Stories by Doc Honour

The Empathic Humanity Series

Tales of Verdant – Prequel
Available at Amazon.com

Verdant is one of only three remaining human planets, and it is nearing the end of the cycle that has led to destruction of Earth and another ten worlds. The stories are about people in that world, placed in each of the four countries on Verdant.

  • “Colony Time” (One Hope) – Fred and Dana are part of the colony ship that will seed the new planet of Verdant. They discover being colonists isn’t as easy as they thought. (Online publication, Hallard Press April 2023)
  • “The Peaceful Man Who Wasn’t” (Winter) – Elder Narnit Dearling travels as an itinerant teacher of history, trying to ease the upcoming conflicts. He shows children a path of peace most adults have never considered.
  • “Apping with Isadora” (Verdant Prime) – Zofia Dobrunik learns programming with an AI assistant. Top of her class, she discovers her final exam is nearly impossible—at the same time she suffers harassment for her accomplishments.
  • “Legal Incontinence” (Tileus) – Detective Soren Moller chases an online pedophile, only to have the ever-changing laws of Tileus defeat his work. (Finalist, Royal Palm Literary Awards 2021; Honorable Mention, Writers of the Future)
  • “Immaculate Degeneration” – (Rathas) – The power to preform miracles seems to be gradually leaving Fenet Powrfaith. He’s been trying unsuccessfully to teach his disciples how to do what he does. What will happen when it disappears? (Honorable Mention, Writers of the Future)
  • “Fishing Hands” (Winter) – Marta Bloom becomes the young captain of her family’s fishing boat and has to prove herself to her first mate by catching the huge tsifta fish that took her father’s foot. (First place Gold, Royal Palm Literary Awards 2022)
  • “The Meaning of Peace” – (Verdant Prime) – Alba Castilan searches for peace in the conflicts of her Assignment to build a new fish processing plant in Timpi, only to find worse conflicts than she could imagine.
  • “Sixteen Hours of Love and Guns” – (Tileus) – Yana Levin marches for the protection of gun rights and discovers love on the opposing side.
  • “Rules Are for Those Who Follow” (Rathas) – Thoret Speakeach believes he is respected enough as a pastor to speak out against the theocracy of Rathas, until he discovers the unexpected consequences.
  • “Duty to Society” (Verdant Prime) – Jacoby Palatin works as an antimatter engineer developing a new weapon, when he discovers greater things in life than simply being a cog in Society.
  • “The Consequences of Education” (Winter) – Marta Bloom finds a friend in the new, controversial teacher who came from Rathas. But her friend sparks a conflict that nearly destroys the village.
  • “Too Much Good” (Rathas) – Morat Intelact is about to go on Mission to Tileus to bring the word of Elláh to the unfaithful. His fears about violence against missionaries are confirmed, raising the stakes on his trip.
  • “To Go or Not to Go” – (Tileus) – Lisa Westhof is a junior diplomat working on international diplomacy with Rathas. Then she learns that people are building a colony ship that could take her to a brand-new world. (Honorable Mention, Writers of the Future)
  • “All Fall Down” (Winter) – Returning to Elder Narnit Dearling in the final days of Verdant, with an opportunity to leave the planet. What will he choose?

Not Like Us – Book One
Available at Amazon.com

Best Science Fiction Novel, 2023 RPLA

How do you escape totalitarian control? Jake Palatin is forced to develop an antimatter bomb on the planet Verdant, where global war using his technology is terrifyingly close.  Zofia, a woman with a secret, tempts him to resist. She also has a solution, a new empathic technology to save humanity.

Verdant Divided: Technology meets Holy War – Book two
Available at Amazon.com

In work – Watch this site for availability.

Reb Fenet Powrfaith has lost his Elláh-given power to perform miracles, but his disciples are now beginning to follow in his footsteps. The empathic transpath technology enhances the effectiveness of their miracles. Can they win out over the One Church authority in Rathas to stop Holy War?

Other Short Stories

Stories about other times and places, currently being offered for publication through magazines.

  • “Finding Home” – Julian escaped life on Earth to join a colony ship, but they fail repeatedly to find a suitable planet on which he can find friends.
  • “The Specimen” – Ellie is disgusted that Dad brings home yet another exocreature to study, only he wants her involved in this one.
  • “The God Science” – Peter Sileski was famous for debunking faith through scientific study, until his weird friend Lettie Quintile brings him a working “spiritometer.”
  • “Epigenetics and the Gey Genome” – Kurt’s lab research leads to a method to express recessive genes for gay desires. What he doesn’t count on is the effect on his own relationship with Nathan.
  • “Vast Tracts of Air” – Clyde Wandon can’t stand the aristocratic clients who take his balloon tours in the upper atmosphere of Bright. When they meet the Floggies who live in the floating forests, anything might happen.
  • “Acorns in the Air” – A follow-on story where Clyde Wandon finds a treasure in the floating forests, just before a battle between humans and the Floggies. Can he find a way to make money with the “acorns”?
  • “Shot Full of Courage” – Rick Gander reluctantly joins the Army of Humanity under a court order. When war breaks out with the Gurts on One Hope, he finds himself just where he never wanted to be. (Honorable Mention, Writers of the Future)
  • “Someone Worth Saving” – George Sayers returns to Branch to re-unite with his daughter after ten years of anger and resentment at his ex-wife, but the planet destroys its ecology in a bio-war. His daughter and ex-wife are part of the mass of refugees trying to escape. (Honorable Mention, Writers of the Future)
  • “The Twisty Little Job, All Different” – Ethan Webb, a highly successful app developer, takes a new job with the premier company in the field, only to find the job to be the strangest place he’s ever worked. (Semifinalist, Writers of the Future)
  • “Can’t Take It With You” – Rohan Balakrishnan can’t escape the racism that besets him, even by leading a colonization ship from Earth, because his native country of Bharat starts a nuclear war.
  • “Flimflam Clyde and the Foggy Gold” – Clyde Wandon keeps trying and failing to find the quick success. His latest effort involves flying frogmen and singing acorns in the floating forests in the upper atmosphere of Bright. (Honorable Mention, Writers of the Future)
  • “The Dire Ambassador” – Alec Pereira dreamed his entire life of being the First Contact Ambassador to a new race. When the Ploonk ambassador is dead on arrival, he’s the likeliest suspect.
  • “Fast Attack and a Narrow Beam” – With men fighting for existence in the Orion Wars, women largely return to hearth and home to build humanity. Which makes Ensign Alex Packard’s arrival at an all-woman spaceship all the more difficult for him.
  • “Map the Light Fantastic” – Can an MRI brain map be used control emotions? Dr. Reed Ingram might lose his research funding, so he decides to try fix his own emotions toward success.