Flashes From the Verse

Last Date Night in the Valley

He’d wanted to take her to a fancy restaurant in Corpus Christi, but with her last class of the day letting out at 7:30 p.m., she’d balked at the six hour round-trip just to eat raw shrimp from a champagne glass.

Photo by Aly Ramirez / Unsplash

About the Author

Daniel Verastiqui is a science fiction author based in Austin, Texas. He is currently writing The Vinestead Anthology, a series of standalone novels set in a shared universe where virtual reality, synthetic humans, and one very powerful corporation keep making everything worse. His latest book, House of Nepenthe, released in June 2026.

Explore his books →

A Look Back at Novlr

The best writing tools are the ones that get the hell out of your way and let you write.

My personal recession indicator? My TBR pile now lives in my Amazon cart.

Things are tough all over. Prices are up, wallets are thin, and in homes across America, TBR piles are quietly migrating to Amazon's "Saved for Later" section.

My son is voting for Ken Paxton, and that's on me

That thing where you wait too long to tell your kids about monsters, and the monsters find them first.

Stories I Tell My Daughter: The Snowman and the Flower

Waldor wanted nothing more in his life than to see a beautiful flower. Where he lived, it was always cold, and flowers never had a chance to grow.