“Thoughts and Prayers”

Out today in The Arcanist: my flash fiction story about the gamification of tragedy, “Thoughts and Prayers”.

I first wrote this in November 2015, after a mass shooting (I think), when I saw the outpouring of “support” on social media — especially from the government, who did absolutely nothing, and continues to do absolutely nothing… except send thoughts and prayers. At this point the phrase has become rote, and while I know there are people out there who are genuine, it’s really more of a “d...