For my more genteel, discerning friends A friend of mine keeps suggesting that I share my stories with various mutual friends. That idea, honestly, disturbs me. Most of our mutual friends are smarter than I am. As such, I would be embarrassed for them to read my bizarre tales of horror, science-fiction, and speculative thought.… Continue reading List for Friends, Vol 1
Author: singram1028
Death in the Outback
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 29 But there is a marvellous thing related of this Desert, which is that when travellers are on the move by night, and one of them chances to lag behind or to fall asleep or the like, when he tries to gain his company again he will hear spirits… Continue reading Death in the Outback
A Life in Review
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 28 I can feel my legs give out, and I’m falling. The trip to the ground seems to stretch on for an eternity. Some part of me senses the cyclists detected some note of distress and have doubled back towards me. The thing I find most surprising is how… Continue reading A Life in Review
At Least – A DIY Hell
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 27 The theater is dimly lit. The screen is flickering, but there’s no movie playing. I’m guessing it’s lit from behind somehow. I’ve been here, alone, for a very long time. Each time I wake here, I get up from the seat I’m sitting in (always H-59) and investigate… Continue reading At Least – A DIY Hell
The Magic Chip
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 26 In the video, the magician takes a chip from a bag; he places it on the counter and rolls up his sleeves. Then, he makes a big production of showing his hands are empty. Slowly and without any tell-tale hints that he’s making “moves,” he raises the chip… Continue reading The Magic Chip
Christina
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 25 She’s doing it again; she shouldn’t be able to hold the tiny blunt, let alone take a hit, but she can and does. “Whoa,” that’s some good stuff,” Christina says as she exhales a cloud of acrid smoke. The four of us, James, Seth, me, and her, are… Continue reading Christina
Brian Finds a Journal
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 24 June 1, 2021 It was a Tuesday, and I was running late. The subway broke, so it wasn’t really my fault, except that it was, and it had happened before. My manager and I agreed (more she than I) that I would allow for such happenings by showing… Continue reading Brian Finds a Journal
Buster’s Business
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 23 At first, I had thought gravity stopped working. Slowly the details of what had happened come into focus. I was driving, and then my truck became airborne; I remember screams, pumping the brakes, then landing with a crash, and then? I must have blacked out. When I came to, I… Continue reading Buster’s Business
Same Old Dance
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 22 The thing is, I could tell what she was thinking the whole time, from her first spontaneous hug, to how she responded to my touch when we traded massages, how I responded to hers. I swore I wanted to; no needed to touch her every week. What would… Continue reading Same Old Dance
Mr. Bojangles
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 21 “We got another two reports, like yesterday, Sheriff,” Suzy says. “Give me a second here, Suz. I’m not even in the door yet,” I say, shaking the snow off my coat. There go my dreams for a slow, uneventful day. This town is nothing once the college kids… Continue reading Mr. Bojangles
Monolith 5 – Wendy’s Well Part 2
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 20 Other monolith stories I’ve written: Monolith Monolith 2 Monolith 3 – Tammy’s Choice Monolith 4 – Many Miles Away Monolith 5 – Wendy’s Well Part 1 (the prequel to this story) “Yes, sir, the stairs just sort of went away. I can’t explain it any better, Sheriff. I’m… Continue reading Monolith 5 – Wendy’s Well Part 2
A Tea Party in Hell
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 19 This is the third story in a series. Charlie Bennett SIRIRI The prince of the third level of hell preferred to hold his tea parties in a different place. That was why today, he was on the second level. The screaming and agonizing and endless complaints from the tortured made… Continue reading A Tea Party in Hell
Cuando el Sol y Luna Eran Amantes
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 18 Even after all this time The sun never says to the earth “You owe me” Look what happens with a love like that It lights the whole sky Hafiz The Karankawa people had a legend, one of the greatest love stories ever told; they called it “Cuando el… Continue reading Cuando el Sol y Luna Eran Amantes
Amina’s Birth-Tattoo
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 17 February 28, 2195 Ultimately everyone on station Magellan had to pull a tour of duty on earth. During the lottery, Amina drew an eighteen-month assignment to NorCon Station 7. Situated in Antarctica, Station 7 sat at one of the harshest climates on earth. When she got her job… Continue reading Amina’s Birth-Tattoo
Amina
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 17 February 28, 2195 Ultimately everyone on Magellan had to pull a tour of duty somewhere on earth. The administrators liked to pretend that it wasn’t mandatory, but it was. During the annual lottery, Amina drew an eighteen lunar cycle stint at NorCon Station 7. Situated in Antarctica, Station… Continue reading Amina
Gerald
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 16 Dazed, Gerald exits his cabin by breaking the window in the loft then dropping into the snow. “It must have been Maude’s table that saved me, ugly battleship thing. Oh, and the table is no beauty either,” he cackles to himself. Maude was Gerald’s ex-mother-in-law. The table was… Continue reading Gerald
The In Betweeners
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 15 The problem with disguising interdimensional portals as a door or window is eventually some busybody will try to pass through it. Then the gig is, as they theatrically say, up. T. S. Livingstone, Memoirs of a Traveller Margaux and Philippe were thrilled with their new house. She was his mother;… Continue reading The In Betweeners
Breathe
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 14 I wake. The floor beneath me is a hard block of ice; the cushions have again drifted a few feet away from me. Where am I? Oh yeah, an abandoned building; barely made it in before the snow buried everything. I hope I can find my truck in… Continue reading Breathe
Mirrors 3
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 13 Hold it up sternly! See this it sends back! (Who is it? Is it you?) Walt Whitman, A Hand-Mirror At first, it was just a campaign of rumors. At least that’s what most folks told themselves. Some misinformation spread for some reason or another. But then, after enough… Continue reading Mirrors 3
The Mars Option
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 12 Lieutenant Commander Sheila Sykes squeezes herself into the tiny Martian cavern. Technically she is breaking protocol with this unaccompanied entry, but she has a hunch. The rock in front of the cave had seemed an unlikely coincidence. It looked way too circular, uniform, evenly shaped to be a random occurrence.… Continue reading The Mars Option
