September, 2012 Archives

28
Sep

Kite Prisons

by thegooddoctor in 100 Words

The state of Montana, hoping to profit on the nation’s overcrowding problems, built the first kite prisons in 2036. They tied the prisoners to the backs of kites and let the wind take them hundreds of feet in the air. They saved millions on construction and maintenance costs. All you needed was a few old men who made sure no one came along and cut the strings.

The congressional hearings began in 2051, when it was discovered that the Montana DOC was allowing prisoners to starve to death rather than feed them.

Leave it to the liberals to ruin a good thing.

26
Sep

The Mist

by thegooddoctor in 100 Words

One morning, Mayor Baffels woke up to find a dark mist had descended upon the city.

His first thought was on how the mist would play in the upcoming election. People would look for him to have the answers. Was it caused by pollution? Had there been an explosion? Were their lives in danger?

Baffels would use the opportunity to bolster his leadership credentials during a crisis. He expected it would ensure his reelection.

In the end, he did win, but the hellfire and destruction that were unleashed by his deal with devil made his victory rather pyrrhic in nature.

25
Sep

Homophasmatic

by thegooddoctor in 100 Words

George had always been different. His parents first noticed something was wrong when he was only three because he had a habit of confusing words that sounded the same.

It took many different specialists before George was finally identified as a homophasmatic. They determined a portion of his brain was insufficiently developed and it prevented him from distinguishing certain sounds, much like a person who is color blind can’t tell the difference between red and green.

The worst part for George was that he kept eating his soap and washing himself with his soup, so everything about him smelled awful.

24
Sep

The Trousseau

by thegooddoctor in 100 Words

Eleanor eyed the old trunk. Inside was the collection of presents and hand-me-downs her aunties had assembled for her trousseau. But three years into her marriage, she had never opened it before tonight.

The objects were mostly as she expected, recipes and trinkets meant to give her certain disposable comforts in her new household. But now she had need of one particular item packed away at the bottom: her grandmother’s wand.

When she had married Stephen, she’d promised to give up witchcraft. But now that he had cheated on her, every one of her vows was going to be broken.

21
Sep

E-Book Now On Sale

by thegooddoctor in News

Book Tango is the first e-book store to offer Picasso Painted Dinosaurs, my collection of 100 100-word stories. It includes two original essays on the art of microfiction, and more than 50% of the content is available exclusively in the e-book. The collection has been sent to all major online stores, including Amazon, iBooks, and Barnes & Noble, and should be available with them in the three to four weeks.
For now, check out Book Tango, where you can purchase Picasso Painted Dinosaurs for the very reasonable price of $2.00. It is availabe in epub, pdf, and mobi formats. Your purchase of the book helps to fund the continued operation of this website.
Thank you, as always, for your support. It is greatly appreciated.

20
Sep

The Vigorish

by thegooddoctor in 100 Words

Sal lurked in the hallways of the gambling den, all greasy hair and cigarette stench. No one acknowledged his presence, not even the proprietor who employed him. He was considered a necessary evil by some, the angel of reckoning by others.

They called him the Vigorish. His job was to calculate and collect the interest. He wasn’t the muscle–he was too much of a worm to behave violently. He was just the one doing the math.

If he came to your table, you knew you’d been cut off. If he came to your home, you knew you were dead.

19
Sep

The Diapason

by thegooddoctor in 100 Words

Before the stroke, Malcolm was obsessed with football.

Afterwards, Malcolm found a part of his brain that had never been used before was now actively engaged. In grade school, he had failed to learn even a rudimentary song on the piano. Now music was everywhere.

When it came to natural phenomenon, the wind, breathing, the setting of the sun, he heard their rhythms as a harmonious symphony. Machines and furniture emitted a cacophony of unholy clamor that caused waves of nausea.

Malcolm held the keys to the universe inside his injured brain. His new obsession was the destruction of God.

18
Sep

Time Crystal

by thegooddoctor in 100 Words

Dr. Henrich had been working on the prototype for decades. His entire career had been devoted to transferring the three dimensional periodic arrangement of a crystal onto a four dimensional construct.

He had finally succeeded.

His time crystal would allow him to travel to any time he wished. He could walk through the past the same way we normally walk down a busy street.

Unfortunately at his age, he was hobbled by his recent hip replacement and the crystal wasn’t large enough to fit his Segway. It would take him hours just to make it back to breakfast this morning.

17
Sep

Banishment

by thegooddoctor in 100 Words

Ralph saw the boat waiting for him and wanted to cry. He was walking away from the only home he had ever known in his life.

The town of Kellenah occupied a small island off the coast of South Carolina. It was the only place in America that practiced democracy in the same style that the ancient Greeks had. That included banishment.

The townspeople had just voted Ralph off the island. He expected that his family at least would have come with him, but they decided to stay. They were unwilling to give up their membership at the country club.

14
Sep

Founding Father

by thegooddoctor in 100 Words

The first documented invasion of Earth occurred prior to the Revolutionary War in the mid-eighteenth century. The aliens had achieved interstellar flight through a complicated series of hydraulics powered by steam. They were an industrious species but their eagerness to rule Earth was not matched by their technology.

The invasion began in less populated parts of North America and mainly affected the natives. The first major settlement they entered was Adamsville, which was completely burned to the ground.

The new world might have been destroyed then and there had it not been for Benjamin Franklin and his invention of electricity.