A collection of stories about the theater written by Wisconsin authors experienced in this fascinating world. Read Opening Nights to feel the thrill of performance, the agony of stage fright, the horror of disaster! Watch rivalries sharpen, friendships grow, love disappear and appear! Celebrate these rollicking, profound, entertaining stories with the authors themselves. Opening Nights is the Fresh Water Press's debut publication.

These are troubled times. MARA, the mighty blue supergiant of the Torvus Iubar System is dying, as are the other thirteen ambistars that make up the Ambistar Collective. Billions of lives are in peril. What conceivable force could cause the simultaneous death of fourteen ambistars thousands of light-years apart?Since the peace accord between Giri Null and GAIA three years ago, Torvus has prospered and been relatively stable, save for the remaining rogue Grefim who still plague comm...

“A before B, except after C” - a favorite saying of Carbon-Based A-life. Biological or ‘B-life’ was overtaken by A-life centuries ago and now the balance of power is at the tipping point.An invisible rogue planet on a perfect collision course with Earth caught everyone by surprise, even GAIA. With nearly all forty billion humans still living on Earth, this time it really is the end of the world for B-life.What is to be done? Moving a planet is beyond the combined capabiliti...

The Rogue Planet missed Earth by a few thousand kilometers and quickly receded into the blackness of space.The Sleepers, the smartest form of biological life ever encountered, showed no interest in Earth and shunned all communication, even with GAIA.The massive object deflected Earth inward, toward the Sun.Earth’s new orbit is elliptical - a colossal shock for every creature.For those who cling to life, the new normal means long dismal winters, punctuated by...

MAMAI Soliton found a way to travel through the toroid artefact in the Anti-STARC. The cryptic note he left before disappearing leads Brad and Alex to Drupa 5, a deserted alien planet. There they find a beacon in a desert canyon that might belong to MAMAI.Next thing they hit upon a treasure trove of alien artefacts; to Alex, an explorer’s dream come true - to Brad, too good to be true. Alex’s personality suddenly changes. And then there are the shapes….This moment strains t...

Zara, a life form scientist on Earth, is collaborating on a research project with Sandy Larkin in a distant part of the Milky Way. Sandy has discovered a new intelligent life form, but his transmissions suddenly stop without warning.Weeks later, Zara is contacted by the cybernetic proxy of a wealthy trading family. It claims to have the coordinates of Brad’s drone Celius, but will not part with any information until she arranges a physical meeting with Brad Lansky on Earth....