Stephen L. Thompson's Blog, page 63

June 7, 2011

30 Stories in 30 Days #6 – "Prophets"

Prophets

 

Matt walked along with the other morning commuters leaving the subway station rubbing his jaw.  I probably should call Doctor Cantando, he thought.  I really don't want another root canal.

He glanced up and saw an attractive, college aged woman standing on the sidewalk about ten feet from him.  She saw him and smiled.  A knee-jerk reaction made Matt smile back.  Then he saw the fliers in her hand.

She held one out to him and said, "Here's our prediction about the end of the world."

With...

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Published on June 07, 2011 14:05

June 6, 2011

30 Stories in 30 Days #5 – "Eyewitnesses to History"

Eyewitnesses to History

 

"We're starting to lose some cameras."

Roduit looked over at Preston and said, "I thought they were supposed to be nearly indestructible."

"Emphasis on the nearly," Preston replied with a smirk.  "I don't know how many tons of high explosives are going off down there, but it's enough to knock some out."

"Are we going to lose coverage?"

Preston shrugged.  "The naval bombardment is about to start, so we might get a few thin areas."

Roduit shook her head.  "At least they're...

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Published on June 06, 2011 19:19

June 5, 2011

30 Stories in 30 Days #4 – "Unkilling Your Grandfather"

Unkilling Your Grandfather:

How to Sidestep That Pesky Paradox

The best way to prevent the paradoxical death of an ancestor (commonly known as the Killing Your Grandfather Paradox) is to never kill them in the first place.  Despite all the warnings in every model time machine, every year scores of travelers kill an ancestor either by accident, trick, or for the adrenaline rush.  Know your ancestry and either avoid your ancestors or be careful.

If – for whatever reason – you do kill one of your a...

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Published on June 05, 2011 17:27

30 Stories in 30 Days #3 – "A Downside to Success"

A Downside to Success

"What'cha reading?"

Sean glanced at his wife April and answered, "I had a little time to kill, so I searched for 'The Final Death' to see if anyone was talking about it." Pointing at his computer screen he continued, "I came across this Annabelle's Blog.  She has this fantastic overview of The Dead Man's Chest and Corpse House, and then she started making predictions about The Final Death."

"How accurate are they?"

"Pretty damn good." Sean scrolled up the page and pointed...

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Published on June 05, 2011 14:34

June 2, 2011

30 Stories in 30 Days #2 – "Worst Foot Forward"

Worst Foot Forward

Galactic Life Survey Group 03112

Preliminary report on species 01142.13021.22344

A Class 4 Survey Probe was sent to star system 32213.44110.21111 to observe the native emergent intelligence.  The probe successfully integrated with their planetary communication network and has returned approximately 32100.00000.00000.00000 information units.

Almost all of the data returned remains incomprehensible, due in large part to our limited understanding of their culture.  We do...

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Published on June 02, 2011 17:40

June 1, 2011

30 Stories in 30 Days #1 – "In the Name of Ideological Purity"

In the Name of Ideological Purity

"That's an interesting bumper sticker you have there," Ken told Nick one morning.

Nick shut his door and joined Ken standing behind his car.  He waved at his bumper sticker which read "Don't vote, both parties suck" and said, "Yeah, when I saw that I just knew I had to buy it."

The two began walking through the parking lot to their office building.  "Do you really think both parties suck?" Ken asked.

"Yeah.  It's obvious."

"They both have their problems," Ken...

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Published on June 01, 2011 13:39

May 31, 2011

Stephen L. Thompson's May 2011 Newsletter

Howdy,

Welcome to my electronic newsletter, covering May 2011.

My publication news for the past month:

None.

* * *

This month I wrote 3,184 words, giving me a total this year of 16,169. Again my goal is to write a total of 50,000 words this year, so I need to get busy.

* * *

Here is my story board at the end of May:

* * *

Just a reminder, in June I will once again be challenging myself to write 30 Stories in 30 Days. This year I'm doing things a bit differently by posting my stories here on my blog...

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Published on May 31, 2011 18:13

Story countdown – 2010

The third story in my countdown to my 30 Stories in 30 Days for 2011 is from June 2010 – "Merry Christmas."



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Published on May 31, 2011 11:07

May 30, 2011

Story countdown – 2009

The second story in my countdown to my 30 Stories in 30 Days for 2011 is from June 2009 – "To Live on in Unexpected Ways"



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Published on May 30, 2011 21:13

Story countdown – 2008

To lead up to my 30 Stories in 30 Days for 2011, I figured that I should do a quick countdown to it. What I decided to do was to pick a story from each of the first three years I've done this. These aren't my favorites or the best, just stories I think are good examples of what I'm doing.


The first story, is also the first story I ever did for my 30 Stories in 30 Days in September 2008 – "So Little Time"



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Published on May 30, 2011 13:48