Amber's Weird Library

I had a dream that the USA was attacked in several East Coast cities by nuclear bombs. People in towns outside of the cities still went to work like nothing happened. The dream took place in a roadside diner where workers were talking about leaving. They worried about the threat of radiation, but they also didn't want to miss work. Customers fleeing from the cities ran in looking for a place to rest before they continued, most not knowing where they should go. Some were badly burned.  One family that came in was a man and his family. The army was looking for him. He showed us videos of soldiers badly burned walking into the ocean while their skin fell off. The soldiers felt no pain and were smiling and laughing as their bodies fell apart.  The man wanted to take his family far away from the horror. He was planning to take them to El Salvador. I made plans to leave, and the rest of my coworkers supported me. We had one android worker that I asked to come with my family, but he ...

One evening as the sun was setting, I heard a sound I couldn't explain. It sounded like a roar, but it had no source. I didn't hear it with my ears; it stirred my soul. I was confused. Then it was over. I felt settled again. I heard the birds singing in the trees and the wind blowing through the leaves.  I didn't hear it again for a week and forgot about it. Maybe it was some kind anxiety attack. Maybe it was hormones. Then as I was rolling out my garbage can, I heard or felt or became one with that roar.  I looked it up online. Neighbors on message boards asked what it was. So, it was real.  A week later, at the same time, I went outside. Most of my neighbors were also outside. The roar started again. One of our elderly lady neighbors collapsed beside her husband. We rushed to help her. Someone called 911. Her husband said they were trumpets warning about the end of time. A week later, I sat on the porch waiting. I read on a message board that people were meeting near th...

SPOILERS AHEAD      More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon was published in 1953 and won the 1954 International Fantasy Award and a Retro Hugo in 2004. The novel is an important science fiction classic with ideas about the future evolution of humanity through the use of marginalized characters. Theodore Sturgeon's look into the possible future says more about the current world he lived in.      In America in the mid-20th century, a group  of misfits with secret superpowers slowly find one another. We start by meeting an abusive father who controls his young adult daughters. The daughters aren't allowed to have friends, must dress in 19th century clothes, and can't even get dressed in front of mirrors.  One day when one of the daughters was walking in the fenced gardens behind her home, she met a young lonely man drifting in the woods. This loner cannot speak due to an intellectual disability but never starves because he can secretly read and control...

The birds begin to sing on a beautiful spring morning in the trees below the castle on top of the hill.   The King is in his courtyard, rubbing his belly. His advisor by his side looking proud. The Queen is in her dark chambers covering a hole in the floor with some dusty tiles. Two knights tiptoe through the hallway as the light of dawn slowly pours into the windows.   The rays of the sun illuminate the face of the king's favorite statue from an ancient empire that leans against the wall to the right. The face is forever frozen in agony; a sacrifice made to an unknown god. His body contorted and covered with wounds.  The two knights tiptoe by softly laughing.  They hear a scream from the chamber to the right. They freeze and look into each other's eyes. They look at the statue's face. Then they run away to the end of the hall and down the stairs. They do not ask for help.  A maid runs out of the chamber, screaming down the hallway, tripping on the anc...