Patenting Peter by Jason Werbeloff

Jason Werbeloff and "The Bubble" continue to entertain me with each new addition to this world. In this latest story, Peter is a discontented husband acting out while his wife is at work. He suspicions that he is under constant surveillance by the Tokyo Bubble government, in general, and his wife in particular, while toting up the “movement tax” on his actions. He tries to garner his wife’s attention with more and more outrageousness until he succeeds. And succeed he does. Just not with the results he was hoping for.

The Bubble World short stories are a super addition to the Defragmenting Daniel trilogy. Don’t miss it or the supplemental stories.

The Sixth Man by Rupert Colley

Occupied France – 1943 - Six Frenchmen, picked up by the Germans for conspiring with the Resistance, have been held in a detention facility for the past six months. They are due to be released to go back to their homes on the morrow when they are informed by their captors that a train has been blown up by Resistance members. During the attack, five German soldiers were killed, and as an example to deter future attacks, five of the six Frenchmen are to be executed rather than released. It is up to the six to determine which of them is to be spared while the others die.

During the tension-filled night, the six decide to each tell their story and then vote, based on the lives they’ve lived and the deeds they’ve done, who is to escape the executioner. Rupert Colley has written an engrossing story with interesting characters and great background vignettes. I won’t divulge the final decision or results from the tense night of storytelling. Historical fiction readers will really enjoy finding out what happens.

Defenestration by Matthew W. McFarland

Originally a short story published as part of the author's previous work Fifty/Fifty and Other Stories, Defenestration has been expanded to novella length.

The story opens with our main character, Adam, looking back up to the 12th story apartment he’s just fallen from. He's falling, falling, and then ...

He is greeted by Gabriel and Michael who welcome him to the afterlife and give him an overview of his new situation. Turns out, the afterlife is whatever you believed it to be whenever you were alive. Adam decides he wants to know why and how he got to where he is, and the story takes off. And take off it does with many delightful interconnections deftly woven together to bring the story back around to where it started.

I love it when stories come full circle and tie everything together. This one is excellent! There were quite a number of the twists and turns that I never saw coming. All to the better for me. I highly recommend this book and the previous short story collections by the author.