Tag Archives: Joanne Merriam

JOANNE MERRIAM: The Farmer

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Insurgency started with small seeds, the woman he compromised lying under oath, the celebrity he made famous shot at the border. Every year a new crop of plump Kalashnikovs, succulent Swiss accounts. He thought he understood cultivation, but finds himself set out to dry, the seed of some future flowering.

Joanne Merriam lives in Nova Scotia. Her writing has appeared in dozens of periodicals including Baltimore Review, Pictura, and Under the Basho. She owns Upper Rubber Boot Books, known for the first English-language anthology of solarpunk, Sunvault. You can find her at joannemerriam.com.

JOANNE MERRIAM: Miners for Valles Marineris

Adventure, Submissions, ,

Resigned to hunger and loose teeth, you have one second chance. Work hard, they said: your children will inherit a planet. The metal skin judders as it hits what passes for atmosphere here.

Where you land is littered with broken machine parts. Phobos waxes overhead. Home is a bright star.

If you like it, my bio might read: Joanne Merriam lives in Nova Scotia. Her writing has appeared in dozens of periodicals including Baltimore Review, Haikuniverse, and Pictura. She owns Upper Rubber Boot Books, known for the first English-language anthology of solarpunk, Sunvault. You can find her at joannemerriam.com.

JOANNE MERRIAM: Ring Around the Coffeepot

Adventure, Submissions, , , , ,

“This your boss?”

She sobbed for the benefit of the police, hands itching to clean the blood around the coffeepot.

“No. He just thought he was.”

Making her fetch coffee, as though that were her job. She frowned at the leaking corpse making the mess on the carpet worse. Typical.

Joanne Merriam lives in Nova Scotia. Her writing has appeared in dozens of periodicals including Baltimore Review, Pictura, and Under the Basho. She owns Upper Rubber Boot Books, known for the first English-language anthology of solarpunk, Sunvault. You can find her at joannemerriam.com.

JOANNE MERRIAM: Lightyears From Home

Adventure, Artistic, Submissions, ,

When the crows cry, I feed them. The AI running our habitat only powers up if it hears them. Nobody knew why. It’s just me now: the navigator, no programmer.

When the oxygen goes, we will too. I’m down to six ration bars, their favorite: they like the foil wrappers.

Joanne Merriam lives in Nova Scotia. Her writing has appeared in dozens of periodicals including Baltimore Review, Haikuniverse, and Pictura. She owns Upper Rubber Boot Books, known for the first English-language anthology of solarpunk, Sunvault. You can find her at joannemerriam.com.