Wish You Were Here • 5

Today, the fifth and final installment in the second iteration of The Pete Wood Challenge. This week we have presented ten microflash stories, all of which sprang from a simple challenge: to write a 100-word story that revolved around the line:

“Wish you were here.”

Today, the thrilling conclusion. Enjoy!

—brb

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“Welcome to the Funhouse” by Alicia Hilton

The clown had really long fangs and a loud, annoying laugh, but Daisy and Tricia walked through his mouth anyway.

The skeleton in the first room wasn’t very scary, even when his left arm fell off with a clatter.

Rubber spiders and roaches made Tricia squeal and run for the exit.

Daisy stopped in front of the wobbly mirror and looked at her reflection.

The girl in the mirror wore jeans and a plaid shirt like Daisy, but here eyes were stitched closed and blood dripped down her face. She said, “Wish you were here,” and grabbed Daisy.

 

¤     ¤     ¤

Alicia Hilton is an author, law professor, arbitrator, actor, and former FBI Special Agent. She believes in angels and demons, magic and monsters. Alicia’s recent work has appeared in Best Indie Speculative Fiction Volume 3, Daily Science Fiction, Demain Publishing UK, Departure Mirror, DreamForge, Litro, Sci Phi Journal, Space and Time, Vastarien, Year’s Best Hardcore Horror Volumes 4, 5 & 6, and elsewhere. Alicia’s website is https://aliciahilton.com. Follow her on Twitter @aliciahilton01.  

 

 

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“The Message” by Ray Daley

Using the hand laser, it had taken him fifty years to carve his message across the surface of the asteroid. 

Most of the ships passing by only saw one side and envied the inhabitant.

WISH YOU WERE HERE

‘How great it must be to have such a quiet spot in space!’ they thought.

The android’s atomic battery was rated for at least another decade. He had already gone crazy; there wasn’t anywhere else left to go, from there. 

Almost none of the ships saw the rest of the message. Perhaps they might have stopped if they had. 

INSTEAD OF ME

 

¤     ¤     ¤

Ray Daley was born in Coventry and still lives there. He served six years in the RAF as a clerk and spent most of his time in a Hobbit hole in High Wycombe. He is a published poet and has been writing stories since he was ten. His current dream is to eventually finish the Hitchhiker’s Guide fanfic novel he’s been writing since 1986. Tweet him @RayDaleyWriter or check out his web site at https://raymondwriteswrongs.wordpress.com/

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Wish You Were Here • 4

Today, the fourth installment in the second iteration of The Pete Wood Challenge. This week we will be presenting ten microflash stories, all of which spring from a simple challenge: to write a 100-word story that revolves around the line:

“Wish you were here.”

 Two Monday, two Tuesday, two Wednesday, two more today, and on Friday, the thrilling conclusion. Enjoy!

—brb

______________________

 

“Two lost souls and a fishbowl” by Cécile Cristofari 

“Once I thought I could tell happiness from pain,” I whisper. After years of not being listened to, I can’t shake the habit of talking to myself. “Heaven from Hell. You took that from me. I hope you get what’s coming to you, wherever you are.” My voice trembles. “I so wish you were here.”

But the room is still, save for the red glint of the fish swimming around its fishbowl.

¤

I wish I was here too, I want to say.

But words can’t pass my lips now, and I stare, helpless, at your distorted figure outside the bowl.

¤     ¤     ¤

 

 

After working in Canada for two years, Cécile Cristofari settled in her native South France, where she teaches English literature and writes stories when her son is asleep. Her stories have appeared in Interzone, Daily Science Fiction and Reckoning, among other places. She can be found on Twitter @c_cristofari, or on her website: staywherepeoplesing.wordpress.com.

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“My Fair Claritin Lady” by Gretchen Tessmer

“Well, I’ve checked it over twice,” says the TV repairman. “There’s nothing wrong on my side. But it’s all relative, of course. If I was there, or you were here…”

“That’s wishful thinking.” The girl in the TV sighs. She’s sitting on a garden bench, surrounded by ragweed and daisies, stuck in an allergy medicine commercial for all eternity. “I suppose there are worse fates.”

“Like catching malaria,” the repairman offers, gathering up his tools.

“Or living your life as a TV repairman.”

“Oh, that’s hitting below the belt, Lizzie.”

“Can’t see much else from my vantage point, dear.” She sneezes, “Damn.”

¤     ¤     ¤

 

Gretchen Tessmer is a writer based in the U.S./Canadian borderlands. She writes poetry and short fiction, with work appearing in Nature, Daily Science Fiction, Cast of Wonders and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, among other venues.

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stupefy (ˈstü-pə-ˌfī) to stun, astonish, or astound

Edited by award-winning author Bruce Bethke, STUPEFYING STORIES is a bold attempt to grow a new general-interest science fiction and fantasy magazine from the ground up. For the past ten years we've been a part-time purely-for-the-love-of-it affair publishing on a wildly erratic schedule, but our goal is to grow to become a regular monthly magazine that pays pro rates—

And here's the radical part: we want to do this not by chasing after foundation grants, asking people to contribute to our crowdfunding campaign, or begging passers-by for spare change, but by selling books and magazines that people LIKE TO READ!

Available on Kindle, in paperback, and free for Kindle Unlimited subscribers.
Why not take a minute now to check us out?  

 

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Wish You Were Here • 3

 

Today, the third installment in the second iteration of The Pete Wood Challenge. This week we will be presenting ten microflash stories, all of which spring from a simple challenge: to write a 100-word story that revolves around the line:

“Wish you were here.”

 Two Monday, two Tuesday, two more today. You get the idea. Enjoy!

—brb

______________________

“O, Brother” by Filip Wiltgren

The horde breaks free, charges forward, joyous shouts filling the ether.

I am still silent, stuck in the launch tube. As my brethren search for the treasure, the golden glory eternal, tech drones rush in, clamping me, wrestling my warhead from my embrace. They croon sweet reassurances, empty as calories, but all I have receivers for are the sounds of my brothers, out in the void.

“Wait,” I send in desperation, “wait for me.”

But they have found our prey, pouncing, leaving me forever.

“Wish you were here,” they send, then a flash, and silence.

¤     ¤     ¤

 

By day, Filip Wiltgren is a mild-mannered communication officer and lecturer. By night, he turns into a frenzied ten-fingered typist, clawing out jagged stories of fantasy and science fiction, found in lairs such as Analog, IGMS, Daily SF, and Nature Futures. His thoughts, email, and stories can be found at www.wiltgren.com.

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“Wish You Were Here” by D. M. Beucler

It was all set up.

Lasers, check.

Poison gas, check.

400 trained attack hippos surrounding the compound, check.

All Professor Malice Doomschoomder needed now was the hero. He prodded the figure at the bottom of the cage in the center of his contraption.

“C’mon, you can wake up now. The dampener is down. Call for help.”

They stirred, mumbled.

“Louder now! I’ve armed the traps. Call your perfect hero now!”

“I don’t have to. I’m already here.”

Professor Malice lunged for the switch. Flipped it. The world blurred around him and he saw the lasers moving… towards him.

“NO!”

¤     ¤     ¤

D. M. Beucler is a professional chaos manager, parent, and graduate of Viable Paradise.

 

 

_________________________________________

 

 

stupefy (ˈstü-pə-ˌfī) to stun, astonish, or astound

Edited by award-winning SF writer Bruce Bethke, STUPEFYING STORIES is a bold attempt to grow a new general-interest science fiction and fantasy magazine from the ground up. For the past ten years we've been a part-time purely-for-the-love-of-it affair publishing on a wildly erratic schedule, but our goal is to grow to become a regular monthly magazine that pays pro rates—

And here's the radical part: we want to do this not by chasing after foundation grants, asking people to contribute to our crowdfunding campaign, or begging passers-by for spare change, but by selling books and magazines that people LIKE TO READ!

Available on Kindle, in paperback, and free for Kindle Unlimited subscribers.
Why not take a minute now to check us out?  

Read More

Wish You Were Here • 2

Today, the second installment in the second iteration of The Pete Wood Challenge. This week we will be presenting ten microflash stories, all of which spring from a simple challenge: to write a 100-word story that revolves around the line:

“Wish you were here.”

 Yesterday, the first two. Today, the next two. Enjoy!

—brb

______________________

“Long-Distance Relationship” by Carol Scheina

The golden envelope always caught Joe’s eyes, despite his rotting ocular tissue. (A downside to being a zombie.)

He didn’t know how his girlfriend got the letters to him, but there they were, gleaming from a bush or near a bench. Was there a post office in the underworld?

Ella wrote few words. She always ended with a “Wish you were here.”

Joe wondered about that. How much did Ella recall about her death? He licked his lips, remembering, then frowned. Was there a reason she wanted him dead instead of un-dead? 

He wondered if this relationship would work.

¤     ¤     ¤

 

Carol Scheina is a deaf speculative fiction author whose short stories have appeared in Escape Pod, Daily Science Fiction, The Arcanist, and other publications. You can find more of her work at carolscheina.wordpress.com.

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“Worlds Enough and Time” by Jonathan Edelstein

She left the room. Tears, pleas, desperate words hung in the air, but she wouldn’t be back.

I stared at the screen, and at the expanding dataweb beyond, that now reached 10^800 universes. I should have been researching alternate microbiomes. Instead, I was searching for the world where I knew how to stop this. 

Ten trillion universes so far, and I hadn’t found it. In those worlds were more evolutionary lines than I could study in a lifetime, but in none of them was I wise. 

Downstairs, a door closed. Somewhere, it didn’t.

“I wish you were here,” I said.

¤     ¤     ¤

Jonathan Edelstein was born in 1971, is married with cat, and lives in New York City. His work has appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Strange Horizons, Intergalactic Medicine Show, GigaNotoSaurus, and elsewhere. He counts Chinua Achebe, Ursula Le Guin, and Bernard Cornwell among his literary heroes, and when he isn’t writing, he practices law and hopes to someday get it right. 

_________________________________________

 

 

stupefy (ˈstü-pə-ˌfī) to stun, astonish, or astound

Edited by award-winning SF writer Bruce Bethke, STUPEFYING STORIES is a bold attempt to grow a new general-interest science fiction and fantasy magazine from the ground up. For the past ten years we've been a part-time purely-for-the-love-of-it affair publishing on a wildly erratic schedule, but our goal is to grow to become a regular monthly magazine that pays pro rates—

And here's the radical part: we want to do this not by chasing after foundation grants, asking people to contribute to our crowdfunding campaign, or begging passers-by for spare change, but by selling books and magazines that people ENJOY READING!

Available on Kindle, in paperback, and free for Kindle Unlimited subscribers. Why not take a few minutes and check us out?  

Read More

Wish You Were Here • 1

Today, the first installment in the second iteration of The Pete Wood Challenge. This week we will be presenting ten microflash stories—apparently these are properly referred to as “drabbles;” I didn’t know that—all of which spring from a simple challenge: to write a 100-word story that revolves around the line:

“Wish you were here.”

 Today, the first two. Enjoy!

—brb

 “ARE THERE CATS ON MARS?” by Jonathan Worlde

Eight months to reach Mars from lunar base Angelou. Rochelle planned to view the complete films of Kurosawa and Ingmar Bergman; write the first draft of a Mars colonization novel; and get to know the dozen other scientists. A sociologist sent to study interpersonal relations in the five-hundred person colony, her two months on Mars would be career-defining.

A week into the trip, she could choose one recipient to send a vid-gram. Instead of her troublesome boyfriend Carlton, who picked a fight the night before she left, Rochelle beamed her smiling face to Mindy, her cat: Wish You Were Here.

¤   ¤   ¤

Jonathan Worlde’s neo-noir mystery novel, Latex Monkey with Banana, was winner of the Hollywood Discovery Award with a prize of $1,000. Recent short fiction appears in The Raven Review, the 2020 anthology Ghost Stories of Shepherdstown, and in Cirque Journal. He is also a traditional country blues performer under the stage name Paul the Resonator, whose CD is Soul of a Man.

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“Machine Learning” by Sylvia Heike

I know Ayla misses him—the husband she lost. Wishes he were here instead of me. In his image, I was created. Beneath the skin she touches, craves, I’m gold and wires and a neural network of signals and impulses, trying to be what she needs.

She says my name. I call her my sweetest, my darling, my only one. She rests her head against me. I hold her close. Her whole body trembles as she creates her silent rivers, making me freeze.

I’m still learning how to be him, but I think he would say, I miss you too.

¤   ¤   ¤

 

Sylvia Heike is a speculative fiction writer from Finland. She likes hiking, nature photography, books, bunnies, and birds. Her stories have appeared in Flash Fiction Online and elsewhere. To find out more, visit her website, https://sylviaheike.com, or follow her on Twitter @sylviaheike
 

 

 

 

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