Brian Hagan's Blog, page 4

Flash Fiction Challenge 1: Waiting By the Bridge

Foreword:

This story is my first entry to the 2017 Flash Fiction Challenge, which I was able to enter thanks to my gracious sponsors. Thank you!

For the first challenge, I was given a prompt that included a genre, a place, and an object. The prompt I received was: romance, a strawberry field, and a golf ball. As you probably know, romance is not my genre of choice, so this is my first ever attempt at writing it. I hope you enjoy!

 

 

Waiting By the Bridge

 

Melissa swayed her golf club back and forth impatiently while Erica carefully gauged their distance to the seventh hole. The wind was mild and the sky was bright and clear. It was a perfect day for a game of golf with a friend. Almost.

“Come on,” Melissa said.

“Calm down.” Erica placed her ball on its tee and pulled a driver from her bag. “There’s no rush.”

“Sorry, I just don’t want to be overtaken by that junior league we saw unloading in the parking lot. They’re already catching up.”

Erica swung, sending her golf ball flying through the air.

“I guess we do play like a pair of old ladies, don’t we? Taking our sweet time with every shot,” she said. “I mean, seriously, a whole junior league is catching up with two players. What game are they playing, golf cart polo?”

Melissa laughed. “I used to do that.”

“No!”

“Yup,” she laughed. “Back in high school. They actually let us get away with it.”

They laughed together for a moment as Melissa moved forward to replace the tee and set her own ball. She stood and was about to line up her shot when she heard a call in the distance.

“Fore!”

She didn’t even have a chance to turn and look for the incoming golf ball before it struck her on the temple.

Melissa blinked, only vaguely aware of what just happened. She tried to focus on her surroundings, which were dark and shadowy. Suddenly she realized that she wasn’t laying down. Startled, she threw out her hands to catch her balance, but discovered that she wasn’t in danger of falling. She was floating, as if she were at the bottom of a pool, with her feet lightly touching the ground.

In front of her the darkness parted. It was difficult to make out details, but she got the sense that it was like a forest edge, where the trees thinned and ended. She stepped towards the opening, then floated, bobbing through the air until she reached it. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she felt her feet press against the ground and her body grow heavy again. She was no longer floating, and before her she saw the Rainbow Bridge, the bridge to the afterlife. She remembered reading about it in college. On either side of the bridge were fields of strawberries, and their scent filled her nose.

Suddenly she remembered something else about the bridge. She looked around quickly and soon saw all her old friends coming up to her. In moments she was surrounded by the animals she knew and loved during her life. Dogs and cats from her childhood, and a rabbit whom she only barely remembered but always loved.

“Oh my god,” she cried quietly as she was greeted with licks and face rubs. “I’ve missed you all so much.” She looked at them through her tears and laughed. “You’re here to help me cross the bridge? Just like the stories say? I’m so glad.”

Then she noticed a person standing out in the field of strawberries. It was a man holding a basket. He held up one hand when he saw her notice him, and waved.

“Jae?” She stood up and walked out into the field, her friends following along in a group behind her. “Oh my god, Jae, it is you!” She ran up to him and gave him a hug.

“How are you, Melissa?” he asked as he hugged her back with one arm. She couldn’t see it, but she could tell he was crying too.

“Um,” she said. “I’m confused, but happy? What are you doing here?” They stepped back from each other.

“I was waiting for you,” he said with a smile. “It’s not like I had somewhere to be.”

“But, it’s been ten years since you… since you died.”

“It’s fine,” he insisted. “I had good company.” He smiled down at the animals around her feet and then looked around. “Mine are around here someplace, too,” he said.

“So, you just hung around here for ten years? Just waiting for me? Why?”

“When I arrived, I was so sad that I would never get to have a life with you beyond that year we shared before I died. I thought: what if I cross the Rainbow Bridge, and that’s it? I never see her again? I couldn’t bring myself to take that risk. I couldn’t move on without seeing you again.”

“You couldn’t move on,” Melissa repeated quietly. “But Jae… I’m so sorry! I moved on. Oh god,” she sat down suddenly in the strawberries. “My husband! My kids!”

“I’m sorry, Melissa,” Jae said as he sat down beside her. She cried into her hands. She wasn’t sure how long, but eventually she stopped. Then, she was quiet for a long time. Jae sat beside her patiently, quietly, surrounded by their cherished pets from life. Eventually, she spoke.

“That’s not true,” she said quietly. “I didn’t move on completely. I mean, I love my husband and kids. But I never stopped missing you.” She looked at him. “I’m glad you’re here,” she said. She leaned over and hugged him tightly. “I missed you so much.” They embraced for a while. Melissa could feel her sense of time slipping away among the strawberries. “So, now what?” she asked. “Do we have to cross? Could we wait for my family?” She leaned back from Jae. “Did you see your Dad?” she asked.

He shook his head. “No,” he said. “All this time, I never saw anyone else. I wasn’t even sure I was going to see you whenever the time came. But I did. Maybe we only see the people we’re waiting for?”

Melissa thought a bit.

“Can we wait, then? For my family? I want to wait for them, here, with you. For as long as it takes.”

He answered with another hug, and they waited, sitting there in the field of strawberries.

~END~

Short Story: Waiting By the Bridge

Foreword:

This story is my first entry to the 2017 Flash Fiction Challenge, which I was able to enter thanks to my gracious sponsors. Thank you!

For the first challenge, I was given a prompt that included a genre, a place, and an object. The prompt I received was: romance, a strawberry field, and a golf ball. As you probably know, romance is not my genre of choice, so this is my first ever attempt at writing it. I hope you enjoy!

 

Waiting By the Bridge

 

Melissa swayed her golf club back and forth impatiently while Erica carefully gauged their distance to the seventh hole. The wind was mild and the sky was bright and clear. It was a perfect day for a game of golf with a friend. Almost.

“Come on,” Melissa said.

“Calm down.” Erica placed her ball on its tee and pulled a driver from her bag. “There’s no rush.”

“Sorry, I just don’t want to be overtaken by that junior league we saw unloading in the parking lot. They’re already catching up.”

Erica swung, sending her golf ball flying through the air.

“I guess we do play like a pair of old ladies, don’t we? Taking our sweet time with every shot,” she said. “I mean, seriously, a whole junior league is catching up with two players. What game are they playing, golf cart polo?”

Melissa laughed. “I used to do that.”

“No!”

“Yup,” she laughed. “Back in high school. They actually let us get away with it.”

They laughed together for a moment as Melissa moved forward to replace the tee and set her own ball. She stood and was about to line up her shot when she heard a call in the distance.

“Fore!”

She didn’t even have a chance to turn and look for the incoming golf ball before it struck her on the temple.

Melissa blinked, only vaguely aware of what just happened. She tried to focus on her surroundings, which were dark and shadowy. Suddenly she realized that she wasn’t laying down. Startled, she threw out her hands to catch her balance, but discovered that she wasn’t in danger of falling. She was floating, as if she were at the bottom of a pool, with her feet lightly touching the ground.

In front of her the darkness parted. It was difficult to make out details, but she got the sense that it was like a forest edge, where the trees thinned and ended. She stepped towards the opening, then floated, bobbing through the air until she reached it. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she felt her feet press against the ground and her body grow heavy again. She was no longer floating, and before her she saw the Rainbow Bridge, the bridge to the afterlife. She remembered reading about it in college. On either side of the bridge were fields of strawberries, and their scent filled her nose.

Suddenly she remembered something else about the bridge. She looked around quickly and soon saw all her old friends coming up to her. In moments she was surrounded by the animals she knew and loved during her life. Dogs and cats from her childhood, and a rabbit whom she only barely remembered but always loved.

“Oh my god,” she cried quietly as she was greeted with licks and face rubs. “I’ve missed you all so much.” She looked at them through her tears and laughed. “You’re here to help me cross the bridge? Just like the stories say? I’m so glad.”

Then she noticed a person standing out in the field of strawberries. It was a man holding a basket. He held up one hand when he saw her notice him, and waved.

“Jae?” She stood up and walked out into the field, her friends following along in a group behind her. “Oh my god, Jae, it is you!” She ran up to him and gave him a hug.

“How are you, Melissa?” he asked as he hugged her back with one arm. She couldn’t see it, but she could tell he was crying too.

“Um,” she said. “I’m confused, but happy? What are you doing here?” They stepped back from each other.

“I was waiting for you,” he said with a smile. “It’s not like I had somewhere to be.”

“But, it’s been ten years since you… since you died.”

“It’s fine,” he insisted. “I had good company.” He smiled down at the animals around her feet and then looked around. “Mine are around here someplace, too,” he said.

“So, you just hung around here for ten years? Just waiting for me? Why?”

“When I arrived, I was so sad that I would never get to have a life with you beyond that year we shared before I died. I thought: what if I cross the Rainbow Bridge, and that’s it? I never see her again? I couldn’t bring myself to take that risk. I couldn’t move on without seeing you again.”

“You couldn’t move on,” Melissa repeated quietly. “But Jae… I’m so sorry! I moved on. Oh god,” she sat down suddenly in the strawberries. “My husband! My kids!”

“I’m sorry, Melissa,” Jae said as he sat down beside her. She cried into her hands. She wasn’t sure how long, but eventually she stopped. Then, she was quiet for a long time. Jae sat beside her patiently, quietly, surrounded by their cherished pets from life. Eventually, she spoke.

“That’s not true,” she said quietly. “I didn’t move on completely. I mean, I love my husband and kids. But I never stopped missing you.” She looked at him. “I’m glad you’re here,” she said. She leaned over and hugged him tightly. “I missed you so much.” They embraced for a while. Melissa could feel her sense of time slipping away among the strawberries. “So, now what?” she asked. “Do we have to cross? Could we wait for my family?” She leaned back from Jae. “Did you see your Dad?” she asked.

He shook his head. “No,” he said. “All this time, I never saw anyone else. I wasn’t even sure I was going to see you whenever the time came. But I did. Maybe we only see the people we’re waiting for?”

Melissa thought a bit.

“Can we wait, then? For my family? I want to wait for them, here, with you. For as long as it takes.”

He answered with another hug, and they waited, sitting there in the field of strawberries.

~END~

Short Story Shenanigans: Contest and Publishing!

The first thing, the biggest thing, that I need to mention in this post is the incredible support I received over Facebook last week when I announced my goal to participate in the Flash Fiction Challenge 2017 and how I needed help to pay for the entry fee. Well, it didn’t take long for my friends, family, and fans to pool together and a few days later I was able to register for the contest. This may come as a surprise, but nobody has ever sponsored me for a contest like that before. So, thank you!

The next big news is that a short story of mine, The Theater is Closed, was selected for inclusion in “Combating Censorship: a zine project.” The zine was put together by Jacqueline Dell after an experience where a friend of hers was censored by a publication because his work was deemed too controversial. I’m proud and honored to be included in Jacqueline’s zine, and I encourage everyone to give it a read through. It’s FREE and can be read online at Issuu or you can download the PDF here. Please share it and help combat censorship!

Music Mondays: FOLÍAS DE ESPAÑA – Concierto de Jordi Savall

I was researching medieval Spain when I came across this video. It’s a live concert of medieval Spanish music, performed on period instruments. The gentleman who stands up and speaks occasionally is a celebrated expert on historical music of all types, apparently, and has numerous albums. Check it out!

New Short Story, New Give Away!

Yesterday I released “Tap Tap Tap,” a short story. So, all this week it will be free on Kindle! Head over to Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071FDQKZW and get your copy right now. Here’s a little preview for you:

“What are you doing?” Lily screamed at her.

“What are you doing?” Helen screamed in return. Lily pulled her back away from the mirror by one arm. Helen struggled, but couldn’t get away. Suddenly Lily swung her around and pinned her against the stall door.

“Let me go!” Helen yelled.

“What the hell!” Lily yelled back into her face. Helen struggled more, but couldn’t get away. She never realized how strong Lily was. “What the hell, Helen? What are you thinking?”

“Let me go!” Helen yelled again. There was no time to explain, even if she knew how to.

“No! Damnit Helen, it could be dangerous! You’re my friend and I’m not going to lose you!” Helen stopped struggling. Lily spoke as she kept her friend pinned. “We don’t know what’s going on,” she said. “Helen it could be anything on the other side. It could be hell, literally hell, through there. Or maybe a planet without an atmosphere. Or aliens! For cryin’ out loud Helen, it could be anything.”

Helen shook her head. “No,” she said. “I saw. I saw the other side. It’s OK, let me go.”

But Lily didn’t loosen her grip. “I don’t care,” she said. “Even if it’s safe through there, I’m not letting you go. I’m not losing another friend. Please don’t go.”

Helen looked in her eyes. How could she explain to Lily? Surely Lily already thought she was crazy. It wouldn’t help to start spouting stuff about how none of this world is real, that it was just a feverish hallucination. Helen wasn’t entirely sure she understood it herself, but she remembered now hearing about things like this from her Grandmother. A person falls to a fever and never comes back, their soul lost in a world of its own creation. Eventually the fever wins, the body dies, and everything is lost.

But all the stories she ever heard always ended with death. Somehow her family and friends had found a way to open a pathway home. They’d managed to communicate with her, give her a chance to save herself. And now she was, what, blocking her own path to salvation? Was Lily anything more than a feverish dream?

Helen looked into Lily’s eyes. She saw the pain and fear Lily felt, and suddenly Helen didn’t care if Lily was real. She was real enough.

Music Mondays: System of a Down – Aerials (Cover by Violin Revolution)

I haven’t posted a Music Monday in a while, and when I came across this last night I felt particularly inspired and wanted to share it.

I can’t remember exactly what thread of searching through music on youTube brought me to Violin Revolution. I know I wanted a few different instrumental covers of System of a Down songs (and Aerials in particular) before finally coming across this one. Not only did they have the best fully instrumental cover without drum overlays or anything, but I was blown away by the group as well.

Check it out:

Update on Wheel of Time TV series

Back in 2015 I wrote about an interesting event: in an apparent bid to keep the rights to adapt the Wheel of Time series for TV, a “pilot” for a series was aired on FXX. It was unannounced, unpromoted, and unpopular. The post I made was purely fun conjecture, but it seems that now we finally have some solid news about the future of the Wheel of Time on TV.

Variety has reported that Sony will begin production of the new TV series based on the best selling novels. They’ll be working with Red Eagle Production and Radar Pictures to make what Harriet McDougal (Robert Jordan’s widow) has said “will become a cutting edge TV series! I couldn’t be more pleased.”

The adaptation is set to be written and produced by , whose past projects include Agents of SHIELD, Hemlock Grove, and Chuck. He also appeared in several seasons of Survivor.

The best news is that everything regarding Universal and the 2015 shenanigans with Winter Dragon appear to be behind us, as McDougal has said “Legal issues have been resolved.” Hopefully it stays that way! It seems like everything is coming together well for an awesome TV adaptation.

 

Help make Peter S Beagle’s birthday a good one

Floating through my social media stream was a blog post from Amp Toons about Peter S Beagle, famous author of The Last Unicorn and other awesome books. Even if you’re familiar with his works, you may not be familiar with his situation. Without getting into too much detail, Mr. Beagle hired a manager who stole a lot of money. Now, there is a lawsuit against this person and the latest news has been very good for Mr. Beagle. Unfortunately, judgements don’t put food on the table.

That’s where we, his fans, can help.

This week, to help add a bit of cheer to Mr. Beagle’s birthday, let’s help support him. There are a number of awesome ways you can help:

Head over to Humble Bundle and get the collection of awesome books Mr. Beagle curated himself, for as much or as little money as you can spare. If you select “choose where your money goes,” you can send 100% to Tachyon Press, Peter Beagle’s publisher. He earns royalties, and can continue to make a living.
Donate to Support Peter Beagle (see update regarding Paypal!). By helping to pay his legal fees, you can free up Mr. Beagle’s own money to buy other things, like groceries.
If you’re interested in donating to Mr. Beagle directly Update: Peter Beagle has asked that people donate to the Support Peter Beagle legal fund in the above point. Humble Bundle is OK too, but the best way to help is through his legal fund!


As a final possibility, if you happen to be in Pittsburgh, PA, you can stop by Rickert & Beagle Books and do some shopping.

Some people have been talking about a GoFundMe page for Mr. Beagle, but Adrienne confirmed that is not a possibility, presumably for legal reasons. If you see any attempts at a GoFundMe or other crowdfunding campaign to benefit Mr. Beagle, please confirm its legitimacy before donating.

 


UPDATES

(4/23 10:42pm) The Paypal Donation button on SupportPeterBeagle.com appears to not be accepting money at the moment. We suspect shenanigans on the part of Paypal. I’ll update again when we know the button is working!

Another Giveaway for My Shortstories!

Click for the Instagram Post

Starting this weekend, I’m giving away another shortstory that I just published through Amazon, called “Reality Check.”

From the description: Agnolo was just trying to enjoy his lunch at his favorite pub. He’s not an unreasonable guy, and he likes it when people stick to the facts. So when a man starts telling preposterous lies to everyone around him, Agnolo complains. That’s when he gets his Reality Check.

Here’s what the first review had to say about it: “‘Reality Check’ is a story that rides multiple genre lines, flows relatively well, makes nods to various fandoms (including anime, science fiction, and more), and still carries with it a powerful message in a deceptively small, simple package. I found it intriguing that the tale even uses fandom as a means to relay the message, which was not something I expected when I began reading this story.”

Anthony adds at the end: “If you want an enjoyable story that makes you think in an unexpected way, then you really cannot go wrong with ‘Reality Check.’”

In addition to giving away Reality Check for a whole week, I decided to make Insomnia free again for the rest of the weekend. So if you missed last week’s giveaway, you’ve got another chance to grab it!

Now head on over to the Shop or use the links below and download free Kindle edition copies of these two stories now!

I woke up at 5am today and it was scary

Waking up at 5am is something I’ve done before. Sometimes it was was so I could get to work on time, sometimes it was for a road trip or a convention, and other times it was because I wanted to get an early start to the day.

Honestly, there’s nothing materially different about this morning than some other morning when I got up at 5am. I’ve done it before. Yet, inexplicably, this morning was scary. I felt a certain unease about this morning that I hadn’t felt for a long time. It took me a while to nail it down, and when I did it gave me reason to pause, and think that maybe I was making a mistake.

I might have dismissed my feelings as being a result of the pancakes I ate last night and the ensuing heartburn I was dealing with through the night, or that strange dream I had about buying fish from a shady pet shop. But, this was something I’d felt from the moment I decided that I wanted to wake up at 5am and it strikes to the heart of the reason why I decided to awaken so early: I want to change my life.

Not that long ago, it was only a year or two.

That, too, is something that I’ve tried to do before. Most recently, that’s to say, about a year or two, my wife convinced me to try that Miracle Morning (Amazon affiliate link) life solution. I really enjoyed this approach, surprisingly enough, and really recommend you read the book if only for the insights it provides. I started the Miracle Morning approach with excitement, but I wasn’t able to stick with it for a variety of reasons. My wife was able to, though, and it’s enabled her to do some great things with her life and business.

But, the Miracle Morning still isn’t the reason for my misgivings about this morning, although my failure to stick with it was a contributor. Failure, you see, is something I became well acquainted with during the my visit to the deepest depths of my depression back around 2008, and that’s where I knew this feeling from. Waking up at 5am this morning, it had the same feel as those various & desperate acts I took to attempt to change my life and snap myself out of my depression: I worked out (then stopped), started Tai Chi (paid for a year of lessons in advance and stopped), took up acting (could never make it a regular thing), got a casting agent (paid into the program, never followed through on the headshots), started a vending machine company (closed after a couple years with no real success), and wrote a book (… actually, that one was OK).

I experienced so much failure in such big ways and in such a short period of time, all as an attempt to pull myself out of a depression that was only getting worse because of those failures. So when I woke up at 5am this morning and felt the same things that I felt back then… it was scary. I was terrified that my depression was coming back and this morning was just another doomed attempt to fend off a monster that’s destined to win. I’m still not convinced that there isn’t an element of truth in that.

But I got out of bed anyway.

And I decided to write this blog entry.

Because, even though it was scary, and I feel like I might fail at doing this whole 5am business every day, I did it anyway; and I want to encourage you to do the scary thing that you need to do, too. Maybe you’ve failed before, or maybe you struggle with depression. That’s okay, don’t be afraid. There are lots of us, and most of us make it. You can too. For me, it started with getting professional help with my depression and it continues with a willingness to try new things & things I may have already failed at before.

Waking up at 5am today was scary, but I did it anyway. You can do it too, whatever “it” needs to be.