The Coffee House

The Victorian house seemed like a throw back to a by-gone era, almost out of place in the neighborhood that was now half run down row houses, half besieged by the University’s ever-increasing sprawl.  Yet as soon as you walked under the watchful eyes of the gargoyles and through the heavy wooden door, the smell of espresso surrounded your senses along with the vibrant hum of the blender behind the bar.  Music wafted just beyond clearly…

Monterey Evenings

Twilight dances across the water

Reaching out to embrace Nightfall’s foggy shoulders

As Ocean cloaks both, warmly.

Considering all the obnoxious byproducts of humankind in the last millennia, you'd think the worst of them would have been discarded centuries ago. I glared at the tin in my hand, stamped on both sides with the legend 'Spam'.



I sighed and tossed the ration can to Tetze, who caught it with his deft mouth tentacles. Sometimes I envy his flexible digits, both the number of clusters he has on his face, head and limbs, and the speed with which he can employ them—although for his skin…

This novella is a joy to read. It intertwines beautiful writing ("Tonight the moon looks like a hammock of hammered gold brushed with ashen silver"), humor and humanity in a very clever way. The story unfolds via a series of letters that the main character of the novella, Gabriele Paterkallos, writes to his dear friend, Odysseus Pane. Gabriele is an interesting character, a dreamer, a romantic poet living in Rome. He takes the reader on a journey of discovery, telling tales of his passions,…