Simon Holloway had arrested forty-seven people for emotional expression in his twelve years as a Suppression Officer. He remembered each one with the perfect clarity that came from a life lived in chemical equilibrium. The woman who had laughed at her daughter's drawings—six years in rehabilitation. The man who wept at his mother's termination ceremony—four … Continue reading The Feeling Underground
Fiction
Love Across the Stars
The emergency klaxon blared through the corridors of the Harmony's Edge as Captain Zara Cronin dove behind a twisted beam of metal, plasma fire sizzling past her head. Three years into the Terran-Kepler War, and she still wasn't used to how the Keplerian weapons hummed like angry wasps before they tried to vaporize you. "Status … Continue reading Love Across the Stars
The Snow Globe’s Promise
Welcome back to Blogmas 2025, my annual series of holiday-themed blog posts that runs every day through Christmas Day. This year, I've enlisted the help of AI to generate writing prompts for each post, which has led to some interesting creative challenges and unexpected directions. Today's prompt for December 23rd asks me to craft a … Continue reading The Snow Globe’s Promise
The Library Beneath the Vines
The morning mist clung to the ancient oaks like forgotten memories, their massive trunks twisted around what Kira's grandmother might have called "the old bones of the world." She crouched beside a peculiar formation—too geometric to be natural, too weathered to be recent. The stone was smooth, almost polished, and carved with symbols that seemed … Continue reading The Library Beneath the Vines
The Elf Who Called in Sick to Christmas
Welcome back to Blogmas 2025! For those just tuning in, Blogmas is my annual series of holiday-themed blog posts that runs every day from December 1st through Christmas Day. It's become a tradition here at The Confusing Middle, and this year I'm shaking things up by letting AI generate my daily writing prompts. Today's December … Continue reading The Elf Who Called in Sick to Christmas
The Carpenter’s Heart: The Untold Story of Cleopatra’s Secret Lover
History remembers Cleopatra VII as the legendary queen who captivated Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, but what if the greatest love of her life was someone history never recorded? The autumn winds of 48 BC swept across Alexandria's harbor as Queen Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator stood on her palace balcony, watching Roman ships approach in … Continue reading The Carpenter’s Heart: The Untold Story of Cleopatra’s Secret Lover
The Night Shift at Pine & Needle: A Christmas Tree Lot After Dark
Welcome to Day 14 of Blogmas 2025, where I'm now two weeks into this self-imposed December writing marathon and starting to question my life choices. For those just discovering this festive endurance test, Blogmas is my annual tradition of posting holiday-themed content every single day through Christmas. This year's posts are guided by AI-generated prompts, … Continue reading The Night Shift at Pine & Needle: A Christmas Tree Lot After Dark
The Last Wish of the Season
Welcome to Day 8 of Blogmas 2025, where I continue subjecting myself and you to daily holiday-themed content through December 25th. For those just joining us, Blogmas is my annual marathon of Christmas posts, and this year I'm letting AI generate the prompts because apparently, I need a digital overseer to keep me creative. Today's … Continue reading The Last Wish of the Season
The Weight of Paper and Time
The tremor started in my left hand on a Tuesday. I was hunched over a 1940s land survey map, magnifying glass poised above a water stain that might have been hiding a property boundary crucial to a decades-old inheritance dispute. The kind of painstaking work that had always felt like meditation to me—just me, the … Continue reading The Weight of Paper and Time
The Gift No One Gave
Welcome back to Blogmas 2025! If you're just joining us, Blogmas is my annual December tradition of posting holiday-themed content every single day from now through Christmas Day. It's ambitious, occasionally exhausting, and somehow I keep doing it year after year. This year, I've enlisted AI to provide daily writing prompts to keep things interesting. … Continue reading The Gift No One Gave
The Confusing Middle 