Revisions: A Short Story

After a sudden car accident, Blake opens his eyes and sees nothing but darkness and scrolling text: “The fact that you’re reading this means you’re a) literate, and b) dead. Congratulations. You’ve met both preconditions.” Before he can read much more, Blake is transported to 1905 Russia, where he’s killed (again) moments after arriving.

Over the next several days, the pattern repeats itself twice more as Blake’s tossed into first century B.C. Rome and then 1941 Hawaii (just before Pearl Harbor). In between these visits—and the deaths that violently end each one—Blake tries to learn the truth about what’s happening to him from his cryptic new mentor, Galen.

“Revisions” first appeared in Battered Suitcase, volume 1, issue 4, September 2008 under the pen name Tom C. Underhill.