LisaMantchev.com: Taste the Bad Candy

A Bouquet At Twilight

Lisa says:

This is the sister story to "The Jiminy Device" because apparently I can't really do science fiction without being a wiseass.

(2007) Appears in The Town Drunk

Reviews:

...so goes this story, funny not only because of the hyperbole, but the dry, wisecracking humor that allows the personalities of the characters, particularly Keira, to shine through.

Anyone unattached can relate, and those of us lucky enough to be part of a True Soul Couple will cover their vomeronasal regions and praise Venus. This story has a fair amount of sexual content, most of it innuendo, thus the PG-13 rating. The younger set wouldn’t appreciate it anyway.

Carole Ann Moleti for Tangent Online

Excerpt:

I stabbed the organic greens on my plate and scowled at the tabletop holo-ad. The damn things were getting more invasive. You couldn’t even go to the loo without a smarmy ad for toilet tissue serenading you in the stall.

This one for PheroTherapy was particularly offensive because the scanners had put my face on the girl in the commercial. I watched as pseudo-me strolled along the sand and frolicked in the waves with an absolutely gorgeous guy.

“Chemically engineered passion in your lunch hour. No more lonely nights!”

Close-up on a passionate kiss while the narrator touted the marvels of pheromone receptor therapy. I doubled my scowl and stuck out my tongue.