Paul A. Merkley
Bio
Mental traveller. Idealist. Try to be low-key but sometimes hothead. Curious George. "Ardent desire is the squire of the heart." Love Tolkien, Cinephile. Awards ASCAP, Royal Society. Music as Brain Fitness: www.musicandmemoryjunction.com
Achievements (1)
Stories (107)
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10 Days in Iceland
Every night at midnight, the purple clouds came out to dance with the blushing sky. I don't like complicated back stories or heavy introductions. Maybe you don't either. Best to get going with the interesting bits, I think. So I'm keeping this introduction to the bare essentials then straight to the main story. What do you need to know? A bit about me, that's necessary and fair. I like history. I own a bed and breakfast in downtown Reykjavik just across from what used to be one of the greatest churches in Europe. My name? Oh we all just use patronyms. My name is Agata and my father's name was Alfred, so Agata Alfredsdottir. Before the occupation I gave tours of Thrihnukkagigur, the only volcano in the world with an intact lava crater. That is how you spell it in English, and that is how we say it, but we use a rune for the Th, so Þrihnukkagigur, because there are three peaks. I used to take tourists inside the volcano to the floor on the window washing stand. I love my country.
By Paul A. Merkley3 years ago in Fiction
Wall Chat
"If walls could talk, which of us do you think would be worth listening to? Oh my goodness, you heard me--Hallelujah! Almost no one does! What was that? I told you, I'm the Wall. You may call me Wally, if you like. Oh there's no one here but you and me, you needn't be agitated.
By Paul A. Merkley3 years ago in Fiction
Time and Tide
.... MARCH Relationships... as far as I can tell, the best ones are between people who are, well, not exactly opposites, but different enough that they're not twins. Take me and Sue Ellen. I get up early, she stays up late. She's a scientist, theoretical physicist. I'm a high school music teacher. She loves sci-fi and conspiracy theories (that's quite a heady mix for a physicist). I'm more of a facts-and-history guy. Thing is, I would be bored to tears living with a carbon copy of myself, and she is anything but. Sometimes she wakes me up late at night to tell me something she's excited about. This night was quite a trip...
By Paul A. Merkley3 years ago in Fiction
Of Small Stuff and Sweat
This Caribbean vacation was turning out to be a bad idea. My friends back home warned me not to go. "Mitch," they said, "you don't like lying on the beach. You sunburn in 10 minutes flat. You're in to the dermatologist every two months to get something cut off. You don't sail, you don't surf. You don't speak Spanish."
By Paul A. Merkley3 years ago in Fiction
Guide Stones
The outside world was unknown to her, but she could see a glimpse of it through the window in his room. It was a very small window—from the ancient book her grandfather had given her, she wondered if it was what had been called a ‘clerestory’ window, whatever that meant—and she had to stand on a chair to see out of it, but this was the last place in the colony where she could look out, and this apartment had become hers yesterday when her grandfather, her only living kin, passed. She peered out through the dirty glass. She missed her grandfather and this way she felt a bit closer to him.
By Paul A. Merkley3 years ago in Fiction
Operations
10 a.m. I think there is nothing more beautiful and satisfying than a perfect operation. Call me Jeff. I don't go by that name, but I need to anonymize things just a bit in order to tell this story, and I do want to tell it to you. I love games, mysteries, and operations. You say you're not into operations? Well you are missing out on a wonderful part of life. Maybe I can draw you into that world.
By Paul A. Merkley3 years ago in Criminal
