The Annihilation of Foreverland

after they paid a fortune. They would want to tell him that he would not get away with this. But they wouldn’t get the chance.
    They would never have the chance.
    The Director, as they knew him, was no more.
    Reed had shut down the Looping Program, ending the identity known as the Director.
    Even if the old men knew the Director had passed, there was nothing they could do. There was no communication with the outside world. That was the terms of their contract. They signed their life over to the Director. They had purchased a younger body when they acquired a young man, but had to sell their soul in order to do so.

    Once they were on the yacht, Reed took the helm. Zin stayed up front to watch the way to the other island. The rest of the boys were back on the island and would never know they were gone. They would keep playing games, find food in the cafeteria and sleep in the dormitory. They probably wouldn’t even know something was wrong.
    Until help arrived.
    “There it is!” Zin called. “Straight ahead!”
    Reed waved from the helm. Danny joined Zin at the bow. The water was black and the island invisible in the dark except for a single light at the end of the dock. There would be someone waiting to help them tie off the yacht. Reed had called ahead, telling them to prepare the plane. He would be bringing the boat over soon.
    They sounded surprised. The Director, flying?
    Of course, he told him. Vacation is long over due.
    It took some research, but Danny discovered the Director was a billionaire many times over. He had so much money that if they split it three ways, they would all still be billionaires. For the time being, they were going to stay together. The Director had an estate in Italy .
    That seemed like a good place to start a new life.

Missing Satellite Uncovers Human Trafficking Ring

    ASSOCIATED PRESS. – The Military Strategic and Tactical Relay (MILSTAR) reported the sudden crash landing of one of their satellites in the South Atlantic when their network was infected with a malicious virus. The virus will likely cost the government millions of dollars to recover and reestablish communication.
    However, the recovery of the downed satellite was near a remote island previously thought to be unoccupied. Authorities of the United States have reported a sophisticated human trafficking ring. Preliminary reports have identified wide-spread use of banned technology called Computer-Assisted Alternate Reality (CAAR), though it is unclear how the organization was using the technology.
    In addition, dozens of previously reported dead or missing people were being held captive in a resort located on the island. All the people are male and worth billions of dollars. None have agreed to cooperate with the investigation until they have consulted their legal counsel.
    However, many have admitted the leader and creator of the island’s society was missing. Currently, his name has not been discovered but he went by the nickname, The Director.

4-Letter Words
    ( South Carolina Fiction Open Winner, 2008)

    Columnist
    Post and Courier Gardening
    http://www.postandcourier.com/section/featurescolumnists

Interview with Tony Bertauski

    When did you start writing?
    I always wanted to write creatively. I just wasn’t good at it. I didn’t have a writer’s muscle, either: that ability to spend hours at the keyboard. I was a technical writer before fiction. I did a Master’s thesis and wrote several articles for trade magazines before completing two textbooks on landscape design. After that, I figured fiction would be cake . Turns out, the craft of fiction – good fiction – is a hell of lot harder than I thought.

    My first effort started with Socket Greeny. It was a story I started for my son because he hated to read. He still hates to read , but this character – Socket – took root. It was the first time I felt possessed by a character with a story to tell. It took me 5 years and countless rewrites to get it right. I thought I had the Golden Ticket, that I just needed to pick a publisher to mail me a giant check. I even estimated how many years it would take for the movie.

    Turns out publishing fiction is harder than writing it .

    If you can’t make money, why write fiction?
    I didn’t say you can’t make money. There are a lot of people out there with a book; I’m just a minnow in a crowded pond. It took a good deal of networking and research to realize just how hard it is.

    T hanks to epublishing, I