I’m on Substack now! You can read this for free. https://substack.com/home/post/p-172703656
From Joe's writing

Zachary Wright sat hunched over his Commodore 64 computer, staring at the screen on his television, playing Attack of the Killer Slugs. It was a stupid game, he decided, but it was something to do. Despite his best efforts, the slugs kept killing him, forcing him to start over.

— Alternate Life, from Eventual Beginnings: Stories Short and Longer