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‘When Gliese Met Glasgow – and Muira made a mint’

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

If you had to choose Earth’s representative for First Contact with aliens, it probably wouldn’t be a 3’6″ Black Glaswegian with no diplomatic experience, would it? ‘When Gliese* Met Glasgow (and Muira made a mint)’  reached the Finals of Pen2Paper, a competition run by the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities; goodness knows how! They’re all here, free to read: http://www.txdisabilities.org/pen-2-paper * Gliese exists. It was the first star system found to have at least one potentially habitable planet in its orbit. Continue reading ‘When Gliese Met Glasgow – and Muira made a mint’

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‘Dark brown voices, buttons and bows’ – Eight Days of Ether

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Eight Days of Ether: every day a new theme and only 24 hours to submit. Day 8 – Song and Dance Dark brown voices, buttons and bows. We’re in Jackson, me and Jude, for the show. I have a two-day beard and my feet hurt like hell. I sling them up on the table and lean back. ‘Fancy boots,’ Jude nods at them. ‘Ain’t made for walkin’ though.’ He snickers and I give him a look that should tell him I ain’t happy, but he misses it and snickers some more. ‘Hey – don’t push me,’ I growl at him, … Continue reading ‘Dark brown voices, buttons and bows’ – Eight Days of Ether

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‘Daniel’s Level’ – Eight Days of Ether

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Eight Days of Ether: every day a new theme and only 24 hours to submit. Day 7 – Family Daniel’s Level. ‘The army? Him?’ Jacqui is stunned. Sophie though, is intrigued. Steve doesn’t look army, he looks – gamey. A little bit sci fi but with some fancy reality underpinning it – the US army really has been recruiting via online video games (MMOGs[1]). Virtual reality is being used in all sorts of ways – including treating soldiers for PTSD, and training doctors and paramedics in both basic and emergency medicine[2]. Sadly, Ether Books is no longer with us so here’s … Continue reading ‘Daniel’s Level’ – Eight Days of Ether

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‘When you can’t go on’ – Eight Days of Ether

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Eight Days of Ether: every day a new theme and only 24 hours to submit. Day 6 – Tragedy When you can’t go on. Awards ceremony. Posh frock; pale peach … A very cheap shot, this one! When the clear impetus was towards difficult human experiences, I only heard The Bee Gees[1]. It’s a 22 worder and, ladies, you’ll know what I’m saying! Here’s the link   [1] Tragedy – in case you’re so very, very young http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPcsMMEMbfw   Continue reading ‘When you can’t go on’ – Eight Days of Ether

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‘The People Indoors’ – Eight Days of Ether

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Eight Days of Ether: every day a new theme and only 24 hours to submit. Day 5 – The People Indoors. Edited 21/01/2025 to include the full text. Carole mostly drives the body for the big stuff but they all do a few day-to-day things like shopping, which accounts for the odd items Carole finds around the house. The camouflage underwear for instance, that’s The Robin. Tofu is The Emily’s doing, with her vegan fads and tendency to throw up if any of the others eats a burger, and the Metallica album she woke up to in the early hours one … Continue reading ‘The People Indoors’ – Eight Days of Ether

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‘Where Things Come From’ – Eight Days of Ether

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Eight Days of Ether: every day a new theme and only 24 hours to submit. Day 4 – Desire Where Things Come From. Chocolates – dark and bitter and containing surprises such as a chilli-coated scorpion or a gingered locust. Desire is sometimes, I think, about things we find ourselves valuing above almost anything else even though they’re often shallow and meaningless. But sometimes it’s about a deeper, more personal need, a longing for something solid, profoundly meaningful such as a connection with other people that is unconditional. This story, at first glance, seems to be saying a lot about materialism – … Continue reading ‘Where Things Come From’ – Eight Days of Ether

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‘When’ – Eight Days of Ether

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Eight Days of Ether: every day a new theme and only 24 hours to submit. Day 3 – Time When. When you don’t have any left because something in you stopped working. When you have too much and it hangs like wet blankets in your head and over your eyes. When someone steals it by gossiping … I own up right away to hearing ‘If’[1] in the background all the way through writing this and I apologise to the spirit of Rudyard Kipling for my impertinence. This is not so much one story as many; probably ones we’ve all experienced … Continue reading ‘When’ – Eight Days of Ether

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‘Pretending not to see’ – Eight Days of Ether

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Eight Days of Ether: every day a new theme and only 24 hours to submit. Day 2 – Hats When Jodie put on her magic hat, she became invisible …She ran, crawled, dived, and shot enemies. There’s a saying, ‘I’m wearing my X hat today’, when we want to be seen as a particular sort of person. But some hats send us into the background where we become one of many or just a number. Children generally want to fit in, to be the same, until they reach a certain age and then they want to stand out. But not … Continue reading ‘Pretending not to see’ – Eight Days of Ether

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‘The space between thinking and doing’ – Eight Days of Ether

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Eight Days of Ether: every day a new theme and only 24 hours to submit: I thought I’d give maybe one or two a go but maths was never my strong point and anyway, come the end, I’d have eight pieces of flash that would otherwise never have seen daylight. Also, taking a peek at the next day’s theme brought out the competitor in me. I didn’t make it easy for myself though, after getting through the first without mentioning the topic by name (or even syno-name) the game was on … Day 1 – Adventure The space between thinking … Continue reading ‘The space between thinking and doing’ – Eight Days of Ether

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