Jim Stitzel
Jack-of-All-Trades, Master of WordsExcerpts from Life
Little Black Boxes
The refactoring of Ficlatte has begun. I don't expect this to mean anything to any of you, not even the ones who frequent the site on a regular basis. The work I'm doing right now is 100% completely behind the scenes, hidden by the large curtains that lead to the cold...
Ficlatte, Code, and Making Use of All This Free Time
For the last three or four weeks, I've been coding away feverishly. This, by itself, is notable. I haven't had the energy or the mental focus to work on any project like this for so long in a very long time. It's been exciting and fulfilling to finally feel like I've...
Pieces of Me
I broke, Shattered into a thousand little pieces. And the world broke with me, And around me. Or at least so it seemed. I remained broken for a time, Fragments of myself lying all about, The quiet after a great trauma. But after a time, And little by little, I began...
Fiction
Flock-mind
Thousands of birds swarmed through the sky like a great, migratory organism — swelling, shrinking, pulsing according to an invisible rhythm only they could feel. They flew over the countryside, darkening the sky for long moments where they passed, utterly silent but...
Unnatural
Beth turned away from the screen. “Turn it off.” The security footage of Ava’s raw power was sickening. “Girl’s not natural,” Thad said. “Nothing that causes such wanton destruction on a global scale can be natural.” Beth practically spit her next words out. “Of...
Supplicant
The cast-off tennis shoe lies discarded in the gravel by the side of the road, its white leather dry and cracked. Just beyond it stands a sign delineating, in large block letters, a speed zone of 30 MPH. Atop the sign a black bird, smaller than a crow, smaller by...