Mar 3Member-onlyPart 11: A Talk With KyryloThe Trying Times, a speculative fiction series — I had not been back to Buffalo for a year and a half. Was starting to think I didn’t care to go back. The McCormicks were like family to me. The drunks at Tower Tavern were like family, worthy of love and capable of suffering, however lost. “You gotta stop…Creative Writing4 min readCreative Writing4 min read
Mar 1Member-onlyPart 10: Capital Favors the Imaginations of ExploitersThe Trying Times, a speculative fiction series. — Capital favors the imaginations of the exploiters and discounts the imaginaries of everyone else. All Regis wanted were new sewers. The party at Davis Williams’ house was well attended. …Climate Change7 min readClimate Change7 min read
Published in The Rains in Kansas and Trying Times·Feb 5Member-onlyPart 9: Airships an Hog MeatThe Trying Times, a speculative fiction series Airships had really taken off in the 40s and 50s. By ’62, 50 percent of all intercontinental trade was on airships. On the continent they were even more popular. When I say airship I mean it’s old tech. They don’t use them so…Climate5 min readClimate5 min read
Published in The Rains in Kansas and Trying Times·Feb 3Member-onlyPart 8: Micah FeldmanThe Trying Times, a speculative fiction series The Diary of Micah Feldman, Springfield, Old Missouri 07/20/62 It’s been three weeks since I’ve written here. But it’s been a day. The last day at the Possum House. With the help of Ash, Jordan, Tom, Mila, and Dad, we got most everything…Creative Writing5 min readCreative Writing5 min read
Published in The Rains in Kansas and Trying Times·Jan 21Member-onlyPart 7: Erie County Farm Collective, Refugee Farm IncubatorThe Trying Times, a speculative fiction series Oliver, Language is fucking magic, am I right? Sorry, I just got off work when I read your message. Also very strange about Guy McCormack. I don’t remember ever spending much time at their house, but maybe Mom and Dad do. Is the…Speculative Fiction3 min readSpeculative Fiction3 min read
Published in The Rains in Kansas and Trying Times·Dec 15, 2022Member-onlyPart 6: The Trying TimesA speculative fiction series — Old Hyde Park The street car delivered us to Old Hyde Park, a historically wealthy neighborhood that remained wealthy even throughout the Conflicts. Many of the residents fled, Allie’s parents among them, but the area was outside much of the fighting. Like a forest fire clears the understory for new growth, the destruction…Climate Change8 min readClimate Change8 min read
Published in The Rains in Kansas and Trying Times·Dec 1, 2022Member-onlyPart 5: The Trying TimesA speculative fiction series — Kansas City Dog Parks I’ve never done well with free time. I get anxious, start scrolling through emails, making phone calls, eventually start spiralling in ways that generally send me in the direction of the nearest drinking establishment, but I couldn’t do that here. Not so early in the trip. I took Guy’s advice…Kansas City8 min readKansas City8 min read
Published in The Rains in Kansas and Trying Times·Nov 18, 2022Member-onlyPart 4: The Trying TimesA speculative fiction series — ECHO Meeting in Springfield “The aim of bigness implies not one aim that is not socially and culturally destructive.” Thomas would quote Wendell Berry everytime Regis brought up anything about the Midwest Corridor. Regis wondered if Thomas knew that Berry had been a leftist. Probably a communist to boot. But Berry’s philosophy aligned well…Fiction9 min readFiction9 min read
Published in The Rains in Kansas and Trying Times·Nov 18, 2022Member-onlyPart 3: The Trying TimesA speculative fiction series — Coffee Shop with Guy We were at a coffee shop covered in reclaimed lumber. An old aesthetic making a resurgence. This far out on the corridor, I was just pleased to find coffee, but I was being disabused of many of my eastern perceptions of life at the edge of the world. Guy said…Fiction5 min readFiction5 min read
Published in The Rains in Kansas and Trying Times·Nov 11, 2022Member-onlyPart 2: The Trying TimesA speculative fiction series Downtown Kansas City The street car that took us from the Quality Hill Bluffs overlooking the river confluence was old. My guess was from the 2010s, the city saw a revitalization then. The wheels of the car creaked and clanged beneath the art deco revivalist architecture, spinning pinwheels of…Fiction3 min readFiction3 min read
