The Soldier Y+0 Granger realized that the whirlwind month had ended as he headed to the Greyhound bus, hoping to see if he could get a trip. According to the sergeant in the discharge barracks, his chances of getting a home trip to Wyoming were next to nothing. He had the Army travel voucher and […]
Category: Short Fiction
Sins of the Son: A Vignette by Torn MacAlester
Sins of the SonPhoto by Brett Sayles from Pexels Sins of the Son By Torn Macalester “Did you hear it?” The patient asked over the cacophony of emergency equipment as the doctor worked on him and six other patients that were nearly as bad. “Hear what?” The doctor asked, placing the gauze pads over the burns. “Make sure we […]
Decisions: A Vignette by Torn MacAlester
Decisions Y+13 Nils heard Katie enter the room as he finished typing the letter and sent it to the printer. He’d been using the back bedroom as an office ever since they had moved to Houston. He’d set up a communications center in the room so that Katie could keep in communication with him whenever […]
Short Fiction: Cold Contact by Torn MacAlester

Cold Contact is a science fiction short originally written for the Fiction Fountain. Of the current stories on my website, it is the one not working on the similar theme to the others. You can read more of my short fiction at: Short Fiction. Most of the short fiction fits into a timeline of events: Timeline. […]
Short Story: Morgan’s Road
Nelson once felt independent. His life as a lunar prospector at least seemed that way. With his money supply dwindling, the stark reality of his freedom had faded to disappointment. The moon would likely win, and Nelson would return to Earth. Then the stranger Morgan arrived making Nelson question everything he knew about the moon, […]
Sins of the Son — a vignette by Torn MacAlester
A vignette by Torn MacAlester: Sins of the Son My stories are arranged in a timeline of events. See it here. It is the first story from the aftermath of the Yellowstone eruption. These are related events that take place in the same timeline as my novel, Thunder Moon Tussle, it is available on amazon in […]
Apollo 14

Photo by Brian McGowan on Unsplash Did you know that Apollo 14 landed at the planned landing site for Apollo 13? The place is called the Fra Mauro Highlands. The Apollo 14 lander, Antares, landed at Fra Mauro near the Cone crater. Part of the mission required an EVA to the rim of […]
Science and Technology in Morgan’s Road

Being a scientist and engineer, I enjoy adding as realistic elements as possible to my stories. For example, I wrote this article to discuss the science and technology that I referenced in writing the story Morgan’s Road. Science of Morgan’s Road. There are certainly some spoilers in that article. If you haven’t read Morgan’s Road, […]
Free Short Science Fiction Story by Torn MacAlester

Free short science fiction story: Morgan’s Road by Torn MacAlester Making a living on the Moon is not for everyone, but Nelson Carmike actually preferred the airless basalt plains over Earth’s windy prairies. Unfortunately, three years of Moon prospecting left him penniless, and without funds for supplies he was doomed to face a forced flight […]
Morgan’s Road by Torn MacAlester

My short story Morgan’s Road acts as a prequel to the remainder of my current stories including my novel Thunder Moon Tussle. I wrote the story itself to romanticize the actual science results from LCROSS. You can see the science behind the story in article The Science of Torn MacAlester’s Morgan’s Road. The […]