“Ride” is a short story about climate change, AI, and social credit. It’s set in Hawaii, in the same story world as my novel Pacific Storm.

“Ride” is part of the Future Tense science fiction series at Slate—and you can read it for free online!

Find it here.

Writing this one was an interesting experience, different from anything I’d done before. It’s a commissioned story. I was asked to submit ideas to the team at Future Tense on the general subject of transportation. For me, story ideas don’t come easily. I need to work out most of the plot and have a general impression of the character before I know if I have a workable idea. So I ended up submitting an outline for this story. Fortunately for me, the team approved it. I wrote a first draft—of course it was too long—and then worked closely with editor Joey Eschrich to trim the length and better focus the story. This was fun, because with short stories, I usually write and revise on my own, with just minor edits once I turn it in. This felt a bit more collaborative.

I hope you enjoy “Ride”!

Posted on: Monday, November 29th, 2021 at 12:30 pm
Categories: Short Stories.