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Short Stories




Finally... by Darin R Molnar A twisted Dick and Jane story about a physician gone bad. Stephen King supplied the sketch in his bo... [2,962 words]
Cold Eddie Kane by Albert Davis Just a situation that I thought of. Please read it and tell what you think. [4,803 words]
Without Condition by Branson Storm A free-spirited man struggles with his quest for true love as his life of drug addiction and ... [8,232 words]
Absolution by Adam Lear Logic clashes with religion to conclude in an uncomfortable truth. [2,821 words]
Defining Stupidity (Now Where Was I?) by MacKenzie Morgan A fourth entry from my summer journal...I dedicate it to Bobby, who helpe... [4,507 words]
Jinx by MacKenzie Morgan Another entry from my summer journal, thanks to all who have responded. Please keep reviewing! [9,058 words]
Aurora (Borealis) by MacKenzie Morgan Since I got so much great feedback, I thought I'd post something else from my summer journal.... [3,136 words]
When Beauty Rears Its Ugly Head by Bradley Postma A snapshot exhibiting the superficiality and simplicity of relationships in low... [3,728 words]
The Largeness Of Sound by James Tregonning This is a very black comedy of a short story. You must read it to find out what's so bla... [384 words]
The Help That Never Came by Asadullah Panhwer Story depicting the adventures of a journalist in the Amazon Jungle. [691 words]
Shirley's Angel by Richard Koss A Christmas story: In the final analysis, we may discover that we love someone because of their... [2,228 words]
Seeming
Child In The Park by Justin Kile A story of a young boy in the park. [1,027 words]
Blue by Margaret Li A noir telling of a psychiatric patient's perception of life... and death. [5,290 words]
The Infinity Wars by Frank L Martin A young man is visited by a talking snake and wolf. The animals mistake him for another dupl... [2,824 words]
The Butterfly Man by David Godden A story of sexual abuse. Real or imagined? What does the medical profession do to earn our tr... [12,634 words]
Stop For Flowers by Justin Kile Memories of an old love, never to be again. [1,135 words]
Pizza Bianca by Mark Herner Recipes usually consist of a list of ingredients, quantities and a few paragraphs of instructions.... [4,323 words]
How You Look At It by T Q Cebula The story features a pompous, deluded and possibly insane young man who -- purely out of sym... [3,871 words]
Favorious by David Gardiner In the late Middle Ages, an obscure village seems to have witnessed a miracle. The ageing monk Favori... [4,769 words]
Fall Breezes by Justin Kile Love and Leaves. [1,242 words]
Bad Habits Die Hard by David Rama Stop bugging me... or i'll kill you, Kurt warned Christine... [13,550 words]
The Wound by Amit Gupta A short story. [815 words]
The Perfect Friend by David Godden A tale of love in Victorian England. But what kind of love? [2,114 words]
The Greatest Blues Singer Of All Time by Jon Nicholas Mickey didn’t dare speak. He couldn’t bring himself to interrupt the tran... [1,900 words]
The Ages by Keir Hunter Hardie How the component parts of Love will always be assembled regardless of time or distance. [682 words]
Raindrops by Richard Koss Ever think twice about shopping alone at night. You should - especially if you're a pretty woman. [1,469 words]
Rags & Italian Shoes by Jon Nicholas When I saw George Lowell meet Kathy Wyeth, I knew there was no chance she'd ever want to g... [4,610 words]
Marta, Close Your Legs. by Meaghan Elise The first thing Marta thinks about in the morning is sex. And that's even before she's ... [1,246 words]
Make Him Crave You by Jennifer L O'callaghan When bad dating advice happens to clueless women. [1,674 words]
Keeping Time by Jon Nicholas "Yes, James. I appreciate the new programming. By the way, I know it may sound silly coming from a... [1,763 words]
Great Days by Niall Power Street racing community paper, action packed with some romantic flare. [2,167 words]
Embarrassing First Date by Susan T Fisher My first date in 1964, and the most embarrassing date of my life. [1,509 words]
Eating At Arby's: The South Florida Stories (1982) by Richard Grayson Condo dwellers Manny and Zelda enjoy life in South Florida w... [5,695 words]
Disjointed Fictions by Richard Grayson The worst writer in the world (and even on the Storymania web site) fails in his attempt to... [9,211 words]
Adolescent Innocence 3: The Ghost by Loki They thought things would be normal...they thought no one would know...but mo... [12,053 words]
A New Game by Jon Nicholas Twenty-six computers, who just love to play games, find themselves playing a new game that's quite d... [2,273 words]
Star Truck by Robert W Carlomagno My name is Jaime T Quirk, captain of the Star Truck Enterprise... [1,449 words]
Project S.T.A.R. by Loki The glorious future gives a sense of hope and opportunity for millions of people. But for some... [34,344 words]
Ordinary Days Work by Niall Power A paper about an FBI agent tracking and following a trainned assassin. [2,318 words]
Not Necessarily Cancer by Jennifer L O'callaghan A young woman's reaction to her abnormal Pap smear. [1,920 words]
Nine Days And Counting by Lorraine Wylie An excerpt. [605 words]
Love Beyond Death by Nadeem Akhtar A story of an innocent love at the threshold of death. All left her when she was shot in the ... [1,372 words]
Loonies by Steven R. Kravsow A car slowly gained on him. Soon it was even with Daniel's. It was a black sports model, low slung and ... [4,959 words]
Benevolence Fiteprone by William Rodgers A young man goes into a kings training camp and is put on an extreemly advanced training ... [2,554 words]
A New Dawn by Adagio When life seems hopeless, there always something, no matter how small to cling to [1,636 words]
Beyond The Realm Of Us by Branson Storm A look into the life of a young writer who is left to live with the ghost of his beloved... [4,530 words]
The Grave Keeper by Joel Harper - [388 words]
Sometimes The Wind.... by Matt Macul Old Apollo takes his nightly walk to the liqour store with his dog only to find the wind... [3,169 words]
My Crazy Friend by Cathy Pal Different as night and day, yet drawn together as friends. [1,055 words]
Muriel's Funeral by Richard Koss Imagine yourself dead and observing your own funeral What would you expect to see? You might... [736 words]
Mark The Public Notices by Richard Grayson A heartbroken family places advertisements in The New York Times public notices. [1,271 words]
John by Glen Pearson A shocking and sick final entry to disturb you. This will be my last story on Storymania seein' as how I'... [3,492 words]
Inexhaustible Needs, Undefinable Aches by Richard Grayson Two young gay men have a relationship that spans the late 1960s and earl... [3,596 words]
In Pursuit Of Pabulum by Bradley Postma A philosophical tale about two reclusive souls brought together in an Internet interlude. [9,261 words]
Blank Canvas by Amit Gupta A short story. [2,069 words]
A Sophomore's Diary 1971 by Richard Grayson A college student falls in love in the spring of 1971. [3,605 words]
A Junior's Diary 1971 by Richard Grayson Sequel to "A Sophomore's Diary 1971": kvetchy college student breaks up with girlfriend. [6,746 words]

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TITLE (EDIT)
Seeming
DESCRIPTION
A story to make you think -- to ponder something for a few moments during the course of your normally busy (or unbusy) day. I only ask that you try to write a review if you read my story :).
A man in hell...
[850 words]
TITLE KEYWORD
Mind
AUTHOR
Daniel Birnbaum
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
First, let me say the most important thing. I would love to hear your comments. Now, a piece about me. It's been a while since I've dusted off the "quill" (or should I say keyboard?). In the meantime, I've found that I am now a Junior in College pursuing a career in psychiatry. I am certainly older and hopefully a bit wiser too. As always, I hope you enjoy my work and that it will jumpstart your inquisitive nature. Read on!
[December 2003]
AUTHOR'S OTHER TITLES (6)
A Hold (Poetry) - [28 words] [Motivational]
An Enduring (Poetry) - [69 words] [Motivational]
Beneath A Giant Oak Tree (Poetry) - [95 words] [Motivational]
Self Inside (Poetry) - [67 words] [Motivational]
The Fantastical Adventure Of William Solney (Short Stories) A story to relive that freedom of youth which touches your heart and leaves your mind content. A young boy -- parents have divorced. He wins a painting at a carnival ring-toss. Then, strange events... [9,401 words] [Fantasy]
The Harbinger's Herald (Poetry) An attempt to bring some perspective to a nation once again embarking upon imperialism... [192 words] [History]
Seeming
Daniel Birnbaum

     In the depths of hell, I write upon the echoing recesses of my mind because only that has not yet been taken from me. Demons scream their harrowing voices; fire wracks my tender body with pain. I did not listen to the words of G-d's last, great, prophetic philosopher. Baruch Spinoza in the fifteenth century would have seen the world moving toward mechanization. His mind breathed the forewarning of his forsaken G-d. He told us what the bible had told us but which we never had the sense to interpret. G-d is all around us. G-d works through nature.

     A question, I ask of you. If G-d could work through nature, why could he not work through the world of machines? But the human mind in all its glory finds these connections only through the sheer inspiration and brilliance of creativity. Mine did not. Nor did any other human mind. Only rightness of soul would have protected.

     Another question, I ask you. As humanity expanded its population, why would G-d not find a more efficient method of judging his subjects. The bible says man was created in the image of G-d. If man yearns toward efficiency, why would G-d not have the same tendency?

     Sometimes, as I burn here in hell, I pity myself. It comes to me like a coldness despite the heat burning my flesh. A stillness, quietness — anger searing from and into the recesses of my heart. Why, O cruel fate? How could I have been so stupid?

     As the twentieth century neared its end, the numbers of mankind had soared into the billions. Inconceivable that must have been in Spinoza's time, but the Essence of the Logos knew. It set about finding a way to bring efficiency to the judging of billions of humans. And it found a way.

     A new trap of heinous activity gave birth to itself. This was called the Internet. Oh, it was wonderful. One could view information from all the way around the world with only a few clicks and touches of buttons. Yet one could also view the smut of the world with these same clicks and touches. That was the dirty secret of the Internet. The force that breathed life into the foundling Internet were the governmental agencies, ARPA and DARPA, and universities across the United States. Yet, the money that sustained and grew the fledging Internet rolled in from pornography sites, streaming sex-holes, built upon the guilty pleasures of men hiding from their wives their naughty pleasures.

     The idea of the Essence was no less of a test to the morality of men and was related to the smut-filled Internet. He planted within the minds of men games based upon networks like the Internet. Men would flock to these games, when they knew they could triumph in mock combat over others from all over the world. In fact, some games utilized this so well, that they became nearly addictive. What was the point? Why would G-d interfere with computer games? I ask you my final question. What better a way to test the true morality of a man than under conditions where his actions do not result in real, physical consequences? He does not have to live with the guilt of ending another man's life when he destroys the computer game character of another man for the shear power and control it gives him. He does not have to live with knowing he has set back a man's life, when he steals the items another computer game player has worked many nights to find and attain. He does not have to see the physical results of his actions: he is free to display his true morality.

     So, G-d planted within men's minds the idea of these networked games. The G-d that had worked through nature in the life of Spinoza now brought a great deal of his judging system to computerized games. It is here that I must have befallen my fate because I was one of the worst. In a game that ironically rooted its name in the word devil, I stole from my fellow computer game players. I ran scams to steal their items, to destroy the characters they had slaved away at, before computers, with percents of theirs lives. Here, I found new players to unfairly trade items with that I had led them to believe were valuable. Here, I parasitized the work of others to grow my own characters. And when I was dissatisfied or unhappy, I would traipse around, killing weaker players for the fun of it. It is only a game; it's okay. I had heard those words so many times. I was a moral man in physical life, but when it came to a place where I did not have to see the results of my actions, I unleashed monstrosities of morality upon my fellow men. Here, I befell my fate. May you be moral enough not to befall the same when the consequences of your actions do not seem to become reality.

      
      
      
      

 

READER'S REVIEWS (4)
DISCLAIMER: STORYMANIA DOES NOT PROVIDE AND IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR REVIEWS. ALL REVIEWS ARE PROVIDED BY NON-ASSOCIATED VISITORS, REGARDLESS OF THE WAY THEY CALL THEMSELVES.

"I like the idea of making people stop and think for a minute and take a deeper look at all the silly things we could live without, but somehow depend on because the make us seem stronger or under control or whatever reason.. the point of view worked out well, a regretful prisoner in hell.. good work :)" -- Rae.
"I second what Rae said. I wonder though why you removed 'God' from it." -- JA St.George.
"I also agree with Rae about the idea of making people stop and think for a minute. Like for instance if you were in the middle of a robbery and you had the chance to stop it, what would you do? I think Tim Leong answers that rather well in the story Stopping For Coffee, which is just to the left of here.--The Advisor" -- JA St.George.
"jonny12" -- jonny5, jonny20, jonny19, jonny10.

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COPYRIGHT NOTICE
© 2001 Daniel Birnbaum
STORYMANIA PUBLICATION DATE
January 2002
NUMBER OF TIMES TITLE VIEWED
2811
 

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