Collected Short Stories

Ten optimistic and forward-looking space stories that show how we journey to the stars!This is the third volume of the collected short stories of Joe Vasicek. It includes:The Scales of the Space WhaleThe most dangerous creatures in the universe will kill you before they know you exist!In the BeginningParadise is not what-or where-it seems.(After Dinner Conversation, August 2020)From the Ice IncarnateThey say that going into cryo is the closest thing to death short of actually dying. I believe it.(1st place, 2009 Vera Hinckley Mayhew Contest BYU)When She AwakesTo pay her father's debt, she must offer herself as coin.The InfiltratorThe aliens are already among us, in a form we refuse to see.(Not Far From Roswell, December 2019)AbductorsAlways check your backblast before launching your UFO.(Never before published!)StarchildThe revolutions passed, and the stars spun silently underfoot.(Bards and Sages Quarterly, October 2019)L'enfer, c'est la SolitudeWar is not the only hell in the cold, empty void of space.(Perihelion, March 2016; The New Accelerator, August 2018)The Janus AnomalyWhat do you do when you're the only sane one and everyone else is crazy?(Kasma Magazine, May 2019; Twilight Tales, February 2021)Lizzie-99XTTo save humanity, she must become the machine.(Serial Magazine, August 2019)

Eleven short stories and a poem that show us what comes after the end of all we know.This is the fourth volume of the collected short stories of Joe Vasicek. It includes:The Manchurian ParadoxWe have met our timeline's enemy and he is us.A Fatal RebirthNothing in this world should live forever-not even civilization itself.The Final TurningThis is how the world ends: not with a bang, but with a whimper-thanks to me.The New CovenantTo restore a fallen America, an ancient and terrible covenant must be renewed.Hearken and Behold (by J.M. Wight)"Hearken, oh ye hypocrites, and behold the desolation that is already come upon you!"The End of ElysiumFor the promise of paradise, the last civilization will surrender to the apocalypse.The Promise of King WashingtonWhen the aliens came, it wasn't a military invasion: it was an economic one.(Again, Hazardous Imaginings, December 2020)Lord of the Slaves"Everyone secretly wants to be a slave. Those who deny it simply haven't found the right master."The Other Side of RealityWhat if your future self came back to give you advice, and all it did was confuse you?Schrödinger's Diaper"Stays clean and dry until you're free to change it!" …except not quite.(Bards and Sages Quarterly, April 2022)Two Hours AgoA time machine without paradoxes, so long as it's not abused.Welcome to Our Crazy FamilyTwo genderqueer lesbians and a tranny have a rebellious daughter who does the unthinkable and decides to marry a Christian.