From the inside flap:

Entropy. All things, good and bad, come to an end. It is the way of the Universe that it will one day succumb to the "SIGNIFICANT SUCK" and collapse in on itself, or it will experience the "BIG BLOW" and expand until there is nothing but cold darkness on all sides. There is also a third alternative...it could reach a steady-state, though that is doubtful, and all the stars in it will merely run out of gas along the way. They will become dead, black cinders, but all of those possibilities are the common end product of entropy. In astronomy the first condition in the running down of entropy is simply called "Cold Death" while the second and third states are known as "Heat Death" or the "Big Freeze". I love best the sound of the second description.... "Heat Death". There isn’t a day passes that I don’t say it to myself a few times. "Heat Death...." "Heat Death...." It has a pleasant ring to it, don’t you think? It could become a mantra for the Clan of the Apocalypse gathered near the eternal flow around a roaring fire, an animated symbol of end in itself. They sit lotus style, hands laid on their knees, palms up, chanting, "Oammmmm, Heat Death, Heat Death, beautiful Heat Death...Oammmmmm...," as the hungry flames consume what were once lovely green trees, reducing them to a pile of fine, gray ash that will be scattered on the winds of time. Will there be a Phoenix? No one can say. Probably not.

In another sense, entropy refers to the decay and eventual terminal condition of institutions, empires, societies, and anything else you can dredge up from the depths of your sordid imagination. Everything that grows into organization will eventually dismantle itself in the process called entropy. The word "Apocalypse" has the same basic meaning, but it is a more powerful way of saying it. Apocalypse conveys a more catastrophic feeling but, in the end (sorry for the pun), it all finishes with the same outcome. Fin. The end. Period.

The end of a day disastrous. The end of a cataclysmic century. The end of a fateful era. The falling apart of a fragile relationship. The fall of a fractured empire. The demise of a deal demonic. Plans gone awry. Your final fight for that last breath. "Aaaaaaaagh...." Okay, how poetic can a last gasp be?

TWISTED TAILS V looks at ends. Many kinds of ends. It treats all terminal conditions in the contorted, irreverent style the TWISTED TAILS series has come to be known for...and it does it with a polished, glossy class rarely found in today’s pop literature. Come along with us as we follow a treacherous, tortured and twisting trail to the place where good ol’ entropy delivers the coup de grace....

Look for Testimony and Hibernaculum by Kim McDougall in Twisted Tails V


Testimony

Excerpt


PING!


I jump from my seat.  A bird hit the window.  I peer into the garden, hoping the poor thing is just stunned.


PING!


Another bird smacks the glass at eye level.

I rush outside.  Two goldfinches lie in the grass.  I pick them up, one in each hand.  Their little bodies are still hot.  Tears well in my eyes.  They were probably mates, one chasing the other, brushing wings, beckoning with coy flirtations, singing together for the joy of being a bird in the sky, of being alive.


PING! Another bird hits the window.







MORE BOOKS BY KIM MCDOUGALL


TABLE OF CONTENTS


1. Darkness by J. Richard Jacobs

2. Uncurable by Matthew Hance

3. Dialing the Future by Marilyn Peake

4. Experiencing Technical Difficulty by J. Richard Jacobs

5. Don’t Blame Me by John Klawitter

6. Testimony by Kim McDougall

7. Alien Road Kill "Deal Breaker" by Steve A. Zuckerman

8. Doreen and the Spacemanby John Klawitter

9. Hybernaculum by Kim Mcdougall

10. Soup by J. Richard Jacobs

11. You are History by Vivian Unger

12. The Day the Music Stopped by Ann Dulhanty

13. Gratitude by Todd R. Snow

14. God gets an MBA by Ann Dulhanty

15. A Time to Die by Todd R. Snow

16. The Sadness is in the Looking by J. Richard Jacobs

Twisted Tails V

Apocalypses Now and Then

An Anthology Edited by J. Richard Jacobs

Order Twisted Tails V in the BookstoreBookstore/Bookstore.html

Hibernaculum

Excerpt


“Wow!” said Mindy, as they caught up.  “Is that a car?”


“A truck,” said the man.  “It’s a little known fact that once, these beasts roamed the countryside.  They were fearsome killers.  Six thousand deaths a year were blamed on trucks.  And they were the cause of much pollution besides.  My name’s Alex and this is my wife, Mindy.” He held out a hand, palm up in greeting.  Cross stared at him until he withdrew it.  Time for the spiel. 


“Look behind you,” he said.  The couple turned.  The Dome loomed like a bubble rising in the ocean.  The enviro-shield shimmered green and gold in the sunlight, obscuring the busy lives inside.  It was beautiful, until you realized it was the last breath of a dying man. 


“That’s the last view you’ll have of home.  If you want to change your minds, now’s the time.  Once we leave here, I’m not turning back.  Got it?” Alex and Mindy nodded.  “Good.  From now on, you do as I say.  You step where I step.  You touch only what I touch.”


“Are we going to see some Wild creatures?” asked Alex.


“Only if we’re unlucky.”

[Home]     [Contact]   [Publications]   [BTC 101]


Copyright ©2009 - Kim McDougall, All rights reserved

All images and text used by permission