Twenty-five years after September 11, 2001, it is worth reflecting on the far-reaching costs of war. Armed conflict rarely turns out as combatants expect, whether in the thick of battle or long after the fighting has stopped. Bullet Points 15 explores these profound consequences across sixteen compelling stories and a featured review:
- Rich Larson, "34.1 Million" Know the cost.
- Kellee R. Kranendonk, "I Watch" An ancient warrior watches the world move on, from his grave.
- Tony Dunnell, "All the Good Boys" Diego bleeds on the front line for those he loves, unaware that back home, the war machine is already mass-producing his replacements.
- Karl G. Dandenell, "The Avenging Angel of Big Robinson" A cyborg ex-military sniper seeks solace working as a smoke scout in the remote wilds of Idaho.
- Rick Kennett, "Deus Ex Machina" An alien race's greed for god-like power has a god-like resolution.
- Armand Rosamilia, "Machinery" Rae struggles to discern whether she is a living survivor or merely a ghost haunting the machines.
- K. Lynn Harrison, "On the House" Years after the war, a bartender looks after a customer stuck in his own past.
- Liam Corley, "The Right Hook" When his ex-lover crashes his clandestine mission, Specialist Dax must choose between tactical pragmatism and the lingering hope of redemption.
- D. F. McCourt, "Pretend We're Better" Lieutenant Charwick is the last person you wanted to die with.
- Yasmeen Amro, "Winterlock" In a dystopian future, sentient weapons must make a choice.
- Mari Harrison, "Target Sixty-Three" In the cold calculations of combat, a single moment of empathy transforms a target into a person-and sparks a fragile hope.
- Nathan Matthew Edmunds, "Raggedy" The cost of war haunts a family who finds hope through survival as the enemy arrives.
- Adam Porkolab, "The Silence of the Kavarn" Seventeen soldiers carry their fallen comrade's sacred instrument through enemy territory-and build a new one from wreckage.
- Josie Gowler, "Afterwards" A pilot learns what it means to be a hero.
- M. M Schreier, "Phantom Conversations" A father learns it's the words he doesn't hear that make all the difference.
- Larry Hodges, "Boots" Two worms await the feast when the boots play their game above ground.
- Nathan W. Toronto, "Review of Squad Kill, by Jack Campbell" Ensign Osiris "Oz" Aquino faces long odds in a Gremlins-meets-Alien adventure.
