Rick Cook Jr.'s Blog, page 20

Reaper’s Pincushion

Time for another writing prompt! This one’s from Chuck Wendig again, Let Fate Choose Your Title.

_____

Reaper’s Pincushion

by Rick Cook Jr.

I hate it when it’s the pediatric wing. But the job’s the job and I’m not ready to give it up yet.

In the room is the kid, eyes sunken in his skull, tubes connected to his arms. He seems to be sleeping, his chest rising ever so slightly. His parents are to oneside, clutching his tiny hands. The mother is whispering words of comfort to her little boy, while tea...

Against Me [1,500 words]

Another flash fiction prompt from Chuck Wendig, this time smashing a couple subgenres together and writing a story about it.

I rolled “Parallel Universe” and “Revenge”!

Against Me

by Rick Cook Jr

I watch myself getting a ticket and smile.

The me I’m watching isn’t me, in the strictest sense, of course. No one but me could ever be me. But the other me is pretty close, and pretty close is close enough.

The whole “alternate dimensions” theory, string theory, ten dimensions, quantum entanglement, what-...

The Deciding Factor

Been a good long while, but I’m back with a writing prompt from Reddit:

You have died. While waiting to be judged, you are offered the chance to clear one entry from your file before the decision is made.

There were no other parameters so I took a couple small liberties, as I am known to do. Hope you enjoy!

The Deciding Factor

by Rick Cook Jr.

I was staring at a physical manifestation of all the deeds of my life. It was curious, in that it seemed much smaller than I expected, maybe the size of ape...

‘The Recluse and the Runaway’ on Amazon Kindle!

So this is by way of an announcement thatThe Recluse and the Runaway, formerly titledThe Recluse, the Rott, and the Runaway,has been removed from my blog and is now available through Amazon Kindle for $0.99. I’m excited to be able to offer this novella through an e-reading service, since it exists in that gray space between short story and novel, it’s hard to place it anywhere that people are willing to sit down and read on a computer screen.

If you head over there today (April 29, 2014) throu...

Carbon Empathy

Today’s Flash Fiction comes to you thanks to two people: Chuck Wendig for the prompt, and JC Hemphill for the opening line.

The challenge was to choose an opening line from the submissions on the previous week’s prompt challenge (there were quite a number to choose from), and write a flash fiction piece of 1,000 words or so using that line as our opening line. So everything but the first line in today’s story is original by me. I’d really like to thank JC Hemphill for the excellent sentence an...

The Recluse, the Rott, and the Runaway – Part Six

All right. This is the last part. A big thank you to the people who stuck it out with me on this one, as it’s turned out very personal for me. I hope it finds you well.

Part One – The Recluse

Part Two – The Rottweiler

Part Three – The Runaway

Part Four – Repercussion

Part Five – Closer

The Recluse, the Rott, and the Runaway

Part Six – A Decision, Once Made

The next day it rained, and Becca was stuckinside the cabin. She decided to read Tex again. Alice brought in some more wood for that evening. They...

The Recluse, the Rott, and the Runaway – Part Five

And here we are with the penultimate part of this novella. I’ve said it elsewhere, but I’ve become way too close to this story and I’ve been having a hard time just seeing whether I think it’s good or not. I guess I’ll let you all be the judges of that as we begin the end for this novella.

Part One – The Recluse

Part Two – The Rottweiler

Part Three – The Runaway

Part Four – Repercussion

The Recluse, the Rott, and the Runaway

Part Five – Closer

Becca was reading Tex, still in her nightgown, when Alic...

The Recluse, the Rott, and the Runaway – Part Four

So now we’re up to Part Four of my serial novella, and I’m happy to announce that the story is finished at this point. I’m considering when best to release the remaining two parts, but probably by the end of this week is how it’ll shuffle out.

Part One – The Recluse

Part Two – The Rottweiler

Part Three – The Runaway

The Recluse, the Rott, and the Runaway

Part 4 – Repercussion

Alice woke to an empty bed, refreshed. The sky through the window was still scudding dark clouds, but it didn’t appear to be...

The Recluse, the Rott, and the Runaway – Part Three

So I may have misinformed some of you. What I originally thought I could wrap up in about 10,000 words, or three posts, is turning out not so small. Part three is not the end, as I may have suggested (okay, I flat out said it). It is rather closer to perhaps the halfway point.So if you haven’t read Parts One or Two yet, I suggest you do that now, by clicking either of the links to take you to the proper post.

Part One – The Recluse

Part Two – The Rottweiler

The Recluse, the Rott, and the Runaway...

The Recluse, the Rott, and the Runaway – Part Two

This is a short story broken up into three parts. There are no supernatural, science fiction, or fantasy elements. It’s a personal tale of limitation and acceptance, and of knowing when enough is just enough. It would be more comfortable at home perhaps on the Lifetime network, or perhaps one of those storieswhere the old fogey and the kid bond. Secondhand Lions, orHearts in Atlantis, maybe. Is this going to be as good as either of those?Obviously not. Either way, here it is:

Part One – The Re...