John R. Hoffman

The foreman slammed his hard hat into the ground. He tried to smooth the crumpled document against the hood of his pickup. He glanced around the construction equipment parked idly next to the mosquito infested swampy pit of weeds. The second hand of his watch spun around representing the dollars he was losing with each […]

The reef came alive as the tide rolled in. Feeding time. The sand shifted against the gentle current. Two eyes opened and quickly scanned the array of brightly colored fish swimming randomly, unaware of the impending danger. The body ruffled as it emerged, slowly crawling along the reef with arms methodically probing and searching for […]

The hiker huddled in the fetal position, his teeth chattering. The emptiness of the long moonless night amplified his hunger pains. His ragged clothing showed the effects of wandering futilely through the brambles after leaving the trail and losing his pack at dusk.

The first rays of warmth cascaded into the valley as the sun […]

The electronic engineer soldered the computer microchip into place on the prototype. The advances of technology were remarkable. This chip could easily pass through the eye of a needle. Using the original vacuum tubes, grandfather would have needed a collection of electronic circuits the size of a small house to accomplish what this tiny chip […]

With a snap of his wrist the net snared the butterfly as it hovered above the flower. He removed the lid from the jar and detected the faint odor of Ethyl Acetate. The net shook as the butterfly fluttered wildly in an attempt to escape. He had to hurry before the lepidopteran damaged itself. With […]