The Acknowledgement Quest
I am a historian of the period prior to the mid-21C collapse of the American Empire, in which, as you know, the vast bulk of electronic archives were lost. My…
Zerrakhi
22 stories written on Ficly, 2009–2013, shared under CC BY-SA 3.0. Their page on ficly.com
Understanding Nothing
Nothing hurled the priceless ornamental vase through the window. The vase remained where it was, the window unbroken. Nothing tried again. There was, as…
Water Within, Water Without
I decided I should talk to her about her memories. This would give me some clues, and if I could get the people here to talk about dry land, then, somewhere…
The Ocean of Thought
I awoke on a boat, which rocked one way and then the other, doing something horrible to my stomach. I struggled to my feet and looked around, which wasn’t…
The Inadequate Cheesegrater
“This cheesegrater isn’t supercalifragilisticexpialidocious enough,” complained Bob. “That’s ‘cos it’s old. Antidisestablishmentarianism’s younger than that…
Ode to a computer game
I originally wrote the following poem for school back in 1993. In preparation for a medieval-themed festival that year, we had to write love poems to inanimate…
The Prophecy
Following the thread of the eight-legged hunter Many shall descend upon the place of fig leaves Each with their instrument leaving a thousand marks So that…
Focus
Witches had owned the cottage for generations, and arguably still did, although Amanda Clarice Wilmore didn’t think of herself as a witch. She dabbled in…
A Strange Wakening
The day usually begins with opening one’s eyes. It’s very strange to be woken by light that fades into view as your eyelids become more and more transparent…
The Terrible Quest
Death has his scythe. As for Fear, she throws snowballs. She has many guises, but suppose you are in a forest at dusk, and you see a young girl, perhaps eight…
The Misplaced Earth
Things might have been different if the Earth were not in the wrong part of the sky. To the people who live on this world, our ship appeared as a new star in…
Where The Toys Go
Life’s lessons learned. Never have an affair with someone claiming to be the King of the Fairies. Marilyn sat on the grass, the scattered toys all around…
Memory and Futility
It’s been a long, long time since I had any new thought, but I remember every old thought I’ve ever had. I’ve pondered the things I’ve seen that ought to be…
How It Begins
This is the first sentence. But before there could be a first sentence, there had to be a first crime. And a first conviction.
The Mundane Explanation
I press one. This needs thinking about. As I pace back and forth, I realise I feel detached, like I’m observing this in the same way a writer observes the…
A Matter of Priority
That would be a pile of gold coins minus five bucks if I didn’t do something. All coins have their own special character, tiny variations in the metal that…
Songs Between My Tears
Drifting helplessly into strange, foreign lands, I find myself humming an old folk tune in fragments interspersed with tears, music being the only thing I can…
Tastes Like Chicken
“In that case, get me a spoon,” instructed Ron as he sat down. “Get it yourself!” returned Derrick. “Come ooon,” said Ron. “Tell you what, if I chicken out…
The Enchanted Melodica
So long as I had that, the darkness was my friend. It helped me concentrate. I played some more notes on my recovered melodica, and floated towards the…
Creator's End
I am the creator of the universe. But now that I’ve finished, I’m all out of ideas. Which is why I’m writing this suicide note. How does God commit suicide…