Jack Ryan's Short Stories

The science fiction stories which take place in my Stellar Economic Community universe are listed in chronological order from the SEC Timeline. Please note for my published stories that some publications do not have a good system for archiving their back issues (or no longer exist.) So, just in case, clicking on the story name will link to a PDF file of the published story. I also have a few non-SEC stories and have listed them alphabetically at the end of the SEC stories. Some of those are science fiction, some are not.

Are We Alone? (2414 BCE): 3400 words. While using the shuttle Marcopo during the last of the taupiforming missions, the Taupoians, Carmala and Sharmara, discover its experimental AI.

The Great Dying (2414 BCE): 2000 words. Brittany Fawddom brings about The Great Dying as she attempts a coup on Taupoi.

Golden Needles (2179 BCE): 4400 words. The story appeared in the 15 June 2015 issue of SF Reader. A battle between the saurians of the planet, Home, results in a tear in space-time which, in about 6000 years, could cause the destruction of this part of our galaxy. Home's ejection from it's own star system makes it a rogue planet and puts it on a path which will result in a potential collision with Earth. The story begins...

Prince Syree knew that within six hours he would be dead. Standing tall and proud, his glossy skin and patagia a dark blue, he stared out at the rain drumming against the windows of the hexagonal mess hall. Lightning illuminated the slender, golden starships in the distance...

Something Wicked (2179 BCE): 3600 words. A saurian starship of the Black Fleet crash-lands on Adondus.

Use Discretion (2114 BCE - 1557 BCE): 1900 words. The Shuttle Marcopo escapes from its scuttled parent ship, crash lands on Taupoi, and is not found until the Taupoians begin building starships again.

The Meeks Shall Inherit (1557 BCE): 2600 words. Taupoians discover the genetics of extending their life span to 1500 - 2000 years

The Porcelain Hourglass (1100 CE): 3400 words. For an image, click here.

Beyond the Clouds (1100 CE): 5700 words. For an image, click here.

Transit (1769 CE): 2300 words. The crew of the Marcopo takes the people of a Tahitian village to an island on the planet taupiformed in Are We Alone?

The Adondi (2068 CE): 4200 words. Queen Amanda, Adondus and the Taupoians defeat the dragons 3 years after crossing the Windward Sea. For an image, click here.

Flying Purple Percolator (2078 CE): 3300 words. While preparing to study antiques in Miami, Florida, the honeybee-sized Gerf, the crew of Shuttle 54, foil a robbery.

Shuttle 54, Where R U? (2078 CE): 5200 words. The story appeared in the 12 May 2015 issue of Perihelion SF. Hank Jodhpur brings home a whelk found while collecting marine life in Biscayne Bay. After he discovers that the whelk is an alien space shuttle, his "friend" Carl steals it. Hank and his girlfriend, Sara Leone, must rescue Shuttle 54 and return it to Biscayne Bay in time for a rendezvous with the aliens' mother ship. The story begins...

"Hey, Jodhpur!" Carl's voice was a little loud for the university library. "Y'all goin' collecting?"
Carl Bligh was about six-six, hair black and thick. He had one of those President Nixon five o'clock shadows at any hour of the day or night. And he didn't think it was funny if you called him "Captain" Bligh...

Day of the Doomrock (2132 CE): 2300 Words. The story appeared in the 12 April 2017 issue of Perihelion SF. Taupoian treasure hunters Eustan and Liz discover the rogue planet on its collision course with Earth. The story begins...

Liz Embwallah admired her flawless yellow skin and the sexy tufts at the tips of her ears as she gazed at her reflection in the view screen of the navigator's console. At ease in her chair, she played with her long hair, wrapping brown curls around her finger, and mused about their expedition to Gamma Murmer II's Hill Country.

"Just think of the stuff I'll be able to get with my share of our profits...

A Decimal Error (2143 CE): 4300 words. Taupoians bring the news of Home/Nemesis's approach to the people of Earth.

Umbo Job Mum (2150 CE): 3100 words. A detective story in which the Mumians' statue of Banay, the ancient Goddess of Time, is stolen. For an image, click here.

The Last Acorn (2173 CE): 5800 words. The Warren Ark begins to take samples of Earth's wildlife to the planet, Patience. For an image, click here.

The War of the Olives (2395 CE): 7300 words. Gina Verucchio foils a plot to force the sale of her family's olive groves.

A Conversation of Gina Verucchio (2403 CE): 3900 words. Gina Verucchio appears to foil an attempt to assassinate her while being interviewed on a vid news program. For an image, click here.

Plastidroid (2403 CE): 4100 words. Plastidroid prototype X4459 is stolen by Carlos Zapatero, who is intent on becoming a mercenary with a band of Mentecians.

Scary Sheri Safari (2735 CE): 3700 words. Pierre Bordeaux comes to Syringo in order to examine a played-out dysprosium mine to see if modern technology might make it worthwhile to reopen the mine. For an image, click here or here.

Thixotropic (2738 CE): 4100 words. Midshipman Bidido loses his right eye and begins his career on the wrong side of the law.

Slush (2762 CE): 2300 words. Recovering  from the loss of his lover, Daiva, Pierre Bordeaux returns to Panjandrum City where he decides to purchase a condemned building and start an antique shop.

The Tartian Egg (2764 CE): 5000 words. Pierre Bordeaux buys a Tartian Egg and a "statue of David" at an estate sale on Earth and attempts to sell them to the gangster, Bidido.

Bloodstone (2768 CE): 5100 words. Marcus, Sheila Cash, and RyLee/Rali meet on Earth in Tahiti and execute a "sting" on Bidido. For an image, click here.

The Pirates of Panjandrum (2769 CE): 5800 words. The story was published in issue 28 of OG's Speculative Fiction. On the planet Panjandrum, Sheila Cash purchases the plastidroid Juan del Rio from Pierre Bordeaux to help her get revenge on the gangster Bidido by conning him out of a small fortune and the starship Marcopo. The story begins...

Sheila listened to the clicks and pops as her subspace vocophone call made its way from Panjandrum to Earth. Her sister finally answered, "Clancy residence. Hello..."

"Sinead, I'm pregnant.

"Sinead? Are you there?" Sheila said after the silence became unbearable...

Sedona Jack (2770 CE): 800 words. Young Tom Clancy plays with a starship simulator.

More Tomorrows (2771 CE): 5000 words. The starship Newton, carrying Carolyn and her family, is forced to crash-land on the planet New Home.

A Christmas to Remember (2784 CE): 1800 words. Tom is expelled from The Great Writer's Astronautics Academy on Taupoi for disobeying an order while rescuing a fellow classmate during an aerial display celebrating Christmas. For an image, click here.

The Ring (2786 CE): 3400 words. Aquillo gives Tahiti the dragon bone ring.

Indigo Blue (2787 CE): 4100 words. A drug smuggler, and former pirate, provides Tom with a clue to the disappearance of the starship Newton.

Ghost Writers in Disguise (2787 CE): 5400 words. Tom, Baroo, and Ondomo con space pirates in Tom's search for information about Carolyn. For an image, click here.

Apprill Showers (2788): 2500 words. Rain Maker Rory Molle is puzzled when he is hired by Apprill O'Chett to produce a storm so that her wedding to her childhood sweetheart will be cancelled.

Don't Think Twice (2788 CE): 4900 words.          
(3-D model of Trittcha © 2012 by Will la Puerta)

The story appeared in the 12 April 2014 issue of Perihelion SF. After Trittcha's latest molt she is driven from her home because her foreign scent and blonde fur wing patches now mark her as not of her flutterby flock. She finds a home at the research station with Tom and discovers that her primitive intelligence improves with her psychic interaction with his mind. The story begins...

Trittcha itches. Itches. Itches.

Night but not-night. Three moons are one moon. Trittcha itches. Itches. Itches.

Nearly adult after this molt, she'll be able to flirt with the Flock's males...

A Many-Splendored Thing (2788 CE): 3300 words. Tom has inherited his uncle Juan del Rio's starship, but he must to travel to Adondus to claim it.

Voyage of the Bagel (2788 CE): 700 words. Tom and Trittcha share a nightmare and she is finally able to communicate with him.

Explorers (2790 CE): 1200 words. A crew of planet hunters discover an uninhabited world with a structure resembling the standing stones of Old Earth. It shelters a device picking up television broadcasts from the 1950s. For an image from this story, click here.

Non-SEC Short Stories

A History of Archery: 600 words
And Lo: 100 words
Green Grass Grows: 2000 words
Groundhog Day: 500 words. For an image, click here.
Help Wanted: 600 words
Incident in Aisle 14B: 1500 words. For an image, click here.
Lighthouse: 1000 words. For an image, click here.
November Song: 1000 words
Pushing the Envelope: 2500 words. For an image, click here or here.
Strangle the Red Cow: 460 words
Tell 'Em I'll Be There: 1000 words
The Ghost of Maple Muldrow: 6500 words. For an image, click here.
The Hermit: 1700 words
The Incident on 1 October: 1000 words
The Light in the Room: 500 words
The Surfing Mermaid: 300 words. For an image, click here.
Strange Candy: 5000 words. For an image, click here.
The Tower: 1700 words. For an image, click here.
Tort the Younger: 360 words
Urk and the Man from Little Rock: 6000 words. For an image, click here.

Page updated: 25 October 2021
Page created: 16 January 2012