Month: June 2020

Favorite Speculative Fiction Short Stories

After mysteries, speculative fiction is my favorite genre to read. Two of my favorite novels, regardless of genre, are speculative fiction, the fantasy Watership Down by Richard Adams and The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. Click on the titles to read my reviews.

I also love reading short stories. The anthology Why I Left Harry’s All-Night Hamburgers contains four of my favorite speculative fiction short stories. If you love science fiction or fantasy, try to get your hands on a copy of the anthology or see if the short stories below are reprinted online.

The Tryouts by Barry B. Longyear

On the planet of Momus, reporting the news isn’t a right or a job. It’s an art, which people pay for like any other art. That makes it very difficult when an ambassador from the Ninth Federation needs to tell the people of Momus about an imminent invasion from the Tenth Federation. As a newsteller, an artist who performs the news, put it, this story has “great heroes and high comedy.”

This story is original and fun, especially for a writer. As the newsteller performs his news, his audience of three critiques it like an agent or editor. They remark on whether the opening has a good enough hook, if the hero is described well enough, or if he has sufficient motivation. It also has a great twist ending.

The Homesick Chicken by Edward D. Hoch

Edward D. Hoch was known for his mysteries, so it’s no surprise that this science fiction story is also a mystery. Barnabus Rex, a detective of scientific riddles, is called to a research farm to figure out why one of the farms genetically modified chickens pecked its way out of the farm, crossed a belt highway, and was found pecking in an empty field. Yes, it’s a futuristic version of why did the chicken cross the road with the added element of crime.

The Band from the Planet Zoom by Andrew Weiner

A rock band of three young men and a young women approach a British rock critic to be their manager. They claim to be from America. They cover songs from the 60’s in any style you can name. He becomes their manager, and the music business goes wild over these clever copyists. The manager learns they aren’t really from America but from a planet where the citizens loves this kind of music. When he falls for the young woman, he learns the Band from the Planet Zoom copies more than just hit songs.

The Hob by Judith Moffett

While on a vacation in Yorkshire, Jenny Shepherd meets Elphi, a member of an alien race who assumed the role of hobs in the countryside. Hobs are like fairies or brownies, who do good deeds, but if humans break certain rules, they will leave or turn against them.

Elphi explains how his people arrived on earth and how they’re dying off. He also tells Jenny she’ll forget this whole story in twenty-four hours. Elphi is right, but Jenny is always curious about the twenty-four hours she lost on her vacation and is always drawn to Yorkshire.

I love this story because I enjoy stories that try to explain the reality behind superstitions or legends. This story also has one of the best endings of any short story I’ve read.

What speculative fiction short stories do you recommend?

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What’s the Story?

How about a science fiction prompt to kick off your week? What’s the story for this photo? I chose this one because it is clearly a science fiction setting with the spaceship, but there’s also a castle in the background. I like the contrast, and that ignited my imagination. Here’s my story:

The rust bucket hit the planet with all the grace an ancient space shuttle.

“If our mission is so important,” I flipped switches to cut the steam billowing from a burst tube, “why didn’t the Government give us a decent ship?”

Haney stared at me. “You’re trying to make sense of the Government?”

“Sorry,” I said through clenched teeth. “Don’t know what came over me.” I stared out the window, past the iron formations to a castle straight out of a fairy tale. “This is a wasted trip. Senator Allus quit and came to the backend of the galaxy to build that thing and live by himself. He’s not going to help the Government, no matter what the crisis is.”

Haney lowered his eyebrows. “Do you know there’s a crisis?”

“No. But why else would the Government send us to get somebody who’s made it pretty clear he wants nothing to do with anybody?”

“Good question.” His voice was quiet as he gazed at the spires rising against the purple clouds of methane.

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Fishing as Writing Inspiration

With the warmer months here in the Buckeye State, my youngest, the Fishing Fanatic, begins watching the weather for chances to enjoy his favorite sport, pastime, and hobby. Funny how a parent can become interested in a subject just because her kids are. Not that I’ve taken up fishing. But I’ve gone out enough with the Fanatic to tell you about how to use fishing as writing inspiration.

Humor

Wouldn’t a book about a mom who has no interest in fishing and has one misadventure after another as she tries to support her kid and his love of the sport be hysterical?

I could write about the mom diving into murky waters to rescue a runaway rod, wading a river to unhook a snag, wrestling catfish, and crossing to a far shore through freezing water in October.

Now that you know what my life has been like for the past two years, take what inspiration you can from it. When I mix nature, animals, and weather into a story, I have the freedom to create all sorts of funny disasters.

Suspense

The last paragraph above can also apply to adding suspense and tension to a story. The unpredictable quality of nature provides many different kinds of problems for my characters to face.

Fishing as writing inspiration for suspense has another great advantage. It gives my characters an excuse to break out of their normal routines as they head out on a fishing trip. Then I can dump them into unfamiliar settings peopled with hostile characters.

I love film noir, a style of movie making that flourished in Hollywood from 1940-1960. Several movies land their characters in trouble because they are going on a fishing trip. In The Hitch-Hiker, two men are taken hostage by a homicidal maniac. In 5 Steps to Danger, the main character’s car breaks down, and he accepts a ride from a woman with a complicated past and bad guys on her trail. In Act of Violence, a WWII veteran suspects his less-than-heroic act in a prisoner of war camp is catching up with him when he goes on a fishing trip and spots a man in a boat who isn’t dressed for fishing.

Another great thing about using the fishing trip is that I don’t have to know much about fishing. All the trouble can occur on the way to the fishing destination before my characters ever make one cast. Although it would be fun to include the fishing aspect somehow. Such as a criminal, who is on the FBI’s most wanted list, purses two fishing buddies, who stumbled across his hideout in the mountains. With the criminal after them, the buddies have only the contents of their tackle boxes to use as some kind of defense.

Family or Friendship

The bond that can occur during fishing is a wonderful way to explore family relationships or friendships of characters.

A grandfather, who loves fishing, can’t interest any of his grandchildren until the most unlikely one falls in love with it. Two very disparate characters chance upon each other at a secluded fishing spot and begin a friendship.

For more ideas on how to use June as writing inspiration, read my post from two years ago.

Could you use fishing as writing inspiration? What other summer sport might inspire your writing?

5

What’s the Story?

June’s theme is speculative fiction. I’ve read that the Christian fiction industry uses the phrase speculative fiction while the general market uses science fiction and fantasy.

Whatever you call this genre, all the Monday Sparks will feature speculative fiction prompts that will allow your imagination to run wild.

What’s the story? Here’s mine:

I shifted my guitar to my back, and the sparks of magic I’d strummed into flying settled to the ground and winked away.

Molith City, lit beneath my feet, shone almost as bright under a blanket of heat that had rolled in the first week of August.

Molith City. I’d heard a lot of things about the mega city back home. None of them good. But if that’s where Zare was, I had to go down the hillside and go in.

Taking a deep breath, I started down the steep slope. I swung my guitar in front of me and strummed up some sparks for the light and company.

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