Stephen L. Thompson's Blog, page 61

30,000 Words!

Now that I'm somewhat settled after my move, I've been trying to spend about an hour each day writing.  It seems to be working.  Not even two-thirds of the way through August I've already written more words than in all previous months this year except March and June.  I should pass March's mark next week, but I won't beat June, since that was when I held my 30 Stories in 30 Days Challenge. 

Anyway, yesterday I passed 30,000 words!  As of this morning, my total for the year is 30,350.  My goal ...

Why do I write Science Fiction?

Basically, that's what I like.  I read science fiction, I watch science fiction shows and movies, hell, most of the ideas I come up with are science fiction, that's why I write so much of it.  But since that's too simple an answer, here's something a little more deeper, for when I'm famous enough to be a tad pompous. 

Several years ago I came up with a saying that sums up the most basic truth I know: Humanity has but two choices, evolution or extinction.  We could become extinct by killing o...

Stephen L. Thompson's June/July 2011 Newsletter

Howdy,

Welcome to my electronic newsletter, covering June and July 2011.

My publication news for the past two months:

Publication of my story "The Price to Pay" on my Smashwords account.

Publication of my stories "In the Name of Ideological Purity," "Worst Foot Forward," "A Downside to Success," "Unkilling Your Grandfather: How to Sidestep That Pesky Paradox," "Eyewitnesses to History," "Prophets," "Give it Time," "Fluid History," "Mercy," "A Bitter Man Can Dream," "From Out of Town," "Dust to...

I feel better now

As some of you know, I'm in the process of moving.  This has left me either busy or wore out, so I haven't really done any writing for three weeks or so.  But today I went to a coffee shop and worked on a story.  About an hour or so ago I sat down and began typing up what I had written in the coffee shop, and I kept going.  I typed almost 1000 words today.  Not bad.  I think I'll go for a walk now.

Nineteen stories in thirty days

Well, it had to happen sometime.  Some year where I didn't meet my goal of writing thirty stories in thirty days.  The reasons I didn't make it this year are several.  The first three years I did this, I spent several weeks to a month preparing; coming up with story ideas and thinking them through, almost writing them in my head.  (Which is okay, given the rules I made up for this.)  But this year, it was almost the end of May when I realized, Oh yeah, I'm doing my thirty stories thing next...

30 Stories in 30 Days #19 – "Backwater"

Backwater

 

"Scan local radio frequencies."

"Why even bother?" Larrg asked.

Jiaj clacked her beak.  "You'll never know what you'll find."

What they found was a screech that ruffled both their feathers.  Larrg muted the system.  Shaking himself he said, "Is there any sector in this galaxy that isn't polluted with Zy'glog?"

"Apparently," Jiaj replied, "it sounds a lot better if you listen to it under water.  So blame all the aquatic species." She then told the system to find the next frequency.

This t...

25,000 words!

I keep track of how many words I write each day. My goal for the year is to write 50,000 words. Well today I passed the 25,000 word mark.  In fact, I'm 25,114/50,000th of the way to my goal in only 174/365th of the time.  If you're quick with math, you'll see that I'm more than halfway to my goal in less than half the time!  Hopefully, I can keep this up.

30 Stories in 30 Days #18 – "Land of the Dumb"

Land of the Dumb

 

As Jeff rolled to a stop at a red light, his wife Ann laughed.  "Look at that," she said, pointing out the window.

"What am I looking at?" Jeff asked.

"Those two signs on the telephone pole."

Jeff studied the two signs people had tacked to the pole.  The top one read "Gutters cleaned" and a phone number, while the bottom one read "I buy houses" and another number.  But the big difference was the gutter cleaner had printed their sign on stiff paper with a deep red ink, while the ...

30 Stories in 30 Days #17 – "Did You Think Otherwise?"

Did You Think Otherwise?

A young boy walked around the corner of the building.  Half of the soldiers pointed their weapons at him, while the other half covered them.  The boy raised his hands and called, "I mean you no harm."

Lieutenant Harkin lowered his weapon, but the rest of his platoon didn't.  "You speak English?" he asked.

The boy nodded.  "I do.  The men you seek are not here."

"Is that so?  I suppose you expect me to just take your word for it."

The boy smiled.  "I speak the truth.  You...

30 Stories in 30 Days #16 – "Future Tour"

Future Tour

 

With the pounding beat of The Poison Figs in his earbuds, Eric bounced across the rocky terrain on his dirt bike.  The GPS Navigator in his visor was leading him to Station #17.  Just as the Navigator flashed "You are nearing your destination" on his visor, Eric topped a rise and saw the fluttering marker flag.

He slowed down and came to a stop a dozen meters from the site.  He turned off the bike and waited a minute for the song to finish.  When it did, he turned off the player...