Fiction

Short Stories

Here are short stories you can read online for free. Besides the short stories, there are some works of fiction in the assorted creations and free online novels. If you're looking for a place to start, I suggest Unashamed.

Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts

A science fiction tribute to Damon Knight, "To Serve Man."

The Commentary (medium)

This is a piece of wisdom literature about a man who has been searching for the Commentary on the Old and New Testaments, in One Volume, Containing a Careful Analysis of All Cultural Issues Needful to Understand the Bible as Did Its First Readers... and why he is so very unhappy when he finds what he desires.

A Glimpse Through a Crystal (short)

A dream about another world.

The Metacultural Gospel (medium)

A fictionalized Gospel account set in contemporary America. It tries to convey how genuinely shocking a person is described in the Gospels—and how he'd still be stunning, today.

The Monastery (short)

The story of a traveller moving deeper and deeper into a monastery—in more ways than one.

A Picture of Evil (short)

What, exactly, is the nature of evil? Read about three painters who tried to show it.

The Spectacles

There is more to this man than meets the eye. He appears quite ordinary; he's learned that skill well enough...

Stephanos (short)

Stephanos begins when a boy enters a temple to get away from his sister...

A Strange Picture (short)

Why was a picture of beauty so disturbing?

Unashamed (short)

Abigail loves to sit down at a keyboard and improvise with her father. Why is she afraid one day?

The Voyage (medium)

A disillusioned young man wants to escape into another world, a magical world, and finds an old man who might help him.

The Wagon, the Blackbird, and the Saab (medium)

There's more connecting these three items than you might think. But the differences are more than meets the eye, too.

A Wonderful Life (medium)

It really doesn't matter if the situation is ordinarily bad or extraordinarily bad. Not for what really counts.

Novels

Go to: Orthodox Theology Articles Assorted Creations Journals Miscellaneous Nonfiction Novels Orthodox Humor Satire Scholarly Works Short Stories Socratic dialogue Technology Toastmasters Speeches

This section has free online novels. Other free online books include Yonder and Hayward's unabridged dictionary: a free online (satire) dictionary, or the how-to book Tinkering With Perl.

But the novels are right here, and several of them are Orthodox books. As well as these novels, you can also see short stories and other assorted creations. If you're looking for a place to start, I suggest The Sign of the Grail.

The Christmas Tales (long)

Several pilgrims speak over the Christmas meal.

A Cord of Seven Strands (long)

A novella which explores the connection between a circle of friends as they pass through harrowing experiences.

Firestorm 2034 (long)

A science fiction story about a medieval who is transported to the 21st century, and the chaos that ensues. It explores decades of shift in technology and culture. Heinlein fans will note a resemblance to Stranger in a Strange Land, which I drew on—perhaps they'll like this one, too.

The Sign of the Grail (long)

In this Orthodox book, a college freshman explores his room and finds a book, Brocéliande, and his eyes begin to open when he starts to read legends of King Arthur's court.

The Steel Orb (long)

The Steel Orb is an Orthodox book that tells a story from a world that has been simmering in my heart for years. It concerns a young pupil who wants to be a teacher, and the struggles he goes through on the way. It is a fantasy novella based on the patristic Orthodox East instead of the medieval Catholic West.

Socratic Dialogue

Socratic dialogue: philosophy with more than a dash of drama. If you're looking for a place to start, I reccommend The Watch.

Beyond the Unbearable Burden of Non-being

A look at "Christ is risen!" as the foundation to everyday living.

The Damned Backswing (short)

A dialogue about a "damned backswing" that keeps coming up in life and society.

How Shall We Live This Instant? (medium)

Humans have long lived as hunter-gatherers, then in a geological eyeblink adopted the agricultural revolution, and then in an eyeblink even compared to the agricultural revolution, spin out in a cascading, coruscating, coruscating succession of technologies.

The Law of Attraction: a dialogue with an Eastern Orthodox Christian mystic (medium)

In shaky times, many people look to the Law of Attraction. Orthodox Christianity has a way to delve deeper.

The Martian human complete set of working instructions to happiness: life, the Paleo diet, (Paleo) Orthodoxy, and other things (medium)

A Socratic dialogue between a fan of Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land and an Orthodox theologian about Martian and human life, happiness, and the Paleo diet.

The Mindstorm (medium)

A dialogue which has a brilliant alumnus return to his school and discuss philosophy of education with its founder.

Plato: the allegory of the... Flickering Screen? (short)

A slightly updated look at Plato's Allegory of the Cave... or perhaps not really an updated look at all. Should the most famous piece of Socratic dialogue have been called the Allegory of the Television?

Singularity

A Socratic dialogue about the present cultural singularity emanating from the West and reaching across the globe.

The dialogue is between Merlin, chrismated John, and Herodotus.

Spirit (medium)

God is spirit, and he invites us to be spirit too.

Veni, vidi, vomi: a look at "Do You Want to Date My Avatar?" (short)

"Do You Want to Date My Avatar?" is a viral music video that is funny and demure by music video standards. At first glance, at least...

The Watch (medium)

On the surface, it's about a watch that has another way of telling time. Under the surface...

Within the steel orb (medium)

Does Einstein's theory of relativity say anything that relativism does not? Or does relativism say anything that Einstein's theory of relativity does not?

Is there a difference that matters?

A sleek car under starlight, a different kind of information technology, a deep, blue-robed host, and the wisdom of a Socratic dialogue in a science fiction world.

Yonder (long)

Yonder is a science fiction story that starts in a world where mind and body are separate. Or at least that's one way of looking at it. You could also describe it as a miniature Divine Comedy, a journey which begins in Hell and ends in Heaven, but uses none of the traditional imagery: Hell is a place where you can have any pleasure you want, while Heaven is a place with intense suffering.