BIBLIOGRAPHY of F. ALEXANDER BREJCHA
`This is part of the Brejcha Personal and Disability Resource Site, and after reading this page you can Click here for a Menu . But for now, Welcome to my:
BIBLIOGRAPHY of F. ALEXANDER BREJCHA
(A listing of fiction and non-fiction publications, biographical articles, and Media appearances)
Al.l. reprints linked on this page are posted with editors' permission, and I retain copyright to all posted material
February
1, 2012
Fiction Genre Code: A (Action), D (DisABILITY related), F (Fantasy), MG (Multigenre), R (Romance), S (Suspense), SF (Science Fiction)
(MG, D) Click on the cover on the left for more info and a link to buy
People First! This is is a multi-genre anthology of some of my short
fiction (2/3 previously published and 1/3 original) - much of it science fiction
previously published in Analog Science
Fiction and Fact, including a Nebula Award recommended novella which was
also given an honorable mention in Gardner Dozois' Year's Best Science
Fiction, 7th Annual Collection, (1990, St. Martin's: New York. Each story
has a disABLED main character in exciting and challenging situations . This book
was motivated by my own extensivedisABILITIES and desire to entertain mainstream
readers and inspire readers with disabilities to LIVE! But it's meant to be a
fun read for all, using science fiction, romance, horror, and suspense —
and if it also happens to inform, motivate, and inspire, then so much the
better.
Samples
are available here)
(D) click on the cover on the left for more info and a link to buy
Laugh or Cry: Finding the Lighter Side of disABILITIES Co-authored with
Hollywood producer Sharon Hulihan who also has M.S., this large print collection
of anecdotes and essays by and for people with disABILITIES is aimed at
entertaining and educating both mainstream and disABLED readers by showing the
strength of humor as a healing and empowering force. For more info on the book
(in addition to the link you get by clicking on the cover picture, go to
book description and
samples)
(SF)
Click on the cover picture for info and a link to order No World Warranty
Blending high tech with romance and action, this epic science fiction tale
involves using nanotechnology and genetically altered plant and animal life
(altered to reproduce at an accellerated rate) to build a second home for
humanity after misused nanotechnology almost destroys Earth. Through
nanotechnology, we convert a dead planet the size of Mars into a living world
for us to colonize - however, by the time we get there it turns out we're not
alone; and not exactly welcome! It is based on, and continues, two Nebula Award
recommended novellas written for
Analog Science Fiction and Fact
magazine - the second of which was given an honorable mention in Gardner
Dozois' annual Year's Best Science Fiction, 8th Annual Collection, (1991,
St. Martin's: New York). * Recommended for the Nebula award.
** Has central character with a disability
+ Honorable Mention in Year's Best Science Fiction, 7th Annual Collection, (1990, St. Martin's: New York).
++ Honorable Mention in Year's Best Science Fiction, 8th Annual Collection, (1991, St. Martin's: New York).
* * *
Another Scarlet Letter **. Novelette, Spring '98 issue, SF/A/D. (A new and more virulent AIDS has led to the formation of an AIDS Police helped by genetically imposed branding -- and an underground to fight the new discrimination. An accidentally infected man is drawn into a plot between police and underground factions -- reluctantly on the side of the police.)
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Viewpoint * + ** April 1989. SF/D (First-contact novelette with a psychologist trying to find the reason a newly contacted alien attacked a space station crewman. He is assisted by a paraplegic young girl with spinabifida who is Earth's most powerful telepath.)
Why?, * Mid-December 1989. SF (Another first-contact novelette taking place on a colony world where the contacting alien trots up to a camera to commit suicide. Why? To make things worse, killer insects are a mean distraction to the widow doctor trying to figure this out.)
StarStep, * April 1990. SF (Novelette, in which nanotechnology is used to build a colony world out of a barren planet, but resistance at home almost kills the plan. Part one of two. [An expanded and revised version of this is part 1 of my novel No World Warranty])
The New Land, * ++, June 1990 SF (Novella sequel to StarStep, where the newly arrived colonists encounter a little glitch: among the life used to seed StarStep, one species has developed intelligence. [This is part 2 of No World Warranty. Another novella "The New Neighbors" continues the story and the book, but it was written too late for publication in Analog due to the time lag after the first two parts])
Examination**, November 1990. SF/D (Short story prequel to Why?. First-contact story that wasn't supposed to be. A century before the first official contact, an advance scout of the alien species goofs and contacts a man with M.S. in a wheelchair who is a science fiction writer [gee, where did I get that idea]. The problem is, the alien was only supposed to observe. I'm making the full text of this story available to all since it is such a good disability awareness story. I was reminded of this when three doctors [neurologists in Canada, New York, and L.A.] wrote me through the magazine and asked permission to photocopy it for their patients. If they thought it would help their patients, perhaps it can help some surfing the web, too.
Club Armageddon, Mid-December 1990. SF (Time travel story where people from the future travel to our past and present for excitement in our tension-torn times [tensions they help maintain], but discovery of their tampering causes time-line splits and disruptions.)
I'll Show You Mine If..., April 1991. SF/D (Sequel novelette to Why? where one of the aliens sent to Earth as ambassador suddenly freaks out and is now catatonic. The psychiatrist called in on the case has to face her own phobias to help the alien. Another "Why?" question to deal with.)
Defect?, * ** June 1991. SF/R/D (Short story about a woman doctor with Turner's Syndrome trying to find a way to prenatally detect and prevent it -- but her quest is complicated by a religious fanatic). A former girlfriend with Turner's inspired this.
Preliminary Data, April 1992. SF (Short story about nanotechnology research on increasing a bear's intelligence and strength to make cheap slave labor for a heavy-gravity world -- an experiment that succeeds a bit too well [story from the bear's point of view].)
Eavesdroppers, * August 1992. SF (Novelette about someone using nanotechnology developed for wild-life studies and preservation to spy on stock information to finance a White Supremacist return to power in post-Apartheid South Africa.)
Can You Hear What I See? * ** August 1993 SF/D (Another first-contact short story, this one about a deaf doctor who uses an adaptive-listening system to hear his patients -- and happens to overhear a crashed alien's frustrated call for attention.)
Looking Through the Personals *, October 1994. SF (A short story about a forbidden exchange of E-Mail messages between a lonely alien observer and a woman researcher at the South Pole who isn't quite sure what to believe.)
With Other Eyes, * November 1995. SF/D (First-contact novelette again, as an astronomer who first communicated with some arriving aliens is the only invited visitor to their vessel -- and who uncovers a shocking reason for the aliens' lack of curiosity about us.)
Trade Warriors. * October 1998 SF (Follows a woman cadet in an alien economic academy (50/50 Marine Boot Camp/Ivy League University) on a world where male aliens have sublimated war instincts into business, and females are third class 'barefoot and pregnant'. Aliens are forced to accept her to get trade, and get much more than they bargained for as she turns their social order around)
Waltzing My Tilde. November 1998. SF (Shameless pun intentional, this short tongue-in-cheek story is about visiting aliens who almost go to war with us because of an internet blunder on our part.)
Take A Load Off** November 1999. SF/D Note: 2-17-99 This story was originally accepted for publication in Artemis(see below), but due to the delays in starting this magazine, the editor graciously allowed me to withdraw the story and submit it to Analog which purchased it.(A woman financial wizard with a rare inoperable heart condition moves to an exclusive Lunar settlement -- and together with a new friend, uncovers a major illicit scheme to defraud the world. [this story is an unabashed commercial for the exciting lunar exploration and utilization plans of the Artemis Society -- see the Science Fiction page for the Web sites for the magazine and the society]).
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Note: 2-17-99 This story was originally accepted for publication in Artemis but due to the delays in starting the magazine the editor graciously allowed me to withdraw the story and submit it to Analog which purchased it.
Take A Load Off**. Note: 2-17-99 See Analog listing above.
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(regrettably out of print)
I See My Love, ** May, 2000. R/D (Published quarterly on the web and in print, this story is based on actual events - about a blind man who wakes upin the emergency room after being mugged; without any memory of who the woman holding his hand is: his wife! The actual victim was a fellow member of a disability commission I served on - but while he lost two years of his life, he had been married for three. The devil's advocate in me just wanted to make things difficult.)
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(big glossy color magazine regrettably out of print after only a year)
The Living God Within, * January 1994. SF (Novelette about a woman minister who is sent as ambassador to a re-contacted colony world, now a theocracy, where miracles are routine. But there is a scientific reason for the miracles and the government is taking advantage of that -- until she becomes the instrument of a real one and blackmails the government into cleaning up its act.)
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Siren Song**, serialized in the April and May 1999 issues. A/D/R (True life-based suspense/romance short story about a police officer - paralyzed in a shooting - who in reaction shuts off emotionally and drives away his wife. Eventually realizing what he has lost, he tries to reconcile with her where she is singing at a jazz club owned by his former partner. But circumstances relating to his not-so-accidental shooting work try to prevent the reunion.)
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To Die For**, July/August, 1998 issue. A/D/R (Mystery short story about a paraplegic detective with M.S. investigating the apparent murder of a former athlete with M.S. who had become dependent on a wheelchair [a way for me to play the coping against the non-coping])
Deadly Ambassador, pending Summer 2003. (Science Fiction novelette which is a prequel to three novellas published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, about an alien ship accidentally shot down by the air force and which had a very annoyed passenger). NOTE: Apparently this magazine died still-born
**************************
Regretfully closed, it published a reprint of Siren Song
and some of my non-fiction.
"Taking Off From My Wheelchair" and "From Wheelchair to Sailplane"
================
To Touch Life ** 12-7-97 update. SF/A (Novelette with a female alien doctor who is recruited to try to heal a ten year-old multiple disability boy with traumatic brain injury who is now blind, deaf, and mute.) Note: to read the rest of this excellent magazine, click on the magazine title above for great fiction, non-fiction, and more. .
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Regretfully this webzine has closed
Dying Breath. September, 1998. SF Rated best story of the issue by the readers (Story of an artificial virus created through nanotechnology which is keyed to a combination of the melanin in African-Americans and ANY blood alcohol, and then released in poor urban areas by doctors unknowingly infected by a white supremacist's company. Main character is a white doctor who discovers this when his non-drinking African fianceé dies after a single celebratory sip of champagne -- and the autopsy result shows she died of complications from chronic alcoholism!)
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Unfortunately also closed, but here is: Megalopolis August, 1998 issue. SF/A (Dystopian future story of a New York separated into the 'Burbs, 'Hattan, and The Ring: a series of slums between what was Manhattan and the suburbs. Follows a sociology student from the 'Burbs trying to learn about the gangs of the Ring - and she meets someone else who beat her to her study, but who has become really involved in his work.)
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Examination (2-20-98 update). NOTE 11-7-98: Unfortunately, this promising site was forced to close. Reprint of story originally published in Analog Science Fiction & Fact.
===============
Victim No More (October 28, 2010) Moondance is published by the Women Artists and Writers International.
This story is based on the history of previous ABUSIVE relationships of an ex-girlfriend of mine (one of a beautiful twin pair of ladies). What she told me so outraged me that I wrote this. The editors of several magazines had expressed appreciation of this, but unfortunately it was too long for them. At 6000 words it was more than 1000 words too long for their magazines, though two expressed regret that their guidelines prevented them from buying the story. Fortunately, the editor of MS Musings online magazine loved it and used it for her April 2003 issue and it is now here in the October 28, 2010 issue of the woman empowering/oriented Moondance.
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Stranger on the Road** (July 2000) Reprint (see Spaceways Weekly) This piece is based on an actual event that happened to me when I was on the way to a Science Fiction convention in Chicago (I was invited as Guest Author with all expenses paid) - fortunately at a very wheelchair accessible hotel (Hyatt Regency).
To Die For** (August 2000) Reprint (see WeMedia) (Originally published in the July/August 1998 issue of We, a magazine for persons with disabilities, their families and friends [a large, glossy, commercial magazine regretfully gone that straddled mainstream and disability lifestyles beautifully], I am posting it here as it is a story balancing a copings vs a non-coping person - both with M.S. in a wheelchair.
Rollabout** (January 2003) D Semi-autobiographical story about a wheelchair-using professional writer with M.S. tryinng to come to grips with writing and living in reality (i.e.: writing honest auto-biographical work and taking steps to ask out a woman he's drawn to). Too ":Mary-Sue" for pro markets, it is aimed at this magazine's readers.
Victim No More (April, 2003) S Based on the history of previous ABUSIVE relationships of an ex-girlfriend of mine (one of a beautiful twin pair of ladies). What she told me so outraged me that I wrote this.
Crossover (March 2006),.F/R/D Original fantasy/disability/romance about a man with M.S. who switches places with an alternate universe counterpart. Web link just added 2010
I Just Need a Little Favor and Waltzing My Tilde. A double-header in the April 2006 issue. SF The first is about aliens who contact a character suspiciously like me (an SF writer) because they need some unique help; and the second was originally published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact (November 1998) and is about an interstellar war almost started by an internet error. Just for fun. .
It'll get better when THEY come** .(February 2007).SF .Story about an Earth recharged and driven to clean up by news "Aliens are coming!!' Story has M.S. and spinal injury characters.
Dream Lover (September, 2007) R Originally written as a follow-up to Siren Song for Today's Black Woman, I got busy and forgot about it until I remembered it just in time for this. While the Today's Black Woman editor also loved it as I am a White author sensitive to African American issues, it was also too long for the magazine and she already made one exception. But I was busy with other stories and forgot about this one until Car's request for stories reminded me. Hope you like this.
Examination (October 2007) SF This story first appeared in the November, 1990 issue of Analog Science Fiction & Science Fact, and is a prequel to "Why?" (Mid-December, 1989) and "I'll Show You Mine If..." (April, 1991). However, the story stands on its own, and was prompted by an observation that aliens might do well to learn about us by observing how our society treats those who are different -- such as individuals with disabilities. I drew shamelessly from myself for the main character in terms of disability and occupation in order to educate the alien, and hopefully readers, about why disabilities do not mean inabilities. I only hope I turn out as successful as my character. I am posting this here because after the storywas published, I received three letters forwarded from Analog from doctors in Canada, New York, and California who asked permission to copy the story for their patients -- they are neurologists specializing in M.S.. I naturally wrote back to tell them to feel free. But as I assembled this web site, I thought that if they felt the story would help their patients, perhaps it could help inspire others, too. So here it is...
I See My Love (November, 2007) R Published in the May 2000 issue of Inspire (an Australian quarterly newsletter published on the web and in print), this story grew out of my former position as an officer of the West Chester Borough Commission of Disabilities. One of the other former commission members is blind, and around the time of our work, he had been mugged and suffered a traumatic brain injury. As a result of his injury, he had lost two years of his life... including his graduate school studies! Fortunately he had been married for three years and did remember his wife. But my nasty Devil's advocate of an imagination asked: What if?. It's a short-short slice of life more than anything, written and enclosed here to show the unimportance of disabilities given the right attitude.
To Touch Life ** February,2008,SF/A (Novelette with a female alien doctor who is recruited to try to heal a ten year-old multiple disability boy with traumatic brain injury who is now blind, deaf, and mute.) Originally published in the 12/7/97 issue of Dark Planet Webzine. .
Crossover (May 2008),.F/R/D Original fantasy/disability/romance about a man with M.S. who switches places with an alternate universe counterpart. OOPS. This was in March, 2006 issue. So, new is
Siren Song also in May, 2008 D/R, a reprint originally published as a serial in Today's Black Woman
The Living God Within, (June, 2008) D/SF. This was published first in the big color monthly Science Fiction Age (a magazie now regretably closed).
And in July, 2008, two stories which were originally published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact Preliminary Data April 1992. SF (Short story about nanotechnology research on increasing a bear's intelligence and strength to make cheap slave labor for a heavy-gravity world -- an experiment that succeeds a bit too well [story from the bear's point of view].) and With Other Eyes * November 1995. SF/D (First-contact novelette again, as an astronomer who first communicated with some arriving aliens is the only invited visitor to their vessel -- and who uncovers a shocking reason for the aliens' lack of curiosity about us.)
And in August, a reprint of The Cure which was published in the December, 1998 Planet Magazine,about a quadriplegic writer paralyzed in a car accident that killed his wife, has continued writing - if not living - and suddenly he is faced with a possible cure... and it terrifies him. and an original story titled Night Voicesan older piece of mine I found on a floppy (remember those?). It needed a MAJOR edit, but I feel good about it now. It was written while I was working at Graduate Hospital and I was good friends with several Police officers whom I pumped relentlessly before writing this Murder-Mystery/Romance. I even had it read by one of my friends in blue, who said he wished he would have had such a night. So here is a night in Philadelphia I hope you find interesting… .
September, 2008, Another Scarlet Letter- Originally published in the Spring 1998 issue of Absolute Magnitude, (unfortunately now out of print), this science fiction action piece is about a new and more virulent AIDS that has led to the formation of an AIDS Police helped by genetically imposed branding -- and an underground to fight the new discrimination.
October, 2008, Death is an Overly Splendored Thing This is a piece written years ago for my usual market (they paid best) Analog Science Fiction and Fact, but while Stan really liked it, it was not as hard science as he usually buys, and as I had another appropriate piece started (which he did buy and publish), I put it aside and actually forgot about it. It is disability-related, so appropriate here.
November,, 2008, With Other Eyes D, SF Published in the November 1995 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Science Fact, and recommended for the Nebula Award, this First-contact novelette is about an astronomer who first communicated with some arriving aliens and is the only invited visitor to their vessel -- and who uncovers a shocking reason for the aliens' lack of curiosity about us.
February,2009, I See My Love again, and for the first time anywhere: The Woman Who Wasn't There
May, 2009 Examination SF This story first appeared in the November, 1990 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, and is a prequel to "Why?" (Mid-December, 1989) and "I'll Show You Mine If..." (April, 1991). However, the story stands on its own, and was prompted by an observation that aliens might do well to learn about us by observing how our society treats those who are different -- such as individuals with disabilities. I drew shamelessly from myself for the main character in terms of disability and occupation in order to educate the alien, and hopefully readers, about why disabilities do not mean inabilities. I only hope I turn out as successful as my character. I am posting this here because after the storywas published, I received three letters forwarded from Analog from doctors in Canada, New York, and California who asked permission to copy the story for their patients -- they are neurologists specializing in M.S.. I naturally wrote back to tell them to feel free. But as I assembled this web site, I thought that if they felt the story would help their patients, perhaps it could help inspire others, too. So here it is... P.S.: This ran in the October, 2007 issue of already, but Car wanted to re-run it, and I hope it will amuse/interest prior and new readers of her wnderful e-zine.
June, 2009 Stranger on the Road** Reprint (see Spaceways Weekly)
July, 2009, Night Voices, This is an older piece of mine I found on a floppy (remember those?). It needed a MAJOR edit (explains why I never sold it and forgot abut it), but I feel good about it now. It was written while I was working at Graduate Hospital and I was good friends with several Police officers whom I pumped relentlessly before writing this Murder-Mystery/Romance. I even had it read by one of my friends in blue, who said he wished he would have had such a night. So here is a night in Philadelphia I hope you find interesting…
Rollabout** (August. 2009) D Semi-autobiographical story about a wheelchair-using professional writer with M.S. tryinng to come to grips with writing and living in reality (i.e.: writing honest auto-biographical work and taking steps to ask out a woman he's drawn to). Too ":Mary-Sue" for pro markets, it is aimed at this magazine's readers. Note: This ran here Jan. 2003, but Car wanted it again as I had nothing new.
Deadly Ambassador (September, 2009) SF Prequel story to Why, (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Mid-December, 1989) and Examination, (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, November, 1990), this is a story I sold to Wondrous Journeys - a magazine that died before it went to press. It was supposed to be a feature in the Summer, 2003 issue with the title "Deadly Ambassador", but as W.J. died, I sent it to Analog. But Stan (the Editor of Analog) had already bought two stories from me about this alien species, and while he liked this, he wanted something different from me. So I wrote Club Armageddon which ran in the Mid-December, 1990 issue. This piece is a bit dark, but it's because we need to grow as a species…
** and Megalopolis (October, 2009) D, SF This first story is one from my book People First (iUniverse, 2004) and has a disABLED main character,,, oh, it was me... and the second is pure SF in a dystopian future New York, published originally in the August, 1998 Exodus Magazine (regretfully closed).
I Just Need a Little Favor**, December, 2009, D, SF (Back again by request) This story is a little risque and written just for fun, but while every editor I sent it to wrote back with appreciative and chuckling comments, they ultimately passed on it. Personally I was a little miffed. It isn't that off-color. But it fits perfectly here because of the main character's disability, and as an immigrant, it gives me a chance to ask some questions of my own about the origins of some uniquely American... expressions..
Peepers, 'Paths, and 'Porters ,, January, 2010, D, SF This story grew out of memories of working at an Easter Seal camp when I was in high school -- memories re-surfacing when my own disabilities took hold. That summer job was quite an experience for a sheltered sixteen year-old from the suburbs. I was initially only supposed to be a junior counselor, but after the first of four two-week sessions I was given my own charges when a full counselor quit. One of the sessions was devoted to mentally handicapped residents of a horrid state hospital -- since closed -- and I had three of their residents in my care. One of these was a sixteen year-old boy who was mentally about six. He was the nicest and most helpful camper, but would occasionally exhibit the remnants of an almost-extinguished obsessive-compulsive speech pattern stemming from an abusive father who had beaten him in frustration over his mental limitations.
February, 2010, given it's Valentine month, two romance sories from before: I See My Love and Siren Song. March will bring a new one.
March, 2010 Till Death Do Us PartThis piece was written while I working at Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia, and I was friends with a lot of doctors and nurses – including surgeons and Operating Room staff. I also learned a lot about the fears of families and patients heading for surgery and wrote this little piece……… and also Viewpoint (reprint of my first published and one of my best paying science fiction novella) and The Woman Who Wasn't There , a SF/romance/disability piece I had fun with.
And in April Reciprocal Measure This piece (like a lot of my work), was written while I worked at Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia. Working nights was great as I always had my laptop with me, and between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. it was quiet, except for periodic cardiac arrests and Emergency Room Trauma Alerts (we were located right between the ritzy Rittenhouse Square area and the low-income South Philly). Over my 27 years there, until they closed in 2007, I became friends with and learned a lot from our nurses and doctors. And learned more as two of the nurses became girl-friends. This piece about organ transplants grew out of an article I read about some illegal organs from Chinese political prisoners….
and Can You Hear What I See? * ** published in August 1993 in Analog Science Fiction and Fact SF/D (Another first-contact short story, this one about a deaf doctor who uses an adaptive-listening system to hear his patients -- and happens to overhear a crashed alien's frustrated call for attention.)
In May, A Touch of Scandal a piece about Philadelphia's first woman mayor - in a wheelchair!
In July 2010, Vengeance This piece is original, found on a disk and cleaned up, but not M.S., though disability in that the main character is a double amputee. Not a feel-good story, but a horror piece that grew out of a nightmare and I felt compelled to write it.
and
Meeting Online This story grew out of a chance meeting at a Lunacon science fiction convention sometime in the early 1990's with a blind fellow author which prompted this story also in my book People First.
August, 2010 Examination SF This story first appeared in the November, 1990 issue ofAnalog Science Fiction and Fact, and is a prequel to "Why?" (Mid-December, 1989) and "I'll Show You Mine If..." (April, 1991). However, the story stands on its own, and was prompted by an observation that aliens might do well to learn about us by observing how our society treats those who are different -- such as individuals with disabilities. I drew shamelessly from myself for the main character in terms of disability and occupation in order to educate the alien, and hopefully readers, about why disabilities do not mean inabilities. I only hope I turn out as successful as my character. I am posting this here because after the storywas published, I received three letters forwarded from Analog from doctors in Canada, New York, and California who asked permission to copy the story for their patients -- they are neurologists specializing in M.S.. I naturally wrote back to tell them to feel free. But as I assembled this web site, I thought that if they felt the story would help their patients, perhaps it could help inspire others, too. So here it is... P.S.: This ran in the October, 2007 and May 2009 already, but Car wanted to re-run it, and I hope it will amuse/interest prior and new readers of her wnderful e-zine.
September, 2010 Deadly Ambassador Also ran (September, 2009) SF Prequel story to Why, (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Mid-December, 1989) and Examination, (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, November, 1990), this is a story I sold to Wondrous Journeys - a magazine that died before it went to press. It was supposed to be a feature in the Summer, 2003 issue with the title "Deadly Ambassador", but as W.J. died, I sent it to Analog. But Stan (the Editor of Analog) had already bought two stories from me about this alien species, and while he liked this, he wanted something different from me. So I wrote Club Armageddon which ran in the Mid-December, 1990 issue. This piece is a bit dark, but it's because we need to grow as a species…
October. 2010 Night Mist as Halloween is coming. This 7,000 word story is one from my book People First (iUniverse, 2004) that grew out of an eerie night that began with a hellacious nightmare about being consumed by a monster -- much like the opening dream in this story. I was already paraplegic from my M.S., but still independent and able to care for myself, but this dream was scary.
November, 2010, (again) Death is an Overly Splendored Thing This is a piece written years ago for my usual market (they paid best) Analog Science Fiction and Fact, but while Stan really liked it, it was not as hard science as he usually buys, and as I had another appropriate piece started (which he did buy and publish), I put it aside and actually forgot about it. It is disability-related, so appropriate here.
December, 2010, With Other Eyes D, SF again (was in November, 2008 also) Published in the November 1995 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Science Fact and recommended for the Nebula Award, this First-contact novelette is about an astronomer who first communicated with some arriving aliens and is the only invited visitor to their vessel -- and who uncovers a shocking reason for the aliens' lack of curiosity about us.
January, 2011 I Just Need a Little Favor again just for fun while I work on something new.
February, 2011, given it's Valentine month, a romance soriy from before: I See My Love again and March has a new non-fiction piece coming.
April, 2011, Victim No More again S Based on the history of previous ABUSIVE relationships of an ex-girlfriend of mine (one of a beautiful twin pair of ladies). What she told me so outraged me that I wrote this.
October, 2011, Eavesdroppers SF (Novelette about someone using nanotechnology developed for wild-life studies and preservation to spy on stock information to finance a White Supremacist return to power in post-Apartheid South Africa.)
January, 2012 Examination SF This story first appeared in the November, 1990 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, and is a prequel to "Why?" (Mid-December, 1989) and "I'll Show You Mine If..." (April, 1991). However, the story stands on its own, and was prompted by an observation that aliens might do well to learn about us by observing how our society treats those who are different -- such as individuals with disabilities. I drew shamelessly from myself for the main character in terms of disability and occupation in order to educate the alien, and hopefully readers, about why disabilities do not mean inabilities. I only hope I turn out as successful as my character. I am posting this here because after the storywas published, I received three letters forwarded from Analog from doctors in Canada, New York, and California who asked permission to copy the story for their patients -- they are neurologists specializing in M.S.. I naturally wrote back to tell them to feel free. But as I assembled this web site, I thought that if they felt the story would help their patients, perhaps it could help inspire others, too. So here it is... P.S.: This ran in the October, 2007 and in the May, 2009 issues already, but Car wanted to re-run it, and I hope it will amuse/interest prior and new readers of her wnderful e-zine.
February, 2012 Dream Lover (repeat from September, 2007) R Originally written as a follow-up to Siren Song for Today's Black Woman, I got busy and forgot about it until I remembered it just in time for this. While the Today's Black Woman editor also loved it as I am a White author sensitive to African American issues, it was also too long for the magazine and she already made one exception. But I was busy with other stories and forgot about this one until Car's request for stories reminded me. Hope you like this.
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RollaboutD March, 2009. Semi-autobiographical story about a wheelchair-using professional writer with M.S. tryinng to come to grips with writing and living in reality (i.e.: writing honest auto-biographical work and taking steps to ask out a woman he's drawn to). Too ":Mary-Sue" for pro markets, it is aimed at this magazine's readers.
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The Cure** (December, 1998). SF/R Featured writer of the issue A quadriplegic writer paralyzed in a car accident that killed his wife, has continued writing - if not living - and suddenly he is faced with a possible cure... and it terrifies him.
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Stranger on the Road**, September 11th, 1998 (issue #54 - 1998 issue - click on September).SF/D Selected for reprint in the First Annual SpaceWays Weekly Anthology, and Winner of the "Reader's Choice Award: 1998" (This subscription e-mail magazine closed, but here is a short story of mine they ran about a paraplegic science fiction writer on the turnpike back to Philadelphia from a science fiction convention in Chicago (gee, that was me a few years ago) who picks up a hitchhiker from the same convention who lost her ride - and claims to be working for aliens observing humanity (actually, the real one wasn't that strange, but she got me wondering).
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Regretfully closed, they published reprints of "Taking Off From My Wheelchair" and "From Wheelchair to Sailplane" and A Look Forward... and Up
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(April, 5, 1994): Dear Abby letter on disabilities not meaning a lack of relationships.
(April 3, 2002) Opinion Column "Lifting Habitat Group's Stigma" (original title: "NIMNYD: Not In My Neighborhood You Don't"). Essay on how Habitat for Humanity is often misperceived -- and how my new wife and myself are having an accessible house built through Habitat.
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January 31, 2004 The Messenger Newsletter "Trying something new for M.S.":
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(October 18, 2001) Column: Technology can enrich lives in today's society. Response to Dan Goldfischer's August 7th semi-Luddite piece titled "Machines make life more inhumane" that ignored the many ways technology can empower and enrich -- and even humanize -- life.
(May 23, 2002) Column: Of Mothers passed and present. Essay on my late mother's forced 'incarceration' in an Alzheimer's specific nursing home - and of how stem cell research holds hope for us both.
(June 11, 2003) Column: "Your Health care sucks" Essay on how HMO-fever has compromised patient care and hurt both patients and doctors.
(March, 3, 2004) Column: Professionals need to pay attention to patients (Original title: "Attention: Teachers and Doctors". Essay on how teachers and doctors misdiagnosed one of my attendants and the daughter of another.
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Who Says You Have to be Cynical? (October, 2001) Essay: Discussion describing how I discovered good things and people during a five month hospitalization that cost me $12,000 in deductables and lost income.
Finding Cures Isn't Good Business** (March, 2002) Essay: Cynical discussion of why there isn't a motive to find cures for disabilities.
What: Me Change?** (April, 2002) Essay: Essay responding to "Theme ofthe month: What accommodations have your M.S. forced you to make".
Of Mothers passed and present** (July, 2002) Essay: Reprint of _Metro_ essay above.
What has M.S. given you?** (November, 2002) Essay: Essay responding to "Theme of the month of the same name..
"The way inspiration muses give me ideas by whispering in my ear while I sleep." (March, 2003) Essay: Essay on the theme of the month: "Inspiration". Longwinded title, but a piece on how I get ideas, and how others can stimulate their muses.
Keeping Physically Fit: An Intro: (June, 2003) Essays/Resources on the theme of the month: Exercise. To read the original, go to my pages on Keeping Physically Fit
Of Christmases Past and Passed (December, 2003) Essay: Essay on the Christmas theme of the month based on my true Christmas memories.
A New Technology to Help Typing (March, 2004) Essay: Essay on the Changes of Life theme of the month. This is about an inexpensive and fairly good voice recognition program.
Trying Out Something New for M.S. (March, 2004) Essay: Another Essay on the Changes of Life theme of the month, this one about using LDN (Naltrexone) which my wife and I are both using...
There's a Spider in My Bathtub (December, 2008) Essay: under "My Two Cents Worth" in the Features section.
"A Good Cause to Celebrate" (September, 2009) Essay: Under theme category. This is 10 year anniversary for this wonderful E-Zine.
In March 2010 will be A Look Forward... and Up, in the Real Life storysection. This article was written in mid-1991 (and now updated in 2010) after accepting an invitation to participate in (and run a panel) at the 1991 Philadelphia Science Fiction Convention, or Philcon. I had already sold 9 pieces to Analog Science Fiction and Fact (the longest continuously published science fiction magazine) and I had started to make a name for myself. But again, I forced organizers to make wheelchair accommodations so I could participate - as guest writers sit up on a podium platform. And, while I brought my own folding ramps, they had to be put out and steadied so I could get up in the key spot. Very obvious to the audience - to my delight. It's an old piece I happened to find, but the message is still valid and I wanted to share it again. Originally it was another OpEd piece of mine in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
August, 2010, Pulp Fiction: Playing With Problem Solving Article on using writing to focus your mind on helping solve your own problems. Originally published in the Summer 1999 issue of Inside M.S. quarterly magazine of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
September, 2010, Education and Frustration As schools are starting...
March., 2011, A Question of Faith An essay on how to turn problems into something positive based on a personal experience.
November, 2011. What has M.S. given you?, A re-run from 2002 but still valid
December, 2011, Of Christmases Past and Passed (repeat from December, 2003) Essay: Essay on the Christmas theme of the month based on my true Christmas memories.
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(December 15 to January 15, 2004 issue) Life Force section essay: Looking Out and Looking In, essay on how Philadelphia was part of my maturing process and still special to me.
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(January 22, 1993): Opinion Page: Letter responding to a politician's letter defending his air travel - at tax-payer expense - because of his severe handicap: a bad back.)
(April, 5, 1994): Dear Abby letter on disabilities not meaning a lack of relationships.
(July 2, 1997): She was 'Doctor' Shabazz Letter expressing frustration that the paper, KYW News Radio (Philly's top news radio station), and CNN all showed disrespect to Dr.Betty Shabazz when talking about her death. All ignored her earned doctorate when talking about her (my mother sometimes still has to remind folks of her Ph.D. and that made me more sensitive to this).
(September 23, 1998): Loneliness: It's not on the Internet. Guest Opinion essay rebutting Donald Kaul's syndicated column "Coming to a screen near you: Mayhem, boredom and depression" (printed in the September 8, 1998 Daily News), where he referred to a questionable Carnegie Mellon University study finding increased loneliness and depression among internet users and stated that the Internet is "...probably not a good thing for society..."
(?? 2001? - lost the issue)Good Sex My response to Chris Fariello's column - he gave me his entire column space for my response to his commentary on why sex is more between the ears than between the legs (very much agree, and gave my reasons why).
To read the Daily News, Inquirer and other newspaper pieces, click here.
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(July 27, 1995): The Mainstream is getting used to the disabled (not my title!). Opinion page commentary on how Philadelphia has changed after the ADA and increased disability awareness. (to read this click the link for the Daily News and Inquirer pieces above).
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(March 29, 1989): . Traveling Despite Physical Disabilities Feature article on travel advice for people with disabilities.
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(Provincial newspaper for the Dalsland province in Sweden, where my home town is located.
(November 8, 1997): ("Uppspårad på Internätet - Efter Trettio År" ["Discovered on the Internet -- After Thirty Years"]), Article on how another article about me and my activities as a writer and disability advocate (see Biographical Publications) in the same newspaper led to former elementary school classmates finding me and writing me via the internet (I came to the states as a ten year-old in 1968 from the town of Åmål). Click here to read it på Svenska or in English, or in a frames version with both languages side to side/med båda språk bredvid varandra.
To read the Daily News, Inquirer and other newspaper pieces, click here.
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(May/June, 1993): From Wheelchair to Sailplane. Photo-illustrated feature article on sailplane piloting lessons and flights for people with disabilities. ( click here to read both flying articles and see the rest of the photos.)
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(May, 1993): Taking Off From My Wheelchair. Essay for "Exit Ramp" section on my piloting lessons (see Sports 'N Spokes above). This is a follow-up to the above article.
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(July, 1996): Taking Off From My Wheelchair. (Reprint of New Jersey Monthly essay - see above).
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(Summer, 1998) Taking Off From My Wheelchair (Re-print of myNew Jersey Monthly essay but with new pictures.)
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(Summer, 1999) published my Pulp Fiction: Playing With Problem Solving Article on using writing to focus your mind on helping solve your own problems. Published in the quarterly magazine of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
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(Winter, 1999): From Arts to Letters. Autobiographic essay to provide advice on employment options.
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(Winter, 1999) . Pulp Fiction: Playing With Problem Solving An article on using writing to focus your mind on helping solve your own problems. (Dialogue is a quarterly magazine from Blindskills, Inc.). Reprint from Inside M.S. (see above).
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(October, 2001) Treatment Precautions for Paraplegic and Quadriplegic Patients with Sacral Decububitus Ulcers (Clinical commentary to educate surgeons about the different treatment needs of patients with disabilities. Due to wound care mismanagement I spent five months in a hospital at a cost to me of $12,000. There was no no need for that!) Note: new resource added on May 16, 2006 and if a journal subscriber, read the article as published here
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(October, 1999) That's Life Script and video material selection (video tape and stll photos) for a five-minute video tape on living with a disability intended as an advocacy vehicle to foster disability funding -- to be shown to Pennsylvania state government representatives.
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Chester County Living (magazine for Sunday Daily Local News [West Chester, PA]) (June 4, 1989): Bound to Travel, by Florence Robinson. Feature article on my traveling as a man with disabilities.
Chester County Living (magazine for Sunday Daily Local News (September 29, 1991): Good World of Science Fiction, by John Chambless. Cover story on my side-line as a science fiction writer with disabilities while working as a Graduate Hospital telephone operator.
MS Impressions (quarterly newsletter for the Greater Delaware Valley Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society [Philadelpia, PA]) (Summer, 1993): MS People, by Greg Vellner. Interview and story on my sailplane piloting lessons and writing career.
Provinstidningen Dalsland (Provincial newspaper for the Dalsland province in Sweden) (January 21, 1995): Lång Väg Från Åmål ("A long way from Åmål"), by Ann B. Weissmann, Ph.D.. Article on home town boy's life and activities as hospital worker, freelance writer and disability advocate in the U.S.A. (I came to the states as a ten year-old in 1968 from the town of Åmål).
The Philadelphia Inquirer. (Sunday Neighbors Section) (February 12, 1995): Using His Skill to Change Attitudes, by Rachel E. Stassen-Berger. Feature story on my job at Graduate Hospital, writing, and disability advocacy.
Image (quarterly Marketing and Public Relations magazine for the seven-hospital Graduate Health Systems) (Summer 1995 issue).: Graduate's Telephone Operator has the Write Stuff., by Charles McElrone, Personal profile.
Allegheny News (bi-weekly newspaper published by Allegheny Health Education and Research Foundation serving the entire Allegheny community of 13 hospitals) (August 18, 1997): Allegheny Graduate Hospital Telephone Operator Publishes Sci-Fi Writing,.by Sue Chastain. Profile on my job at science fiction writing, advocacy efforts, and job as night shift telephone operator.
Philadelphia Daily News ( p.56, July 9, 1998): Cyberia web site review, by Melanie C. Redmond.
Yahoo Internet Life (p.83, December 1998). (out of business July 2002) Touched By The Web, web site reviwew, "Changing Perceptions of Disabilities", by Matt Richtel.
New Mobility, (August, 2001) M.S. Life, "Wings, Wheels, and Weddings", by Josie Byzek. Article on my piloting lessons, disabilitiers and wedding.
New Mobility, (May, 2002) M.S. Life, "Digital Dating", by Josie Bysek and Jean Dobbs. Article on Internet dating including a description of how I met my wife through this web site.
Phoenix / Phoenixville News.com (April 26, 2003), "Handicapped pair get Habitat house", by Dennis J. Wright. Article on groundbreaking for the house Habitat for Humanity of Chester County (Pennsylvania) is building for my wife and I.
Phoenix / Phoenixville News.com (January 24, 2004), "Builder donates work to start Habitat home", by Bill Rettew, Jr.. Article on the completion of the framing and roofing on our house.
New Mobility, (December, 2004) M.S. Life, "Three New Books", by Josie Byzek. Article on my just published books and web site.
Disability News and Views , (December 19, 2004). Weekly Radio show covering N.Y. and SE Canada.. Interviewed by Nick Moshenko (sitting in for regular host Monica Moshenko) about my books and web site. Real Audio file of interview available on the site (Past Shows scroll down to the Dec. 19th listing and click on "Listen" and speaker icon). First half hour is Jeff Hirschfelt - The National Statler Center for Careers in Hospitality Service, and my interview is the second half of the show.
MSFocus, (Winter, 2005 - ironically the first issue of the year), "Reaching Beyond and Making Contact", by Christine Ratliff, profile of me, my web site, and my books.
For the Health of It July (?) 2006. Weekly Cable Television show on Phantom TV in the Phoenixville Pennsylvania area, hosted by Lou Beccaria. Interview based on my life as an extensively handicapped man who works full-time and uses this web site and writing - especially two of my books - to inspire and inform ALL people.
Technically Speaking September 17, 2006. Weekly Philadelphia area Radio show on 900 a,m,, WURD. Interviewed by JC Lamkin as part of the show starting a topic on enabling power of technology on people with disabilities.
Technically Speaking October 1, 2006. Weekly Philadelphia area Radio show on 900 a,m,, WURD. Interviewed by JC Lamkin as part of a show on National Disability Employment Awareness Month
The Communicator February, 2007, Marketing and Public Relations publication of Graduate Hospital, "Alex Brejcha Connects with Others through Passion for Writing", Marisa Sharkey., profile of me as an employee with extensive disabilities who works full-time and uses writing to help others.
MS Connection (formerly MS Impressions) (quarterly newsletter for the Greater Delaware Valley Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society [Philadelpia, PA]) (Winter, 2007 [February 2007]): "Face of M.S.: Alexander Brejcha", by Kristin Voorhees
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An intriguing alternate therapy I have used since 2004. For info, check out: LDN Aware and The LDN Research Trust and I have a reprint of nn article about it the latter published at January 31, 2004 The Messenger Newsletter "Trying something new for M.S.":
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