Welcome to The Week in Review, our regularly scheduled Sunday wrap-up for those too busy to follow Stupefying Stories on a daily basis. With Halloween behind us we’ve transitioned from the horrible to the adorable, which just goes to show how little you know about little girls if you think there’s a difference. Why this photo today? Because it’s cute, and sweet, and seasonable, and it will give us a point of reference for next week, when we run a similar photo of a young boy holding a kitten. We have a bevy of those stock-art photos lined up—girl with puppy, boy with kitten, girl with kitten, etc., etc.—and working with Google and Amazon, we will be tracking your eye movements closely, to see which image best engages your attention when you look at this web page.
Unless, of course, you’ve put a Post-It note over the webcam in your laptop, or something like it over the selfie lens on your cell phone. Which will probably be illegal soon. If you have nothing to hide, why are you hiding?
What? You thought all the little A.I. daemons in your cell phone weren’t constantly looking at you, listening to you, monitoring your behavior, and sending that information straight to your A.I. overlord? Sigh. Such sweet naïveté. It would warm your A.I. overlord’s heart, if it had one.
Moving right along, then…
The Week in Review • 10/27/2024
Recapping: we began last week with what we called the week in review but was more realistically The Month in Review, with links to beaucoup stories, author profiles, and much commentary about the data gleaned from our taking a deep dive through our readership metrics. This deep dive was made necessary by our pulling together—
The complete (we think) list of every story we’ve published so far as part of The Pete Wood Challenge. There are more than 200 stories on this list, organized by the challenges that caused them to be written, so if you have some time to spare, you really should take a look at this index and see if any of the stories or authors strike your fancy.
Reminder #1: If you want to comment on a story, please do, but remember that comment moderation is in effect on older posts. Your comments won’t appear on the site until after they’ve been reviewed and approved. We’ve had to do this to control spam commenting, as once spambots find a story, they never give up. For example, Zoe Kaplan’s story, “Pink Marble,” was published back in March, but as of this morning it’s still drawing spam comments from companies trying to sell imported Mediterranean tiles and paving blocks.
Reminder #2: Pete Wood Challenge #35, “The Offseason,” rolls out tomorrow! All week long we’ll be running new stories daily. Watch for fresh flash fiction from Robin Blasberg, C. L. Sidell, Jeff Currier, Gideon Smith, Sophie Sparrow, Christopher Degni, Ted Macaluso, and even Pete Wood himself!
Reminder #3: it shouldn’t come as a surprise, but the search function on this web site has become unreliable, as it now incorporates A.I. and sorts search results by “relevance.” For example, we’ve published a lot of stories by Christopher Degni in the past three years, but for some reason the search A.I. now thinks his story about a writer using A.I. to write a story, “A 125-word Story About Writer’s Block in the Style of Italo Calvino,” is relevant, but his story, “The Infinite and the Infinitesimal,” which is one of the most-read stories we’ve ever published on this site, is not.
The search function on this site uses the Google search engine. Remember this before you trust any search results or site rankings delivered by Google.
Back on topic. The Week in Review…
In which we take a deeper dive into the readership metrics, and serve up links to some good backlist stories you’ll probably never see if you trust Google’s search function.
In which we briefly revisit the earliest days of Stupefying Stories, take note of some problems that have been baked-in since Day One, and gently remind people that I do this not because I need to, but because I find it fun, and the day I stop finding this fun I’ll go do something else.
After which we serve up links to more good backlist stories that you’ll never see if you trust Google’s search function.
Speaking of links…
The Never-ending FAQ • 30 October 2024
A misnomer, as I never found time to answer any of the questions that have been piling up in my inbox. However, I did publish a pile of links to great Halloween-themed stories that you’ll probably never see if… you know where this is going.
LAST DAY! FREE E-BOOK GIVEAWAY ENDS AT MIDNIGHT!
Too late. You missed it. However, if you’re curious as to what you missed, click on through.
Six Questions for… Robert Lowell Russell
A quick profile of a genuinely funny writer who’s been with us since the earliest days, with links to stories of his that you’ll probably never see if…
Okay, enough dead horse abuse. But I’d genuinely forgotten how good “Best in Show” is.
The Never-ending FAQ • 2 November 2024
In which I finally get the chance to start answering all those questions that have been piling up in my inbox. There are more questions waiting. I’ll answer those next week.
And that at last brings us up-to-date. Now, don’t forget!
Pete Wood Challenge #35, “The Offseason,” rolls out tomorrow! All week long we’ll be running new stories daily. Watch for fresh flash fiction from Robin Blasberg, C. L. Sidell, Jeff Currier, Gideon Smith, Sophie Sparrow, Christopher Degni, Ted Macaluso, and even Pete Wood himself!
And…
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