Blog - Tonya R. Moore

19/09/2019 Tonya R. Moore Vignettes

Bargaining

Beakman showed up at dawn. He didn’t knock or call out for Else. He just stood there at her door, silently waiting for her to notice him staring at her through the glass. He was an oddity. Else wasn’t sure what kind. The only form she’d ever seen him take was of a man’s body with a bird’s black beak…

19/09/201919/09/2019 Tonya R. Moore Vignettes

Tribute

Rastaman gone somewhat astray, the devout artist had adopted flesh for his canvas. Everything about him was dark, the curl of his brows, his countenance when he eased back and stood, studying his handiwork. The silent woman in the claw-toed tub sat leaning forward. The thick braid of her hair was twisted into a samurai’s knot. Like his hand, the…

19/09/201919/09/2019 Tonya R. Moore Vignettes

Big Voice

Terry could hear the clickety-clack of the prosthetic leggings on Number 876’s spacesuit as she ambled down the ship’s corridor. The octopi didn’t really care about names. Terry called Number 876 Klara because it made her feel better to call her partner something other than a number. The nickname scrawled on Klara’s helmet in radical ink had been her own…

19/09/201919/09/2019 Tonya R. Moore Vignettes

Mermaid

Say the only dream you ever had was blue, a cool brilliance that engulfs everything in the universe. All you know of your place in the monochromatic Everything is webbed feet, jewel fingers and a certain unnameable longing. You reach upward and out, straining to grasp the hazy glow of a distant light in your palms. You begin to swim…

19/09/201919/09/2019 Tonya R. Moore Vignettes

Cat Skin

“Say, Doc,” Chloe asked lowly. “You know why I’m in here?” The doctor was a young one, fresh out of university. She wore round glasses and her hair in a serious bun. It was nearly the end of their session, six going on seven in the evening. She eyed Chloe sagely. “You know why you’re here, Chloe.” Dr. Finley said…

19/09/201919/09/2019 Tonya R. Moore Vignettes

Becoming

“The geese love her, that girl.” Tei, Sarrah’s most recent patient, paused the video projected on the opposite wall. In his hospital patient whites, he seemed childlike and earnest, despite the gray hair curled over his ears. “Ah, yes. I suppose you could say they do.” Sarrah closed the door firmly behind her. “That’s one of the earliest recorded sightings,…

19/09/201919/09/2019 Tonya R. Moore Vignettes

Fisher’s Killer

Delores couldn’t hear the worst of the rain from the brig, but she could smell it in the air. The wind was boisterous. The ship’s iron bough rocked and rolled with the turbulent waves. Beneath all that, the subtle thunder created by the weight of water stole in and squatted in her bones. A single light bulb had been strung…

19/09/201919/09/2019 Tonya R. Moore Vignettes

Perish the Thought

“If this boat hits one more swell, I swear I’ll hurl that slop they called breakfast back up on the deck.” Venus AKA Captain Eyepatch’s gravelly complaint dragged Terra back to the here and now. “Huh? “This,” Venus waggled her pinky, shaking ash loose from the tip of her cigar. “Dun’ it make you sick to the stomach? Never-ending rocking…

19/09/201919/09/2019 Tonya R. Moore Vignettes

Reckoning

Tirol’s skin is white, porcelain white or maybe more like those milky treasures that mysteriously vanished from under your pillow while you slept when you were six. Yes, you still remember because you’re still holding onto that grudge with the relentless tenacity of a rabid dog in search of his favorite bone. Of course, by now you know that there’s…

19/09/201919/09/2019 Tonya R. Moore Vignettes

Going Dark

Dran’s sphere flickered then steadily glowed. Finally, the signal was strong enough for live-talk again. Frantic, he fumbled with it, fingers shaky. “Wheela! What happened? Answer already!” “Well, hello to you too, Dran.” Her voice was hoarse, irritated and it was obvious that talking took monumental effort but she was stubborn. He was banking on that because the thought of…

Hyper-dimensional Inner Universe

The Lastest of Everything

Bargaining

Tribute

Big Voice

Mermaid

Cat Skin

Becoming

Fisher’s Killer

Perish the Thought

Reckoning

Going Dark