North Mountain was completely uninhabited. At the peak, the air was too thin for trees to grow, and aside from the occasional fool who wanted the challenge of a climb, it was completely deserted. It had been the perfect place to build her ice palace. It was solitude incarnate. If she had been thinking clearly, […]
A Bluer Shade of White, Chapter 5
She thought that she would feel guilty afterwards, or somehow debased. Instead, she felt light and airy, like a great weight had been lifted from her shoulder. There was no second guessing herself, no thinking about whether Jack was a person or not, or the ethics of a man created just to please her. It […]
A Bluer Shade of White, Chapter 4
She was having the dream again. He was a large man, broad of shoulder and thick with hard-earned muscles. He was a lumberjack or a porter, some hard physical job of that nature, though in the dream it was never clearly defined. He locked eyes with her and stalked forward, towering over her. One of […]
A Bluer Shade of White, Chapter 3
The pykrete ships were an unqualified success. They needed to be constructed differently from a regular ship, with a much thicker hull and an appearance more like a barge than a sailing ship, but given that they cost next to nothing, it was deemed well worth it. Elsa built the ships, while Admiral Pyke oversaw. […]
A Bluer Shade of White, Chapter 2
Elsa had the dream again. He was a strong man, who worked with his hands. He stalked towards her like a hunter towards its prey, calm and sure of himself. His hands were warm against her cold skin, and her normally sluggish heart beat a quick tempo in her chest. She felt foolish when she […]
A Bluer Shade of White, Chapter 1
Workmen dumped barrels of sawdust into the water, until it was a dark slurry. “Make sure it’s stirred up for the Queen,” called Admiral Pyke to the workmen. He turned towards the queen. “I’ve found the proper ratio is about six parts water to one part sawdust by weight, your majesty,” he said with a […]
The Metropolitan Man, Chapter 13
Dear Lois, I’ve been a longtime reader of your articles, and I have to say that I’m quite the fan. I’ve been happy to note from the few photographs I’ve seen of you that we seem to share a similar taste in fashion, and I just wanted to share a tip with you. There’s a […]
The Metropolitan Man, Chapter 12
“And he’s just gone forever?” asked Jimmy. His girlfriend Eleanor sat beside him, opposite Lois and Clark. It was somewhat emphatically not a double date. Lois was trying her best to shift her position on Clark in a way that he would actually believe. Eventually she would pretend to see the light, or give him […]
The Metropolitan Man, Chapter 11
“He what?” asked Lex. He gripped the phone closer to his ear, though that wouldn’t help with the poor connection. It was moments like this that made him want to revolutionize the entire telecommunications industry. An investment of a million dollars would surely be enough to get clear audio between Metropolis and Hub City. Of […]
The Metropolitan Man, Chapter 10
William Calhoun sat in the jail cell, staring blankly at the wall. Ten years ago, or even five, he might have been trying to plot his escape. Now he was simply old, fat, and broke. What was left of his money was going to pay for the lawyers for this current case, but even if […]
The Metropolitan Man, Chapter 9
Lex needed to know what was in the storm cellar. It was a matter of practical necessity, but there was an emotional component as well. He’d spent nearly a year of his life in pursuit of what lay there, slowly working his way backwards from Superman to Clark Kent and Clark Kent to Smallville. He […]
The Metropolitan Man, Chapter 8
Jimmy Olsen sat at the bar, gulping back his fourth beer. It was possible to forget, for brief moments. Lois Lane had come over to him, shaking slightly, and said that they needed to take a trip out into the country. He’d grabbed his camera and plenty of film, then raced downstairs where he’d had […]
The Metropolitan Man, Chapter 7
From Preethi v New York 293 U.S. 367 (1934): The State of New York has provided such significant encouragement, both overt and covert, that the actions of Superman must be judged to be that of the State. […] It is this Court’s considered opinion that there would not be much use to Constitutional protections if […]
The Metropolitan Man, Chapter 6
Superman has a day job. It was just a joke, the kind of thing that the brain coughs up when it’s trying to match a pattern. Kant said that humor was expectation strained until it suddenly dissolved into nothingness. Lex had been making maps and doing complex math for weeks on end, and if that […]
The Metropolitan Man, Chapter 5
Lois Lane had been walking down 15th Avenue looking for a place to eat breakfast when she’d heard the bang from the next block over. She’d started running towards it seconds after she’d heard it, while everyone else on the street was looking around like they’d missed something. If they’d read the paper, they’d know […]