Brain for Rent and other stories

“Brain for Rent and other stories” is a collection of five, short scifi stories I put together to give a sampling of my writing. Included in the collection are: “Brain for Rent” about a ne’re-do-well failed writer with a conceptual implant who discusses his work with a young woman thinking of getting an implant herself. “The Demonstration” is about a different young woman wanting to show off her latest body modification. “Self Imprisonment” offers one solution of where to put the backup copy of yourself for safe keeping. “The Best Job Ever” is about a necessary – yet unpleasant – human/alien interaction. And the collection ends with “Why Stay?” which explains why, after years of fighting the humans, the robots just deactivated.

For an example, here is an excerpt from “The Demonstration”

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Splice was the hottest nightclub in town catering to body manipulators. So it was normal to see people waiting in line with feline features, multiple arms, or an anatomy twisted in ways that would give Picasso a headache. But a young, apparently normal human woman? That raised numerous eyebrows, or what passed for eyebrows.

Joan just stood silently in line with a faint smile on her lips.

When she finally reached the front of the line, the bouncer – a wall of muscle in an enormous tuxedo with rhinoceros horns sprouting from his face – gave her a glance and grumbled, “No unmodifieds.”

Joan gave him a toothy smile and asked, “Could an unmodified do this?” In a flash she grabbed hold of the front of his tuxedo with her left hand and lifted him half-a-meter off the ground.

The bouncer just looked down at the ground, then back to Joan. “Ma’am,” he said, “there’s a cyborg bar three blocks down that would love your patronage.”

Setting him back on his feet, Joan declared, “I am not a cyborg. I’ll make you a deal. Scan me for cybernetic implants.” She reached in to her jeans pocket and pulled out her card and waved it in front of him. “If you find anything beyond the basic manipulator nanites, I will give you a thousand dollars and then leave without a fuss. But if you don’t find any, you’ll allow me in.”

For a few heartbeats, there was only the sound of a distant train. Then Tom called out, “Come on, just scan her so the rest of us can get in.”

The cry was taken up by the rest of her friends and several other people in line.

The bouncer shrugged and said, “Fine.”

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If you are at all curious, you can find “Brainfor Rent and other stories” on Kindle.