Alas, Beginning of “Cleaning Up Afterward” started well, but never went anywhere. Such is life. They can’t all be brilliant.
Tag: microfiction
Patreon Microfiction: Lucky Guesser.
Dice might have no memory, but sometimes they have a sadistic sense of humor.
Moe Lane
Patreon Microfiction: Preying on the Wind.
Patreon Microfiction: From “The Coming of the Great Wyrm of Philadelphia.”
I didn’t even try to keep it at 100 words for From ““The Coming of the Great Wyrm of Philadelphia.” Sometimes you don’t constrain the Muse. Besides, the real trick was in not writing out the whole thing, because then I’d have to actually make it fit the old verse forms*.
Moe Lane
*Trust me: my wife can explain to you quite comprehensively how I have not.
Patreon Microfiction: Besides, All My Stuff Is Here.
“Besides, All My Stuff Is Here” highlights a continuing issue I can have with fantasy. ‘Evil for evil’s sake’ is found more often in fiction than real life. I mean, why should the Supreme Dread Lord be invested in the Biggest Bad’s success? He’d probably be next on the list! So if he can stay off of the Good Guys’ list, why not act out of intelligent self-interest?
Patreon Microfiction: All In.
I dunno, man. We gotta go ‘All In’ on populating the galaxy somewhere and sometime, right? Especially if nobody else is stepping up.
Patreon Microfiction: Infrastructure.
‘Infrastructure’ is a nice idea, but I don’t have anything else to say about it. I dunno, that happens sometimes.
Patreon Microfiction: The Fight Music of the Spheres.
Missing from “The Fight Music of the Spheres” are questions like, Should any of us care? or Do we need to do anything about this? Sometimes it just ain’t none of our business, you know what I mean? I mean, clearly, in this particular case we are absolutely not the things the galaxy revolves around…
Patreon Microfiction: Reasonable Ambitions
The trope of ‘Older, non-maestro schemer ends the career/life of young, naive maestro’ always bugged me*. It happens, sure. But the trope’s not always compatible with the idea of a competent schemer, is it? An intelligent person – like the protagonist of ‘Reasonable Ambitions’ – could just as easily realize that you don’t kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, particularly when the goose is going to be ridiculously and profitably grateful for the way you take care of those annoying day-to-day distractions. The people normally interacting with the goose would probably be more grateful, too. Genius can be a bit much to deal with, on a regular basis**.
Moe Lane
*AMADEUS is an excellent movie that nonetheless has a lot to answer for.
**Twenty years ago, I would have made an arrogant joke about that; these days, I refrain. Mind you, I haven’t become humbler. I just have less of a need to remind people about how awesome I am.
Patreon Microfiction: A Whiff of Buckshot.
‘A Whiff of Buckshot’ posits that there is absolutely no reason why a civilized member of a sapient species would not use firearms, should they be available. Even if there’s stuff like wands of Fireball, or what have you. Black powder works even when you don’t chant mystic prunes over it.
#commissionearned