In the new world order, there’s no such thing as an innocent bystander.
Seven shocking stories from the New Espionage Collection by award-winning author JR Pomerantz.
Published: November 2022
Can you survive the new espionage?
There are no sidelines.
There are no boundaries.
In the new world order, there’s no such thing as an innocent bystander.
Seven shocking stories from the New Espionage Collection by award-winning author JR Pomerantz.
The Terrifying Importance of Mental health Jesse’s suffering from synthetic broccoli’s surprise side effects. When he gets hospitalized with both its victim and perpetrator, who will pay the ultimate price?
T-Rex The Deputy Administrator of the State Department has a bone to pick with the Secretary of State, and they both might be fossils.
Golden Boy 144: Marigold Baby Jalia helps Harper give birth in the depths of their corporate greenhouse. Will the labor interrupt their labor long enough to get both of them fired?
The Farm When their visit to their older brother’s pot farm turns deadly, Michael and Baxter fight for their lives in the Northern California woods.
Golden Boy 288: Marigold, Baby Only Jalia knows whose image is manifesting in the mysterious marigolds of Fulfillment Center 6. Can she and Harper keep it a secret from the rest of the greenhouse?
Maury Always Makes It After Maury’s son-in-law goes missing at sea, he and Rico take the investigation into their own hands. Can two elderly alcoholics get to the bottom of a deep-sea fishing mystery?
The Sucking Clarity of Mental ealth The battle at Hampton Behavioral Health Facility continues. With synthetic broccoli on the menu, justice can’t be served.
Bystander is your first peek at the subversive, satirical, smart-mouthed New Espionage Collection.
Brace yourself to enter the terrifying near-future of synthetic food, mind control experiments, and one man’s battle for justice against a bad broccoli.
EXCERPT
Several of us were gathered in the television room, waiting for the third
and final cigarette break — the last activity of the day. We were all watching NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, a
preferred television program of the infirm, it seemed. I was reflecting on how
bad the astigmatism in my right eye had gotten since my admittance to the
Hampton Behavioral Health Facility, and I was thinking about what I would say
to Lester Holt in a live television interview as I watched NBC Nightly News with my left eye closed.
Lester Holt: Are you the spokesperson for your generation?
Me: Yes.
Then I reach out.
And I throttle that poor,
trustworthy news anchor.
I'll make a great famous person.
This particular Nightly News
segment was a follow-up to a story they had done earlier in the year about the
instances of encephalitis in frozen broccoli, the subsequent cover-up by the
agricultural conglomerates, and, ultimately, the manufacture of synthetic
broccoli. This Nightly News segment
included an interview with The Executive Agricultural Secretary of the United
States.
The interview illuminated several things, important to me personally:
1. Synthetic broccoli may cause
insanity or induce coma.
2. Synthetic broccoli may cause
genital abscesses.
3. The Co-Executive Agricultural
Secretary, assistant to the Executive Agricultural Secretary, was sitting right
next to me, mumbling and wringing his pasty hands. They were showing a picture
of him on television. I looked at the television. I looked at him. I looked back
at the television.
Slowly, I put one, two, and three together, but I only arrived at a sum
total of five. I blamed the medication for this.
Meanwhile, The Man Who Ate the Letter H, my roommate at the Hampton
Behavioral Health Facility, had leapt upon The Co-Executive Agricultural
Secretary, I mean, like right up onto his knees, screaming and shaking him by
the sweater vest. I marveled at his balance and tried to ignore the one-sided
fighting.
The Co-Executive Agricultural Secretary was still just babbling and
shaking his head. Even now, I was adding things up and I still didn't know what
was happening.
Later on that night, The Man Who Ate The Letter H told me everything.
-
The Terrifying Importance of Mental ealth
in Bystander: Seven Stories from the
New Espionage Collection
About the author:
JR Pomerantz was raised in New Jersey, moved sixteen times, from Albuquerque to Kabul, and now resides in Silver Spring, Maryland. Hobbies include using all the forms of transportation in the world, flamenco guitar, and knitting. She hopes to one day own and operate a coffee farm, or at least live on one. Or near one. Just down the road, maybe. She won't pop in every day to say hello.
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