Stuart Orr
Bio
I'm mostly a science fiction writer who wishes he were a musician, so my work is almost always speculative and either features music as a theme, a plot imperative, or - and this is my most fervent wish - sings through the language.
Stories (7/0)
The Worrying Bone
He stares into the face of the place where all the best things come from and feels ashamed. Little Pink fusses over his ears with a ribbon. Her sweet, heavy breath sticks in his eyes, worse than the paint and powder she’s rubbed into his snout. Ziggy shuffles politely on the linoleum. His clipped nails make little clicks. He’s learnt from small hot screams and wide cold slaps from above not to show any strength or distemper.
By Stuart Orr7 months ago in Futurism
- Top Story - October 2023
The Devil's PlaygroundTop Story - October 2023
This machine is the perfect confessor. It need not forgive for it cannot be wronged. It does not confuse its thoughts with God’s. From behind this thickly folded curtain, ceremonial red, the absolution it offers is real, because its intention is pure: Listen. Understand. Counsel.
By Stuart Orr7 months ago in Futurism
Song of a Distant Star
Hubble rolls in Earth’s deep shadow. Its gossamer tiles cool taut. As one city after another sets up its canopy of light, the high sentinel reaps its wings’ brief harvest of sun: a night half an hour long, no sleep, all dreamlike recollection of light millennia old, and silence.
By Stuart Orr11 months ago in Beat
- Top Story - June 2023
Voodoo ChildTop Story - June 2023
Right now it’s dark. All the instruments are still. The musicians are in bed or crashed out on the floor. I’m in the yard, under the sycamore. In the firelight it seems to flit and heave, waving its arms at the stars like it’s calling down guidance.
By Stuart Orr12 months ago in Beat