our own eternal souls
Blind to the flow of life
men began to fear and hunt dragons
and like other creatures when they are sick,
we started the bad habit of destroying
our own homes in the forests and savannas
and bringing much mayhem
to the land and creatures around us
A great council was called
among the wisest dragons
to see what could done
to cure humans of our strange illness
and restore us to harmony with all life
It was resolved among the council
to teach man new ways of living,
new ways of thinking,
new ways to look upon the world
in the hope that by our increasing
our knowledge man would once again
also discover true wisdom
Over many thousands of years
the great dragon muses
slowly taught men
writing, and mathematics,
science and philosophy,
to live in villages and cities,
to sow crops, create great art and music
and to form governments and religions
A very wise and ancient
dragon made of brilliant blue light
known simply as the Sapphire Dragon,
was given the task of teaching
man to hear once again
the great song of life
Dragons all know the secret of shape shifting
so, in 570 BC disguised as a beggar
the Sapphire Dragon went to China
where the Zhou Dynasty then ruled
He searched many years
for the most intelligent
human he could find
After much trouble and many adventures
he picked a young boy named Li Dan.
After revealing his true form
to his new student
and with young Li Dan upon his back,
the great Sapphire Dragon flew
to the Greek city states and again
searched for several years
teaching Li Dan all the while
the ways of the flow of life
After much time and many more adventures
he settled upon a young boy of wealth
from the city of Ephesus
named Heraclitus.
Now with two students,
the Sapphire Dragon
and his young companions
retired to deep in the Ural mountains
where he taught them diligently
until they each were in their twenties
then he returned both of them
to their native lands
where they each taught
men of ancient wisdom
just as great Sapphire Dragon
had taught them.
Li Dan came to be known as Lao Tzu
meaning 'old master'
After a lifetime of teaching
Lao Tzu, now a master librarian
in the imperial archives,
grew tired to the ways of men
and prepared to retire to the wilderness
in the west of China
As he was leaving the imperial city
a young guard at the gates named Yin Hse
recognized him and begged Lao Tzu
that he go with him as his student
After much time passed
now old and near death,
Lao Tzu gave Yin Hse a book
that summed up his wisdom
called the “Tao Te Ching” meaning
“The Way and The Virtue”
wherein he taught of the flow of life
which he called “Tao”meaning “The Way”
Meanwhile, in Asia Minor Heraclitus
also became a great and wise teacher
relating to his students
of the way of life
which in his tongue
he called “Logos” meaning “Formula”
He taught that Logos permeates all things
and steers the course of all existence
In his later years, like his old friend
Li Dan, Heraclitus grew weary
of the stubborn ways of men
and came to be known
as the weeping philosopher
Much of what Heraclitus taught
has been lost to the sands of time
but Lao Tzu's book has weathered the years
and can still be found
upon the bookshelves of men
where it is considered to be
among the greatest books
ever written.
Dewey Dirks
Of muses the ancients
knew only nine
while wise Shakespeare
knew of a tenth
though truth be known
there are many more
but most remain hidden
from the minds of men
Here now comes the tale
of the old and wise
Sapphire Dragon
a muse of great heart
and kindness to all mankind
Now, dragons come and go
There are dragons wise
and dragons foolish
but it's said
the most foolish dragon
is still wiser than most men
There are dragons in the air,
and on the ground,
and dragons beneath the sea
Dragons made of flesh and bone
dragons of ice and fire
dragons of water
dragons of brown earth and stone
dragons of light
and dragons made out of nothing at all
Some dragons are always up to mayhem
Some dragons
don't concern themselves
with man at all
still others are very kind and help men
these we call muses and memes
Many thousands long years ago
in a time now lost to our memories
man was like every other creature
on our planet
we could feel
the divine heartbeat of life
and we could hear the great song
all the universe sings as one
Then a terrible illness befell our species
and man alone among life on earth
became deaf to the grand music
that surrounds us all
Soon too we lost our ability
to talk to other animals
and feel in our mortal hearts and minds
the song of our own eternal souls
Blind to the flow of life
men began to fear and hunt dragons
and like other creatures when they are sick,
we started the bad habit of destroying
our own homes in the forests and savannas
and bringing much mayhem
to the land and creatures around us
A great council was called
among the wisest dragons
to see what could done
to cure humans of our strange illness
and restore us to harmony with all life
It was resolved among the council
to teach man new ways of living,
new ways of thinking,
new ways to look upon the world
in the hope that by our increasing
our knowledge man would once again
also discover true wisdom
Over many thousands of years
the great dragon muses
slowly taught men
writing, and mathematics,
science and philosophy,
to live in villages and cities,
to sow crops, create great art and music
and to form governments and religions
A very wise and ancient
dragon made of brilliant blue light
known simply as the Sapphire Dragon,
was given the task of teaching
man to hear once again
the great song of life
Dragons all know the secret of shape shifting
so, in 570 BC disguised as a beggar
the Sapphire Dragon went to China
where the Zhou Dynasty then ruled
He searched many years
for the most intelligent
human he could find
After much trouble and many adventures
he picked a young boy named Li Dan.
After revealing his true form
to his new student
and with young Li Dan upon his back,
the great Sapphire Dragon flew
to the Greek city states and again
searched for several years
teaching Li Dan all the while
the ways of the flow of life
After much time and many more adventures
he settled upon a young boy of wealth
from the city of Ephesus
named Heraclitus.
Now with two students,
the Sapphire Dragon
and his young companions
retired to deep in the Ural mountains
where he taught them diligently
until they each were in their twenties
then he returned both of them
to their native lands
where they each taught
men of ancient wisdom
just as great Sapphire Dragon
had taught them.
Li Dan came to be known as Lao Tzu
meaning 'old master'
After a lifetime of teaching
Lao Tzu, now a master librarian
in the imperial archives,
grew tired to the ways of men
and prepared to retire to the wilderness
in the west of China
As he was leaving the imperial city
a young guard at the gates named Yin Hse
recognized him and begged Lao Tzu
that he go with him as his student
After much time passed
now old and near death,
Lao Tzu gave Yin Hse a book
that summed up his wisdom
called the “Tao Te Ching” meaning
“The Way and The Virtue”
wherein he taught of the flow of life
which he called “Tao”meaning “The Way”
Meanwhile, in Asia Minor Heraclitus
also became a great and wise teacher
relating to his students
of the way of life
which in his tongue
he called “Logos” meaning “Formula”
He taught that Logos permeates all things
and steers the course of all existence
In his later years, like his old friend
Li Dan, Heraclitus grew weary
of the stubborn ways of men
and came to be known
as the weeping philosopher
Much of what Heraclitus taught
has been lost to the sands of time
but Lao Tzu's book has weathered the years
and can still be found
upon the bookshelves of men
where it is considered to be
among the greatest books
ever written.
Dewey Dirks
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Compassion
Compassion
Once a man stood
quietly
on a September street
corner.
He held up a sign
that quoted
Hippocrates,
It said, “The soul is
the same
in all living
creatures,
although the body of
each
is different.”
As a woman walked by
she remarked,
“I agree completely!
Except the human race
is pretty disgusting
compared to the rest.”
“Dear woman,” said
the man,
“If you don't condemn
the Earth
and you don't condemn
Earths
creatures, why then
do you condemn man
alone?
All creatures,
including man
are sons and daughters
of
the same Mother Earth.
Like
cats, we are curious.
Like
dogs, we are loyal
to
our allegiances.
Just
as bees,
we
are social creatures.
We
sing like whales,
build
metropolises like termites,
forge
empires like ants,
and
bury our dead
like
prairie dogs.
Like
many animals,
we
have great compassion
for
our young.
Like
many creatures,
we
stand by our chosen mates
to
the death.
Look
upon
your
fellow humans
humanely
and with compassion
and
you soon
will
begin to notice
compassion
in others as well
Now,
it's true,
there
are a few people
who
do terrible things
but
remember, my friend,
someone
wiser than I
once
said that humanity
is
a great ocean of life.
If
a few drops are dirty
it
doesn't
spoil
the whole sea.”
Dewey
Dirks
Monday, February 4, 2013
The Dreaming
The Dreaming
It's not the
destination
that fills your heart
with sweet life
but the long journey
there
It's not the creation
you adore
but the act of creating
that's important
Some say the ancients
knew this well
in a time long
forgotten
It's not the sun
up in the sky
there to be worshiped
but the sunlight
given freely to all
that lends us life
It's not the dream you
dream
that befriends your
lonely heart
but the dreaming
Dewey Dirks
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
The Race To Take Flight
The Race to Take
Flight
Connected, connected
Everything everywhere
is all connected
Human creativity and
intelligence
is the process of
recognizing
relevant connections
between
ourselves and parts
of the world around us
In the end humans will
become
a synthesis of
what we've made of our
world
and of how Mother Earth
reacts
While most of humanity
slumbers
Rainforests around the
globe
are being cut down
in the name of
consumerism
Africa is being robbed
blind
in the name of
democracy
and reefs in oceans
worldwide
die as human pollution
raises
sea temperatures
In many places
people are killed,
maimed and enslaved
in the name of the good
of a few who wallow in
wealth
Where, dear friends
is the intelligence
in all of that?
Our behavior shows what
we really believe to be
important
and if the only
connections
we deem to be important
are those that can make
us
more money
we'll all end up
living in big trash
dumps
---no food, no place to
raise our young
but we'll have all
folding green cash
we can choke down
The future of humanity
is a race, my friends,
between human greed
for power, influence
and money
and the awakening
of the human spirit
that instinctively
knows
we all are brothers and
sisters
of the same family
and sons and daughters
of the same little blue
planet
They say, they say
great things spring
late
They say
in order to fly
a bird must take off
against the wind
Our own lack of
foresight,
our own ignorance,
and our own greed
are the steeped gusts
against which
the human spirit
must take flight
Sleep in gentle
kindness tonight
my friends
tomorrow will come soon
enough
and it will be time
for humanity to fly
Dewey Dirks
Monday, January 28, 2013
Friday, January 25, 2013
Dear God
Dear God
Dear God,
As you know, I've never
really prayed much
And probably won't
start anytime soon.
I have wondered all my
life
If you exist
And to this day
I still don't know with
any great certainty
That you do or don't.
But fifty years and a
few long, long roads
Have taught me one
thing for sure
If you don't exist, you
should.
And as the days roll on
by
Both reason and emotion
Raise further for me
The likelihood that you
do.
Just in case you do
exist
I'd like to say
Thank you very much
For my life
And for the lives
Of my lady and our kids
I suspect all the
religions
Are right about one
notion---
Not even the smallest
sparrow
Spreads a wing in joy
or sorrow
Without you knowing.
And I'll tell you one
more thing,
You certainly evolved
A whole lots of things
extremely well
But I especially like
Those dogs and cats.
Dewey Dirks
Sunday, January 20, 2013
I'm happy to announce
two of my poems have been published by Atomic Pub Press. Drop by
Atomicpub.com to check out their fine website. The poetry and video
art sections of their website are particularly good. Atomic Pub Press
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Excerpt From Gunrunner
Here is an excerpt from my new novel “Gunrunner” I hope you enjoy it. Drop by Amazon.com to read more and purchase the book. Gunrunner on Amazon.com
The giant blue sun occupied the entire span of
sergeant Foster's gunboat cockpit window. Its light cast an
eerie white glow devoid of shadow about the interior of his ship.
Comfortable behind sun goggles, he absently sipped at the straw of
his Tift-2 standard issue nutritional supplement. His attention
was directed not at the sun or its searing glow but at a large black
oval blemish seemingly on its surface. In stark contrast to the
withering light of the sun, it was devoid of any light whatsoever.
Actually tens of millions of kilometers away from the suns aura, this
was the space-time Lens he and two dozen other cavalry gunboats were
assigned to monitor. The Lens, one of over two hundred
scattered around Pansenate territory, was designated S-355. It
facilitated deep space travel between the inner planets and the very
edge of the Pansenate frontier. Up-spin from the Lens, five
days away at hyper-light speed was the border of Ganit territory.
A priceless piece of technology, the Lens represented Pansenate rule
at the farthest reaches of civilization, and merited the cavalry’s
close supervision of interstellar commerce through it. S-355
was also a special subject of attention because it was located just
days away from the Pansenate border instead of the more customary
habit of putting lenses much deeper into Pansenate space.
Eighteen gunboats were arranged in a gauntlet leading away from the
sun and Lens. The remaining gunboats clustered in three nearby
groups ready to pursue anyone foolish enough to challenge the
gauntlet and lucky enough to escape it's many plasma cannon.
Suddenly, the dark interior of the Lens shimmered
and sprang to life with the customary glowing maroon swirl pool of a
time-shift wave. In seconds, a large ship appeared traveling
out of the wave, trailing the green and blue wake of a disrupted
gravity field until it was well away from the Lens. As suddenly
as it appeared, the wave faded and the Lens returned to it's void
rest.
Sergeant Foster put down his drink and ran his
finger down the arrival panel until he found the entry he sought.
“Lafayette, approach checkpoint S-355 and
transmit clearance number, cargo and destination”, he droned into
his microphone.
The ship’s flat black composite armor sucked
greedily at the suns bright glare, reflecting no light as it silently
glided into the gauntlet. This made its general silhouette,
cockpit windows, weapons turrets and sensor enclosures very hard to
distinguish at a distance. The sergeant removed his sun goggles
and squinted. The Lafayette slowly drew near sergeants ship,
coming to a full stop about 300 hundred meters away. Now he
could see it was a huge bulk freighter, a semi-truck of deep space.
This one lacked the bright logos and huge, happy,
we’re-a-company-you-want-to-do-business-with slogans on it’s
sides common to corporate liners. It was the ship of a
freelancer, an almost illegal rouge of the space lines. Sgt.
Foster made a mental note. A summary transit authorization
wouldn’t do for this fellow. I’ll have to take a look at
this guy with the scanner, he thought.
A long, tall, narrow rectangular hull supported
the ships main engines. The supply bay, maintenance bay, and
living area along with navigation, scanners and weapons were a
collection of squat, boxy enclosures scattered about the hull forward
of the engines. A small shuttle bay was located below the
cockpit on the underside of the angled nose. The Lafayette was
a little over one hundred meter’s long, able to carry 500 metric
tons of cargo. The frontier could be a very dangerous place and
its many weapons turrets made it as deadly as any warship and warned
all it was not a ship to deal with in deep space. Two cargo
rails extended from the underside of the hull on either side of the
ship. Theses carried four battered cargo pods, each sporting
the faded green and red logo of the long dead Has-Tracts Frontier
Corporation. It was a beautiful ship in a sinister way, in
spite of being over eighty years old. As the Lafayette powered
down, the sergeant noticed with mild curiosity, its five new 1200X
Tele-Spax engines.
The ships pilot, Montana Taurus said into his
headset, “Freighter Lafayette. CL Number 2782. Mining
supplies headed for Ganit 03RY.”
Sergeant Foster directed his interior
scanner at the Lafayette. He slowly examined the ship's cargo
pods. His display revealed nothing unusual.
“Transit Authorization granted, have a safe
trip”, he sneered. Regretfully there was no reason to shake
this one down.
Taurus said, “Thanks. Catch you on the
return trip. Lafayette out.”
Taurus entered several navigation codes into the
computer and activated the auto-pilot then he set the scanners on
long range and opened the throttles before relaxing in his chair.
Nort, his mechanic and long time friend entered the cockpit and took
the chair next to him.
“Anything notable about the checkpoint?” asked
Nort.
“No trouble. The jammers did the job.
You know, Hajkin electronics are magicians at hiding things.”
The Lafayettes clandestine cargo consisted of tons
of heavy weapons destined for 03RY, a recently settled Ganit colony
currently being fought over by two powerful Ganit government clans,
the Farsei and the Bondov. Intended for the Farsei, the weapons
would allow the Ganit to better indulge their favorite pastime,
namely blowing each other to oblivion during the course of their
endlessly convoluted squabbles.
Nort nodded his agreement on the effectiveness of
jammers as he accessed the engineering computer to check on the
engines.
“Everything’s working fine”, he said after
studying the display.
“Keep an eye on the coupler temperature on three
and five. I’m not sure we’ve got computer handling it right
yet”, said Taurus.
“OK.”
Nort looked at the young Human sitting next to
him. The spindly child he'd known since he was two had grown
into a formidable man much like his father. Taurus was tall and
slender but sinewy with taunt muscle. His face was a collection
of etched angles with a narrow chin and high cheekbones broken on the
left side by a long, ragged scar. He was quick to smile but a
dangerous spark in his manner let all know that when humor left him
he wasn't one you would want to stand in the way of. His
clothes reflected the covert nature of his profession. Taurus
wore an unassuming baggy dark green shirt and loose black pants but
hidden within their many folds were the paraphernalia of a gunrunner;
throwing disks, knifes, an emergency med pack, several small
grenades, a backup pistol and a tiny comm-unit transceiver.
Around his waist hung the massive magnetico-combustion, or MC pistol
Nort had constructed for him. Longer, heavier and much deadlier
than the particle weapons preferred by most on the frontier, it could
pierce even heavy body armor. Many foes had experienced
unpleasant and painful surprise as their final emotion because of
that pistol.
A pang of sadness ran through Nort as he
remembered that the MC pistol he'd made Taurus's father Kerry had
failed to save him at the Bav Nebula when he was double crossed by
the Sakti. When Nort found him, Kerry was mortally wounded and
barely conscious. His last concerns were about his son.
Before he died, he asked Nort to watch after Taurus. Nort
honored Kerry with a warriors last rites after the manner of his
people and made good his promise to remain Taurus's companion.
Just sixteen, Kerry's death hardened Taurus into a man. Taurus
swore revenge and saw his vow to its end before he turned eighteen.
As his father before him, Taurus cared little for
the mediocre order and insulated existence of the inner worlds.
Taurus’ mother had died of illness not long after Taurus was born;
save Nort, he had no ties to attend, so he remained on the frontier
to drift among the subject worlds of the mighty Pansenate.
After a time he took up gunrunning, an extremely risky but very
profitable profession that fulfilled Taurus’ sense of adventure and
allowed him to indulge with state of the art technology his most
coveted possession, the Lafayette.
“What're you so thoughtful about?” asked
Taurus noticing Nort’s scrutiny.
Nort just smiled and returned his attention to the
engineering panel, “These new engines-- they’re efficient.
I think maybe you managed a good deal”, he joked.
“Deal?” huffed Taurus, “You know what price
I got'em at.”
Nort chuckled, “It’s always money, isn’t
it?”
Taurus didn't bother to answer. Neither man
was very concerned with it but it remained that Nort had little use
for money and believed all humans, including Taurus, concerned
themselves with it too much and too often. The two lapsed into
a comfortable silence as was the custom for the two old friends
contented with each others company.
The pair attended to ships functions for a while
then Taurus turned on the Pansenate Issue-Computer. Taurus
scanned the display as items up for vote were listed. Nort soon
followed suit on a similar display beside his seat.
For Humans the Pansenate was a true democracy.
Instead of elective representation, every Human in the Pansenate was
a member of its ruling body, the Senate, and had a vote. Gone
was the apathy of the ancient republics. Everyone was a
political activist, each citizen was a potential diplomat, all high
and low were politicians, everyone was a lobbyist. All Humanity
took an active role in the day to day activities of the empire and
all belonged to one or more of the numerous political parties.
The executive branch of the government was headed by a thirteen
member Politburo elected by the Pansenate to a ten year term.
Humans were very proud of their democracy.
Indeed, many could be called arrogant about it. Unfortunately
political power was extended only to Humans. The subject worlds
were represented in the Senate by native delegations but they had no
voting power. The “best interests” of the scores of
non-Human species in the Pansenate were made by officials appointed
by Humans. Still, much of Humanity saw their government as
vastly superior to the military complex that ruled the Tone Empire or
the to the Mafia Clans that ran the Ganit. Taurus counted
himself among the minority who told themselves they knew better.
It was some in this minority who looked out for the subject worlds
and kept life for the luckiest of the conquered somewhere near
acceptable. Sadly, even with the aid of concerned benefactors
life was pathetic for many species, especially on those worlds of
high economic import to the Pansenate. Humans were known for
their ruthless exploitation of planets where e-bills could be made or
that were unfortunate enough to have some exceptional technological
value, such as Nort’s home world, Maharl.
The issues scrolled past on Taurus’s display.
‘Inggar Colonization Act’, ‘Funding for Nikon Class Destroyer
Procurement’, ‘Poco Flour Import Allotments’, ‘Holbard
Immigration Act’.
Each issue had links to the wording of the
legislation, various lobby dissertations, promoting arguments,
opposition arguments, statistics, and speeches by concerned
Senators. Each man stopped his display occasionally to examine
a topic in greater depth, skipping the issues he wasn’t
particularly interested in.
Taurus stopped the readout as the ‘Shi-Arik’A
Export Agreement’ crossed his screen and called it up.
“Well hell. They’re trying rape
Shi-Arik’A. Another world’s gonna bite the dust.”
Nort glanced at Taurus and keyed in a request on
his terminal for the details of the Act. Taurus shared his
voting power freely with Nort. Indeed, Nort made the decision
on a vote as often as often as Taurus did.
“They want to drain the Fal Sea there and export
it for its high mineral content”, Nort said in disgust. He
called up statistics, “Second largest inland sea on the
planet. Damn, it’ll leave hardly any water reserves.
Devastate global weather too, I imagine. I wonder if the bill
can be blocked”, he pondered.
“Let’s see”, said Taurus examining the
display for lobbyist’s and parties for and against, “Well, looks
like it’ll be a close call. We’ll have to keep an eye on
it. Maybe we can help if we call in a favor or two. I
don’t know if we can do any good but well give it a shot.”
He thought a moment then scrolled the display
back. He stopped the screen at ‘Poco Flour Import
Allotments’. Poco Flour was one of the Ganit’s major
exports to the Pansenate.
“You know, we might be able to come up with
something over this Poco Flour legislation. He looked through
list of parties opposing and promoting the issue and then at the list
of concerned Senators.”
“See anything?” asked Nort.
“Well”, Taurus replied, “I see Dr. Klein
Araman of the Lockery Party is singing up for it.
“We can work with him. He certainly was
grateful for the work you did on Allbright for the Lockery’s.”
“Yea. I’ll send him a message offering
our services.”
“Are you going to tell him about the Shi-Arik’A
legislation now or wait for a reply”
“Now. No use batting around the about it.
I’ll make it a stipulation for our offer to help.”
“Good."
Taurus turned to the long range comm display and
keyed in a message.
Hmmm, said Taurus, “Says here the Lockery’s
are still using KR-176 encryption. I thought there were
security issues about that method.”
“Yea, so did I, but you know the inner worlds
don’t pay as much attention to encryption as we do out here.”
“Well, hell. If we want to talk to them we
have to use it.” Taurus turned back to the comm unit and sent
the message off.
He and Nort were soon back studying current issues
and legislation. Several hours passed before they finished.
The day wore on as the Lafayette traveled at hyperlight speed towards
Ganit territory. After a time Nort left the cockpit for his
machine shop in the depths of the ship. Taurus busied himself
attending to the ships needs for a while then retired to his
quarters.
Late the next day the Nort was sitting in the
ships small galley sipping Fas tea from his home world.
Presently Taurus walked in carrying a small box. Imprinted on
it’s top in blue stylized lettering was the word ‘Intel’.
Taurus sat down and opened the box. Inside were four small
black cubes each about 3cm across. He began to inspect each
one.
Nort glanced at the box. “Your new
processors?” he asked.....
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Gunrunner Released
I'm pleased to announce
my newest science fiction novel, “Gunrunner” is now available on Amazon. Please
drop by Amazon.com and check it out :) Here is the link:
Gunrunner is the story
of cargo ship captain Montana Taurus on an action packed journey to
the Ganit Empire, a vast star federation ran by mafia governments.
Double crossed while on foreign territory, Montana and his co-pilot
Nort must depend on their ship and their wits to see them safely
through never ending Ganit intrigue and back stabbing.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Aquillrelle Magazine
Hello, everyone. I'm pleased to tell you some of my poetry appears in Aquillrelle Magazine, issues 7 and 8 and in Aquillrelle Wall 1. Please drop by their website and check out all their fine publications :)
Aquillrelle Magazine
Aquillrelle Magazine
Monday, December 31, 2012
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Friday, December 7, 2012
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Friday, November 23, 2012
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Congratulaions America!
Yesterday two
extremely important milestones were reached around the nation in the
name of genuine social progress. First, America has now elected
a black President not once but twice. Even fifteen years ago, this
would have been considered an impossibility. It reflects the huge
strides against racism our country has made over the last eighty
years. Second, three states decriminalized marijuana. Washington
and Colorado legalized it outright while Massachusetts legalized it
for medicinal use. Once again, even fifteen years ago this would
have been considered impossible. It represents a huge step in the
direction of addressing drug use as a social issue instead of a
criminal one. As a people we owe ourselves a hearty congratulations
for making long overdue progress on issues that all of us face as a
society. Congratulations America!
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Monday, October 8, 2012
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
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