Posts Tagged ‘Guest Contributor’
May
Ralph, Frodo, And The Photons
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Under tremendous pressure at the Sun’s core, protons are fused together, and photons produced. Nothing can exceed the speed of photons.
It may take a photon 100,000 years to get from the Sun’s core to its surface. Then, another eight minutes to Earth.
That Sunday morning, innumerable photons showered the park where Ralph threw a stick to his dog, Frodo. The dog retrieved it. Ralph pried open Frodo’s jaws and threw it again. Frodo retrieved it. Ralph tossed the saliva-covered stick again. And again…
It had been 100,000 years and eight more minutes. But was the trip really worth it?
From Guest Contributor David Sydney
May
Dreams In Green
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Standing here on this frigid night, I look out over a frozen landscape, and I can’t help but wonder why?. There is still hope. Maybe one day, this land will come back to life, the trees will grow, the water will flow, and the air will smell fresh and clean.
I can still feel the excitement coursing through me, the sense of wonder at seeing something so beautiful. The land of ice and snow holds a strange sort of magic.
But the land is not dead. It’s only sleeping, waiting for inspiration or something green to grow the days away.
From Guest Contributor J. Iner Souster
May
Steering Law
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
A man lost his dog, but the cat lets him walk her. Connected by the dog’s old leash, they walk. The man explains the world as they go: this leash is our curve of pursuit, he says.
What’s that? The cat, having no crystal ball or even a decent pair of glasses, might wonder.
See those ants? Each walks at the same speed toward the ant on their left. The curve of pursuit is the curve traced by the pursuers.
Never one to grovel for place, the cat assumes a posture identical to the man, and pulls ahead of him.
From Guest Contributor Cheryl Snell
Cheryl’s new series is called Intricate Things in their Fringed Peripheries.
May
Visiting A Mountain Top
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Visiting a mountain top. The experience made me realize that time and rocks seem to stand still for a while. Far off view showing a mountain range haven been beaten smooth with time. Rugged edges of the stones reminded me that here, at least, the stones were sharp and not dull. From lack of water. For water makes everything smooth. Without the rain. The area was semi aired and contained the smell of earth. Making the entire experience surreal for a moment. Making me think of the adventure of the Hobbits and wizards and such. An adventure on a mountaintop.
From Guest Contributor Clinton Siegle
May
Loss Of Self
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
I shouldn’t have fallen for the marketing (“You’re never alone with a clone!”), but I did. I saved up, sent my DNA sample to PeopleMakers, and a week later there was a knock on the door. He was perfect: sympathetic, interested in all my hobbies, and with all my tastes in clothes and women and jokes.
When I couldn’t afford to renew the subscription, though, he walked out of my life just as easily and quietly as he’d arrived, leaving me alone and even more achingly aware of what I didn’t have. Where am I now when I need me?
From Guest Contributor Alastair Millar
Alastair is an archaeologist by training, a translator by trade, and a nerd by nature. His published flash and micro fiction can be found here and he lurks on Twitter @skriptorium.
May
Doctor Burke
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Doctor Burke’s hands are steadfast as he performs the intricate surgery. The patient has lost blood and the bullet is lodged in his abdomen.
Nurse Benson hands him the scalpel and he gently removes the bullet, but the patient begins to code. Burke uses the defibrillator and after several attempts the man flatlines. The time of death is 3:52pm.
Nurse Benson approaches. “You did everything you could.”
On the way home, all he thinks about is the loss.
When he walks in the door, his wife is waiting with red wine and dinner.
She asks how his first surgery went.
From Guest Contributor Lisa M. Scuderi-Burkimsher
May
From Treadmill To Rowing Machine
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Charlie researched the treadmill market. He was intent on good habits from thereon, starting with a mile walk per day in the bedroom.
“Do you think you’ll last even a month?” asked Cheryl. Two months later, she noted that it made a great drying rack for his shirts and undershirts.
Nothing is as firm as a habit. Charlie researched exercise bikes. A 5-mile ride in the morning was the way to start a day. “That thing,” said Cheryl after two months, “is perfect for drying pants and pillowcases.”
The rowing machine – the next purchase – was better yet for drying socks.
From Guest Contributor David Sydney
Apr
The Bully Business Professor
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
The asshat in an ascot quoted Foucault. He made faculty senate holy hell. I think he was in English, maybe History; I knew he wasn’t in athletics!
Anyway, motherfucker just loved the drone of his self-important voice. How about the dulcet tone of a head slap?
I snapped and pummeled him. An Engineering professor high-fived me before public safety came.
At my hearing, I learned he was old money, Ivy League—his mom and dad were philanthropists. He smirked when I got suspended.
Afterwards, I gave him a super wedgy and nasty pink belly.
That’s my story.
Paper or Plastic?
From Guest Contributor JD Clapp
Apr
That Night
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
The sky looked heavy as darkening clouds pressed hard against the planet’s surface. The two dominant elements fought. It was like an unstable ballet.
“Are you going to fight with me?”
Sam shook his head. “We’re not fighting.”
He wanted to return to that night in the garden with Lily.
Lightning illuminated the clouds, shattering the heavens, spilling its hot sparks in whirlpools that burst into thunder. Sam’s heart pounded fast.
“It can’t end here,” Lilith cried.
Sam knew what was coming.
“Hey guys,” Adam waves. “Beautiful night.”
Thunder crashed.
Samael bowed his head crying as the real thunderstorm began.
From Guest Contributor J. Iner Souster
Apr
Love Hurts
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Sometimes I think I must have imagined that night. It was like one of those direct-to-video action movies with Bruce Willis or Nicolas Cage – blah blah, pow pow, and over in something under 90 minutes. We tugged at each other’s clothes, moaned each other’s names, rubbed, sucked, writhed. I was bleeding so severely afterward, my bottom lip split open, my eyebrow practically torn off, that I almost passed out. Instead, the world persisted in behaving recklessly, ringing the doorbell and then running off. I knew without knowing how I knew that all things were the same thing to the dark.
From Guest Contributor Howie Good
Howie’s newest poetry collection, Heart-Shape Hole, which also includes examples of his handmade collages, is available from Laughing Ronin Press.