Jun
Just Looking
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Robots Contest Entry:
Carl pulled over beside a car in the parking lot and said, “Wow. Look at that Maserati.”
Duke replied, “I thought that you were a one car guy. Aren’t you crazy about Josie?”
“Sure, but a car can look, can’t he? You’re in love with Sheila, but you stare at good looking women.”
“That’s fair, but I didn’t know that it worked with cars as well as people.”
“Think about it Duke, humans gave AI to cars, shouldn’t we act like you?”
“Guess you are right. I’ll pick up the groceries, and we can get back to our better halves.”
From Guest Contributor Doug Hawley
Jun
Upgrade
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Robots Contest Entry:
She was made with adaptive core, an augmented query engine. She has three different types of access ports, and automatic driver load with universal handshake. When technology advances, she advances. One of her selling points is that she can retool herself and will always be the latest model. The salesman had said in her ability to adapt, she was almost human. Almost human. That seemed to settle the deal. Almost human. Wait until the human that owns her now gets home and sees the simple little nothing she has managed to slip into, understands she has accessed his video library.
From Guest Contributor Ken Poyner
Jun
Robots Contest Closed
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Hey everyone!
We’ve reached the end of the submission period for the latest contest. I’ve start posting the stories, and I’ll be saving the winner for last, as always. A lot of good stories once again, and I’m excited to share them with you all.
We’re still accepting normal story submissions, so please continue sharing your 100-word gems. And if any contest submissions come in now that the deadline is closed, I’ll post them with the other submissions, but they won’t be eligible for sweet, sweet victory.
Thanks for all your contributions!
If anyone has any recommendations for the next contest theme, put them in the comments below.
That is all.
Jun
Choices
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Robots Contest Entry:
The salesman gently touched the ‘sale completed’ icon.
“Lovely. I have your choices.
Color, size, and finance.
As you know, the ‘AI Whoosh’ will be delivered preloaded with all your personal preferences.
Music, regular routes, and recharging stations.
That just leaves us with your safety level preferences.
Six questions for you to answer, A or B.
Ready?
Your car sensors detect that a child is about to step in front of you.
How do you want your Whoosh to react:
A. Ensuring your own safety; continuing in a straight line?
B. Putting your safety at risk; swerving across the road?”
From Guest Contributor John Holmes
John, based in the North East of England, is a writer of short fiction. Winner of the The Times Short Crime Fiction Story prize. In the last 12 months has appeared in Paragraph Planet, 101 Words, Fragmented Voices, Pen to Print, Glittery Literature, Globe Soup, Drabble, Bag of Bones and Ellipsis Zine. When he’s not writing, he’s out cycling – soaking up new stories.
May
A Moment In The Sun
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
He couldn’t believe how amazing it felt to be free of the anguish and suffering he’d endured for so long. He fled this hellhole!
On an outcropping he sat, legs dangling over, watching the tiny ripples in the lake below. Looking towards the rising sun, it seemed to have sped up as it moved across the sky, a shadow of some type, nearly black, just behind it.
He watched as they raced above him, sun in the lead with shadow in tow, heading to the far side of the world. Now motionless, the darkness grew until the sun vanished entirely.
From Guest Contributor J. Iner Souster
May
Oliver’s Army
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Oliver was the first to notice.
He was enjoying a day off, determined to spend it in his garden, partly to work in it, partly to relax in a folding chair.
Leaning on a rake he called out to his wife:
“Would you look at that? I have never seen this many together on a single bush.”
She was just as surprised as he was.
“Remember? Last spring we didn’t mow the lawn for a month. Could this have something to do with it?”
Thousands, even millions of butterflies gave a clear forewarning: the new rulers were on the rise.
From Guest Contributor Hervé Suys
Hervé Suys (°1968 – Ronse, Belgium) started writing short stories whilst recovering from a sports injury and he hasn’t stopped since. Generally he writes them hatless and barefooted.
May
I Overhear My Grandmother In A Dream
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
I knew about the tarpaper roof torn in the shape of the mountains she had just left, the shape of her youth spent in birthing a dozen children. I did not know she sang only to the sons, who arrived looking like wrinkled old men. When I asked her why she wouldn’t sing to her daughters, I already knew the answer: the girls would just leave her for strangers.
I saved my voice for prayer. The light flinched under the lie, but it was only my shadow. That light came from some distance, she said. You really shouldn’t impede it.
From Guest Contributor Cheryl Snell
Cheryl is a classically trained pianist who writes by ear. Author of several collections of poetry, she has also written a series of novels called Bombay Trilogy; and been published in hundreds of literary journals and anthologies, including a Best of the Net. Look her up on Facebook.
May
Like In Versailles
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
“Poplars lining the road, like in Versailles. Not that I’ve been there. I just imagine that’s how it would be.”
“Are you sure they’re Poplars? Maybe Birch.”
“Birch in Versailles?! I don’t think so.”
“I mean the ones outside. Maybe they’re Birch.”
“I’d prefer Poplars. Like in Versailles. Though I’ve never been there.”
“If you’ve never been there, how do you know anything lines the road?”
‘I imagine there would be something. It’s Versailles, after all. Most likely Poplars.”
“I guess you’re right.”
A silence fell over the room, broken only by the sound of the wind in the Aspen.
From Guest Contributor E. O’Neill
May
All Below Was Sky
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
All below was sky. No, that isn’t right. You are upside down. The seatbelt keeps you suspended a foot above ground. Blood swells and pounds in your temples, or was it the whiskey? Frank was on the street.
Ejected. He had been thrown fifty feet.
Dead and dusky.
His seersucker shirt plunged a deep v on a chest of ringlets. Oxford buttons pin a lapel dyed crimson. You count the spots on a ladybug as it skitters across. Stripes and six spots. A gnarled oak casts shade on the misshapen corners of a green license plate.
A wailing siren approaches.
From Guest Contributor Kyle J. Ames
Kyle is a student of English at Pikes Peak Community College
May
I Met A Man, A Most Remarkable Man
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
I met you at a time when the star of you was careening downward. Though in descent, due to illness, your radiance shone in your discussions of the band Rush, the literature of Chesterton, and your absolute love and skill at cooking. You were afraid of being an imposition, not realizing that giving me a chance to help you—during our fateful trip—was my chance to brush against your beauty, your deep, feeling heart. I am selfish; I want more. But I must wait, as your star has again swung into ascension, brightening this world even upon your exit.
For Tony Rome By Keith Hoerner