Bewildering Stories welcomes...

N. D. Coley

N. D. has an advanced degree in English from the University of Pittsburgh and teaches English composition for the Univ. of Phoenix and the Univ. of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, Pennsylvania. He says he lives with his family and, in his spare time, “laments the human condition” and “reads depressing literature.” He has published extensively in literary journals in print and on line.

“Megan’s Shift” is serialized in issues 873-874 and is complete on line as of the first instalment.

Readers had better buckle down for an engrossing and very serious story. The character of Ian Paulson might have stepped straight out of the pages of Franz Kafka, but with a different lesson. Kafka’s Gregor Samsa awakens to discover that he is an insect but eventually realizes that he is one because his family considers him a bug. Ian Paulson’s experience is similar but, in its own way, the opposite.

Paulson’s automobile is breaking down. He has to operate the windshield wipers by hand. In a rainstorm, he doesn’t know where he is. But there is one exception: the fast-food drive-thru window staffed by the same clerk: Megan.

Paulson also doesn’t know when he is. Like place, time becomes increasingly confusing. His only contact with the outside world is, aside from Megan, memory and his cellphone. The ultimate consequence is a tragedy of loss due to inattention to life.

N. D. Coley’s bio sketch can be found here.

Welcome to Bewildering Stories, N. D. We hope to hear from you again soon and often!