"The Needs of Hollow Men" by K.A. Rundell appeared in Daily Science Fiction on February 12, 2013. "A detective with the empathic ability to experience residual thoughts and emotions, but denied emotions of his own, risks his detective license by melding his mind with a sort of empath prostitute."
The one line summary was difficult to write for this complex, layered, gritty, science fiction noir piece. The idea of a person that is "hollow" but can be filled with the emotional memories and thoughts of others is not entirely original (there is a character in Alphas with this ability/curse, for example), but Ms. Rundell offers enough interesting twists on the theme to keep it fresh.
"Hollow Men" was Ms. Rundell's first appearance in DSF, but I hope it will not be her last. Brava! 6 out of 7 rocket-dragons.
Thanks for your kind review; I'm so glad you enjoyed Hollow Men! Your elevator pitch is much better than what I came up with, which I think ran along the lines of "something-something empath, something-something prostitute. And chocolate cake."
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