Fiction · Mojave Publishing

The Last Fat Man

and other stories of an enhanced future

RJ Barranco · 2026

Thirteen stories from a near future where the rough edges of being human – grief, longing, doubt, even the weight of a body – can be diagnosed, optimized, and quietly removed. A collection about what "improvement" costs, and what we only notice once it is gone.

The procedure removes only what you will not miss.
– from the patient information leaflet, revised edition

Contents

A few stories are available only in print or eBook. The full collection arrives Fall 2026.

  1. 01 The TouristOnly available in print or eBook edition Grrgg arrived on Earth with the standard tourist package: translation implant, human appearance generator, and seventy-two Earth…
  2. 02 Observable StatesOnly available in print or eBook edition Dr. Elena Vasquez had run out of things to adjust. She kept adjusting anyway. "You're going to break something," Amit said,…
  3. 03 Lead Time The note is four words long and it takes me an hour to write it. Not because the words are hard. The words are easy; I knew them…
  4. 04 The RemainderOnly available in print or eBook edition The calculator said "Error" but Davis kept pressing the keys anyway. "You can't divide by zero," said the calculator in a small…
  5. 05 Feeling ThroughOnly available in print or eBook edition The nurse's tears bothered Elliott. "It doesn't hurt," he said, gesturing to the surgical bandage wrapped around his head. "I…
  6. 06 Recalculating The car wants to know where we're going, and I tell it nowhere, and it doesn't believe me. It asks again, gently, in the voice we…
  7. 07 Eyes OnlyOnly available in print or eBook edition "Did you see the entire event?" Marquez asked, not looking up from his tablet. "Entry to exit," Tess said. "Full visual and…
  8. 08 Interference Patterns Dr. Eleanor Kline didn't intend to collapse into Daniel's consciousness. That wasn't how quantum neural entanglement was supposed…
  9. 09 Compiler ErrorOnly available in print or eBook edition Evan hadn't left his apartment in 23 days. It didn't matter. The world came to him through delivery drones and virtual meetings.…
  10. 10 The Fade The clinic had no smell, which was the first cruelty. They had scrubbed the air of everything, because scent is the oldest road…
  11. 11 Dead Air My son has never been bored. Not once, not for a second, and I can prove it, because the empty seconds aren't allowed anymore.…
  12. 12 BufferingOnly available in print or eBook edition "Are you there, Mom?" Sarah asks. I am, but I can't tell her. My words appear in my thought-bubble as I compose them, but they…
  13. 13 Heavyset My grandfather is the only fat man I have ever seen in person, and the first time I really understood that, I was twenty-three.…