Category: Writing

Let’s Look at Dinosaurs

Let’s take a look at Dinosaurs. In this case, I used the prompt term to mean ‘obsolete things or people’, rather than actual thunder lizards.

I wrote this story during the second quarter of 2018.

Background for Dinosaurs

With a bit of an eye toward, if I recall correctly, the book version of 2001, I wanted to show a kind of a metamorphosis, from a mechanical existence to a spiritual one.

In the future, a species starts to become more and more dependent upon machines for the necessities of life. I don’t mean to deliver groceries or to prepare medicine so much. Rather, I mean to help them walk, talk, eat, and even think.

It’s a little like some of the earlier parts of the old Zager and Evans hit, In the Year 2525.

Is that species ourselves? I never actually say so. But it most certainly could be.

You decide, sports fans.

Plot for Dinosaurs

There is not too much of a plot to this one. Rather, it is more of a description of what should feel a little like the next stage of our own development.

Or at least the next stage for the development of the Utromi from Mettle.

Characters

The characters are really just the people who have made it to the next, perhaps final, stage of their development. But there are no names, genders, ages, races, or any other identifying marks.

So, how do they tell one another apart? Frankly, I haven’t got the foggiest notion.

Memorable Quotes from Dinosaurs

You see them everywhere, if you look closely enough. The rusty, dusty hulks of what once was gleaming, new, beautiful, and important. You’re floating down a street and wham! You practically run into one of them. It’s a wonder they can move at all.

For us, things are different. We are strong and wise, gleaming and fantastic. We are superior to those dusty relics in every single way that counts, and probably in others that don’t count so much, too.

What is even more amazing and difficult to believe is that we once were them. There as a time when we were as faded and fragile and imperfect as they are now.

The change happens in all sorts of ways. There doesn’t seem to be any sort of a regular pattern to it. One day, you’re a dinosaur of a creature. The next day, you’re one of us, ethereal and opalescent. Or it takes longer, as your dull parts start to shine until you literally leave your old existence in the dust.

Rating

The story has a K rating. While the narrator is describing what by all rights should feel like death, the description is a joyous one. They welcome the changes, and hope others will as well.

Takeaways

I love how this one ends hopefully, that the inevitable death of a species can merely be the start of something new. You know, like the chrysalis brings forth the butterfly, even as the caterpillar thinks it’s the end of the world.

Perhaps the human race will be so lucky, eh? We can only hope.

And finally, Dinosaurs is on Wattpad, where you can read it in its entirety.

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Short Stories

Finally, for a complete list of my shorter works, please be sure to check out the Hub Page—Short Stories.

Let’s Look at Beacon: A Light Shines in Gloucester

I write a lot of apocalyptic stories. In a way, they’re easier when you’re struggling to fulfill a personal commitment to write every single day. But the best part about Beacon: A Light Shines in Gloucester is that, unlike a lot of my post-apocalyptic stories, it’s actually hopeful.

This puts it in a class similar to Alix’s Apocalypse.

I wrote this story during the third quarter of 2021.

Background

The original prompt word was beacon. So, it immediately made me think of lighthouses. And, the closest lighthouse to my home is (I believe) in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

A Light Shines in Gloucester with the Plot

After an apocalyptic disaster, the unnamed narrator goes to Gloucester, Massachusetts, in order to occupy the lighthouse. They want to see what there is to be seen. And so, they hope, to be seen by someone else out there.

But there may not be anyone else.

Characters from Beacon: A Light Shines in Gloucester

The characters are just the narrator, and a stray dog they have named Sally. The narrator most likely is wholly unaware as to whether there are any other human beings alive at all on planet Earth.

As a result, the reader does not know this rather vital bit of information, either.

Memorable Quotes

When it all went to hell in a handcart, I escaped to Gloucester, to the old Annisquam Lighthouse. Built in 1801, I understand, and 45 feet tall.

I survived and my appetite came back. I headed into town and got supplies. Canned goods. Seeds. Boxed food. Rope. Batteries. Alcohol, of course.

Found a dog there. I guess she didn’t want to run off or was too old or too loyal. No collar. I’ve been calling her Sally.

Rating

The story has a K rating. While this short story is all about the aftermath of a truly horrific disaster, nothing untoward happens ‘on screen’ (as it were).

Takeaways for Beacon: A Light Shines in Gloucester

There is not very much to this one. And that is unfortunate, for I can see where this one does have some potential. After all, there is the very real possibility that the narrator could end up signaling someone (or some kind of a thing) that she most certainly does not wish to find.

Protect Sally at all costs!

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If this story resonates with you, then I hope you will check out some of my other blog posts about my shorter works.

Short Stories

Finally, for a complete list of my shorter works, please be sure to check out the Hub Page—Short Stories.

Let’s Look at Scavenger Hunt at Lanterman’s Mill

Would you go on a scavenger hunt at Lanterman’s Mill? And where the heck is Lanterman’s Mill, anyway? Not to worry, dear reader. I will reveal all.

I started this story during the third quarter of 2021. But I did not finish it until the first quarter of 2025. Or maybe early in the second quarter of 2025.

Background for Scavenger Hunt at Lanterman’s Mill

The original prompt word was Youngstown. I’ve been to Ohio before, but never actually to Youngstown. And so, I had to open up Google maps and try to figure out what would be interesting enough in the town to write about.

Also, I love cryptic crosswords, so the idea of making a cryptic clue was a lot of fun! Did you guess what ‘shift maternalism, almost nil’ means (see below)?

Plot

It’s a cool ten million dollars at stake when Liz and her family go on a scavenger hunt sponsored by a hardware store. And when Liz finds… something, tempers start to flare.

Characters

The characters are Liz Crosby (the narrator), her brother in law Chuck Rafferty, her nephew Wesley, Chuck’s pal Jerry Nance, and Jerry’s second wife, Lisa Foster Nance. Liz mentions her sister Natalie and infant niece Deirdre, but they aren’t along for the scavenger hunt.

There’s also Mike Rawlings, the CEO of the hardware store. And Penny Delgado, from Youngstown Action News.

Memorable Quotes

This is the stupidest scavenger hunt I’ve ever been on. And I’ve been on quite a few.

It’s not the old town
Water takes a trip
Shift maternalism, almost nil
The bridge wears a hat
The gorges are gorgeous

I figured out it was Youngstown, Ohio. But the gorge clue made the rest of my team think Ithaca. So, they’re there, and I’m here.

But I have no idea about the water. I guess it means a creek or a river or stream. If it’s a river, then it’s the Mahoning. And after that, I’m stumped—100%, totally, grade A stumped. This sure is a lot of work for $10 million.

Rating

The story has a K rating.

Takeaways from this Scavenger Hunt

While everyone else is going nuts in one way or another, Liz manages to keep her cool. But maybe a little unnaturally. If I ever really revisit this one, I may add an instance or two where even Liz becomes unraveled. Hmm.

Want More of my Short Stories and Novellas?

If this story resonates with you, then I hope you will check out some of my other blog posts about my shorter works.

Short Stories

Finally, for a complete list of my shorter works, please be sure to check out the Hub Page—Short Stories.

Let’s Look at Stellar Stowaway

The idea of a stellar stowaway is kind of irresistible to me. And I may revisit it. But not necessarily as a continuation of, or a prequel to, this particular plot.

I wrote this story during the first quarter of 2021.

Background

The original prompt was the word miracles. I had done enough bible fan fiction (hello, The Field Gleaner and The Great Cleanup!), and I wanted something different.

Well, I sure as hell got something different.

Plot for Stellar Stowaway

Characters

The characters are the narrator, their unnamed benefactor, and the other members of the alien crew.

Memorable Quotes

I really didn’t think anyone would make it out of there alive. And for it to be me? Well, that’s just weird. I am not ungrateful; it’s more that I’m just kind of puzzled.

I have no idea if any other humans got out. And I realize I have probably leapt from the frying pan to the fire.

For this is a ship, and it’s moving, and I have no idea where. When I was a kid, I got lost near Trevi Fountain. I was terrified I’d be lost on an unfamiliar continent, forever.

Now, I may end up lost in another star system, and maybe forever.

Rating for Stellar Stowaway

The story has a K+ rating. Nothing terrible happens to the narrator. But all along, you know that it just… might.

Takeaways

The fact that someone is helping out the narrator is of course a cause for some hope. But the rest of it is just weird. To me, right now, it just kind of falls flat.

Ah, well, they can’t all be great. Although a species that looks a lot like Ken dolls could be… interesting. In an uncanny valley sort of way, that is. Eek!

Want More of my Short Stories and Novellas?

If this story resonates with you, then I hope you will check out some of my other blog posts about my shorter works.

Short Stories

Finally, for a complete list of my shorter works, please be sure to check out the Hub Page—Short Stories.

Let’s Look at Frozen Fortress

Frozen Fortress may very well be related to some memory of the film, On the Beach. The one with Ava Gardner and Fred Astaire, not the one with Rachel Ward.

It’s probably also a small bit about the 1980 film Virus, where a small number of survivors are living on an ice station.

I wrote this story during the second quarter of 2021.

Background

The original prompt word was icicles. I originally thought of Hitchcock, but also about what it would be like if we had to fight an enemy, but we couldn’t light anything on fire.

Plot

When the planet is invaded by aliens who love the heat, the people of Earth scramble to try to figure out some way to repel the invasion. When virtually every weapon is based on heat and fire, options are scarce.

Characters

The characters are the nameless narrator and their colleague, Jack Slade.

Memorable Quotes from a Frozen Fortress

When I joined the research station on the shores of the Ross Sea, I expected it would last for maybe two years at most. I never expected it would be for the rest of my days. Or anyone else’s, for that matter. Yet here we are.

The invasion started at the equator. They liked the heat—it was obvious. It took a while for the Earth’s governments and military to figure out how to at least try to use that data to our advantage.

But it’s hard when your main options are fire-based. The first time we nuked them, they just came back all the stronger. It was as if we had sent them a gift basket, or a catered meal.

We had no real way to propel anything frozen at them. An ice bullet? It all just melted.

I came here originally to study penguins. Now we’re fighting to stay alive and afloat.

Rating

The story has a K+ rating. While the story is technically about war, there isn’t a lot of that on screen.

Takeaways from the Frozen Fortress

I think the premise to this one is pretty sound. It just kind of stops cold (no pun intended, I swear!).

So, this could very well be the kind of story I could do something with in the future. Hmm…

Want More of my Short Stories and Novellas?

If this story resonates with you, then I hope you will check out some of my other blog posts about my shorter works.

Short Stories

Finally, for a complete list of my shorter works, please be sure to check out the Hub Page—Short Stories.

Let’s Look at The Field Gleaner

This story, The Field Gleaner, is kind of a little bit of biblical fan fiction, I guess you could call it. But unlike in The Great Cleanup, the narrator is on her own. I based her on Ruth. But she’s not quite Ruth, not really.

I wrote this story during the first quarter of 2021.

Background

When I was in Hebrew school, one of the few things I can recall learning was about gleaning. It was essentially an Iron Age form of charity. A landowner would deliberately not harvest a certain amount of the crops and leave them for the poor people to pick.

The original prompt word was linear.

Plot of The Field Gleaner

The main character has a kind of employment, where she picks wheat for the owner of the fields. Newly freed from bondage, she has no other skills and no other prospects. All alone, she’s just doing what she can to survive.

Characters

The characters are the unnamed narrator. But I based her on the biblical matriarch Ruth.

Memorable Quotes

There is a straight path, and it leads to fields. I pick wheat for the owner. And, in return, he lets me glean. For I am poor, you see. It wasn’t until very recently that I stopped being a slave.

My labor is hard, but at least it ends at night. The women who are married, I know their workday is just getting started when the sun goes down. There are husbands and children to feed, and floors to be swept.

But me, I sleep under the stars. It’s often cold. I’ve been rained on more times than I can count.

But I am free, and I sweep no one’s floors.

Rating

The story has a K rating.

Takeaways from The Field Gleaner

I like the narrator’s optimism. Because even though her life is clearly rather difficult, she still manages to find some areas where she’s better off than others. This measure of grace allows her to find gratitude, even under trying circumstances.

Want More of my Short Stories and Novellas?

If this story resonates with you, then I hope you will check out some of my other blog posts about my shorter works.

Short Stories

Finally, for a complete list of my shorter works, please be sure to check out the Hub Page—Short Stories.

Let’s Look at I Trade This For My Life

If I recall correctly, the original title for I Trade This For My Life was Message Me If You Want a Samovar. But then I realized I liked that one better for the name of a section of Babel 2.0.

In addition, I didn’t want the absurdity of the Samovar title to detract from the more serious tone of the piece.

I wrote this story during the first quarter of 2021.

Background

This short story did not have an original prompt word. At least, I do not think it did.

My main idea for this one was the whole Anna Anderson bit. The idea of anyone having survived the shooting of the Russian royal family is, well, preposterous on its face.

But the story persisted, probably because it was catnip for editors of tabloids searching for a juicy story.

For the imposter’s part (her real name was evidently Franziska Schanzkowska), she was convincing to some. But for others, she was likely a useful idiot. At least, that’s what they may have thought.

And so, during her life, she received some information on the royal court. This was from people who were, most likely, hoping to get in on the rumored missing fortune of the Tsars.

As a result, Schanzkowska was able to sound convincing to a lot of other people. And so, the rumors persisted. Schanzkowska seems to have crashed on a lot of famous people’s couches.

But not everyone believed this almost real-life Talented Mr. Ripley.

Plot for I Trade This For My Life

Since the real Anna Anderson was inevitably shown to be a fraud, this story either serves as pure fiction or as a bit of how she fooled so many people for so long.

Characters

The characters are Anna Anderson (who was allegedly Anastasia Romanov) and whoever she is talking to.

Memorable Quotes

They say it’s a revolution, but I know it’s really just an angry mob. They pounded on doors, broke through windows, and grabbed anyone and everything they could.

My father. My mother. And my sickly little brother. My sisters. All gone.

Rating

The story has a K rating.

Takeaways for I Trade This For My Life

What I’ve got right now isn’t much of a story at all. Rather, it’s a lot more like a fragment. Could I really do something with it? I suppose I could. But then again, the fiction might end up nowhere near as fascinating and strange as the fact!

Want More of my Short Stories and Novellas?

If this story resonates with you, then I hope you will check out some of my other blog posts about my shorter works.

And finally, for a complete list of my shorter works, please be sure to check out the Hub Page—Short Stories.

Let’s Look at Brown Eyes are the Law

A bit of Brown Eyes are the Law comes from remembering Jane Elliott’s experiments.

I wrote this story during the second quarter of 2021. The prompt word was tawny.

Background

Let’s get back to Jane Elliott for a moment, shall we?

Ms. Elliott is a diversity trainer. People probably know her best for a 1968 experiment done with schoolchildren. In response to Martin Luther King, jr.’s death, she divided the class into students with blue eyes, and those with brown.

Then she proceeded to tell the blue-eyed children that they were better in every way.

After IIRC a few days of this, with the class at each other’s throats, she finally ended the experiment. It was essentially a way to give a group of people who were in a homogenized group an experience they would not normally have.

The experience? What it’s truly like to be discriminated against.

In this story, I decided to pursue this thought experiment, but with a twist.

The conformity would be to some ideal that wasn’t white.

Plot

In a world where everyone must conform, or else, blue eyes are a surefire ticket to the slammer if nowhere else.

Characters

The characters are the unnamed narrator in the first section, another unnamed narrator in the second, and possibly a third in the third and final section.

Memorable Quotes

Thank God I’ve got a doctor who’s discreet and understands. Colored contact lenses. Time under a tanning lamp. Hair dye. Bronzer. Of course, the only thing that really counts is eye color, but the rest of it helps to bolster the illusion.

See—and don’t tell anyone, else it would be the ruin of me—I’ve got illegally colored eyes. I know, I know. it’s supposed to be impossible these days to have eyes that are any color but a kind of medium tannish brown. Tawny eyes for all! Just like our beloved leader. But, unfortunately for me, some of us are just born throwbacks.

Yes, yes, we’ve hidden it my entire life. And I wouldn’t normally say anything, but you’re in the predicament I was in. Or, rather, your newborn baby daughter is.

I’m from the underground. I—well, we, actually—can help. Never mind how we learned of your predicament. There are some people who have access to the right places, and the right files.

Yes, yes, I am well aware that newborns all have an illegal color. But it doesn’t always go away. Your genetic profile, and that of your wife? Those have been melded together. So, it was known that there was a chance your child would be cursed. Naturally, her genetic profile is in the records. But a few keystrokes, and it’s forever altered.

No charge. Seriously, we only do this to save lives, and as a small form of protest. All we ask in return is that you keep it a secret, and that you help when you can.

Me? My criminal color is a grayish blue.

Rating for Brown Eyes are the Law

The story has a K+ rating. The prose isn’t harsh at all, but what I am writing about sure as hell is.

Takeaways for Brown Eyes are the Law

The Twilight Zone has done this kind of story. And undoubtedly so have other franchises. I have no doubt writers will write this scenario again and again. Why? Because the premise is both fascinating and disturbing.

And who would you prefer being, anyway? A person with the right eye color (or skin tone, or name, or religion, etc.), who gets to push the others around? Or the one with the wrong kind, whose life is in danger but maybe (hopefully!) is more humane?

Want More of my Short Stories and Novellas?

If this story resonates with you, then I hope you will check out some of my other blog posts about my shorter works.

Short Stories

Finally, for a complete list of my shorter works, please be sure to check out the Hub Page—Short Stories.

Let’s Look at Escape from Alien Mines

The idea for: Escape from Alien Mines is essentially right there in the title.

I wrote this story during the third quarter of 2021. However, I did not finish it until the second quarter of 2025.

Background

The prompt word was the name Xavier. Heh, there aren’t a lot of X words for prompts. But this one seems to works all right.

Plot

Xavier has been a miner all his life, on an unnamed planet or moon or asteroid… somewhere. He is the umpteenth generation of human slaves, continually moving ore from place to place and doing very little else.

Complicating matters is the fact that, much like in the Matrix series of films, his nutrition comes from a tube in his stomach. He has no memory of eating or drinking in any other manner.

Utterly dependent on the overlords, he can’t conceive of a reason to ever leave, until he meets Amy. Amy comes from an independent camp of humans on the outside. She’s tasted freedom just as much as she’s tasted real food.

Characters

The characters are prisoners Xavier and Amy. Her sister is also in the story. And so are their invisible, yet demanding overlords.

Memorable Quotes

My first memory is the mines. Every day, it’s all the same stuff. Chop. Grab. Haul.

And then hand over whatever to our taskmasters. They push and pull, and we give them everything we have. We always have.

I assume I had parents. I suppose we all do… or did. But I never knew mine.

I don’t know if they even knew each other. Beyond… you know.

And here you come, Amy, offering me a way out. But we both know it’s impossible. We’ve been here too long, and we’ve been captive slaves for far too long. You come in here preaching freedom to me.

It all sounds very fine and nice to me. But that word has no meaning.

Rating for Escape from Alien Mines

The story has a K+ rating. The language is fairly tame, but the situation is pretty grim to start.

Takeaways for Escape from Alien Mines

I like this idea, and I think it has some potential. In reality, I may very well end up cannibalizing it for a part of the third Obolonk trilogy.

See, folks? Nothing is ever wasted.

Want More of my Short Stories and Novellas?

If this short story resonates with you, then I hope you will check out some of my other blog posts about my shorter works.

Short Stories

Finally, for a complete list of my shorter works, please be sure to check out the Hub Page—Short Stories.