30 Minute Fiction: 2/1 Update (Short Stories, Novels, Poems, & More!)

So, you guys remember my announcement about 30 Minute Fiction, right? My new WordPress blog where I churn out a 30-minute-or-less piece of fiction every day? Well, it's been pretty successful thus far, and I've decided to include a weekly update for it here so that you Blogger people can keep up with it!

In the first week of 30 Minute Fiction, here's what was written:

1.) Dorian- A speculative sci-fi short story about the future of robotics and artificial intelligence

2.) An except from The Solutionist- Yes, that's right! The first thing I've written for it!

3.) The Division- a poem inspired by the dVerse Poets prompt, Undercurrents

4.) Judgment- By far my most popular piece of week one, a fantasy short story about Judgment itself

5.) 8 Minutes- a short, space opera sci-fi story about a ship in danger and the last hope for a civilization

6.) Rebound- a poem written for dVerse Poets latest open link light

7.) The beginning of Stolen- an excerpt from a novel you don't know much about, which also happens to be my only historical fantasy attempt

If you missed any (or missed the announcement of 30 Minute Fiction), please head on over and read them now!

Started a New Blog! Presenting "30 Minute Fiction"

So, I have some exciting news! With my lack of writing initiative, I've decided to force myself to get into the habit of writing a lot of different stuff frequently.

So I started a Word Press blog! That's right, I know have a blog on Word Press.

30 Minute Fiction

Basically, I write something in 30 minutes or less and post it. Standard title is standard.

Anyway, I'm really excited about this! I'd love it if you'd guys would subscribe to 30 Minute Fiction! I promise I won't spam you with ten crap tons of crappy writing. I promise.

Although you're probably wondering what kind of stuff will end up there. Well, everything. Poetry. Short stories. Snippets from novels I'm working on. Random monologues that don't seem to have a place anywhere. Anything I think up and write in 30 minutes or less.

Personally, I think this is a fun exercise. What do you guys think?

I actually something up there already, a short story entitled "Dorian." If you time, I'd love it if you'd check it out and leave some comments. =)

In case you're still unsure, here's what the "About" page of 30 Minute Fiction has to say about it:

_________________

30 Minute Fiction is a blog dedicated to raw, unedited, uncensored, spur-of-the-moment fiction. Prose and poetry. Fantasy and Sci-Fi. G-rated and R. The genres don’t matter. The ratings don’t matter. What matters is that the fiction here is thought-incarnate. No worries about “which words to choose” and “showing not telling.” No getting hung up over a missing comma or a misused word.

This is not the publishing industry. This is the industry of imagination.

These are thoughts that are free flowing. These are words that are once-written, with all their mistakes and awkwardness and rampant uncomfortable disassociation to their ideas. These are characters with a hundred flaws or none at all. These are places with a million colors or no more than black and white. These are plots with a thousand points or a single point. These are things that makes perfect sense or complete nonsense.

30 Minute Fiction is not the place to come for perfection.

It’s the place to come for truth.

In mind.

In thought.

In writing.

-Nick Rolynd

Story Dam Prompt: Mr. White's Letter to Santa

Dear Mr. Santa Claus:

    My name is Gregori White, CEO of Toys 4 You, and I have a proposition that I believe you will find most agreeable. Do you toil in and out all year, desperately trying to make enough toys for the boys and girls of the world? Do you find your resources--paint, wood, metal, Christmas cheer--horribly scarce at the most crucial of times? Do you find yourself having sleepless nights, swarming in paperwork and tinsel?

    Well, I have a solution.

Short Story: The Division & The Conqueror, Finale (REN3)

(Part 1)(Part 2)(Part 3)

The Division & The Conqueror, Finale

                  Brian scrubbed his hair, watching the dye disappear down the drain. He’d hated that hideous brown, but he’d needed two distinct looks. One for the fake Brian Nevaster. One for the equally fake Eland Brann. Neither of which could connect him to the pale, red-haired, real Brian De’Fontaine. After his last setup had fallen through, he’d been forced to start all over in this god-forsaken had-been boomtown. His eighth-month stay had nearly bored him to death. If it hadn’t been for Beckett’s property and Fitzer’s designs, he’d have ditched this place altogether. But no, he’d decided to hunker down and deal with it. 

                  And now it had paid off. He turned the sink knobs until the water cut off and dried his hands on one of Beckett’s towels. No, no. His towels. Beckett’s property was his now. With a couple slights of hand, he’d slipped himself into Beckett’s will. And with Fitzer’s blueprints in hand too, he had a mighty big fortune coming his way real soon. He clapped and chuckled to himself. It had been such a long damn time since he’d accomplished anything like this. No…he’d never accomplished anything this big before! He’d be set for life off the money he made from this scheme. 

                  “Ah, Brian, old boy, you have outdone yourself.” He tossed his last few keepsakes in his suitcase. The rest of Beckett’s—no, his—things were up for auction tomorrow, including his house. And Fitzer’s…well, Fitzer’s place was more of the foundation of a house than anything else. He’d made sure of that. After his first two attempts to off the sparring duo failed, he’d actually had to stop and reevaluate things before anyone got suspicious. Didn’t want a repeat of last time. 

                  But no, this time around his plan had gone off without a hitch. A carefully forged eviction notice. Some slight tampering with Fitzer’s prized generator. And boom! That was all she wrote. He clicked the clasps on his suitcase shut and ambled toward the door, humming gleefully. 

He’d arranged for his money to be wired to him after the auction. He couldn’t stand another day in this deadbeat town. Slamming the door shut behind him, he started off down the road. A single train ride to a big city with a nice big bank and a completely anonymous population and he’d be set.

                  “You’re going to live the high life, old boy!” He chuckled. Finally. How long had he been waiting for his luck to change? Five years? Ten? His entire lifetime? 

                  Almost skipping, he approached the old bridge that connected Beckett’s—his—house to the rest of the world. He snorted as his footsteps reverberated in creaks across the wood. “I’ll never have to walk this rickety thing again. I’ll never have to see this damned place again. I’ll never even have to think about it again! Ha!” 

He quickened his pace and set his eyes on the road. Suddenly, he paused, his stomach churning. A figure in black was visible in the distance. Who the hell would be all the way out here? Had someone found him out? Was it the police? God damn it, if he’d done all this for nothing again he swore—! 

Crack.

He shrieked as the bridge rapidly collapsed beneath him, sending him tumbling wildly into the rushing water below. 

He didn’t surface. 

_______

                  From his perch on the old fence, Frederick Beckett calmly watched the scene unfold. He tipped his black hat, took a drag from his cigar, and, gazing at the sky, shook his head. “Well, guess that settles that.”

The End

________

Rule of Three Blogfest Entry

"The Division & The Conqueror", Finale

Word Count: 598

Prompt(s):  The misfortune is resolved.

The final event becomes another secret for generations to come.

There is a new arrival in town.

How would you feel about a free ebook?

Hey, guys! So, I've been doing some thinking. (Oh dear, I know.) I was going to take a creative writing writing class that required a portfolio, and so, I started writing a short story, remember? The Three Day Photographer? Yeah?

Well, I don't think I'm going to apply for that class anymore, but I don't want to, you know, abandon the story totally. So, what do you say I finish writing it and then put it up as a free ebook or something? Would you consider reading it?

Just in case you're wondering, it's sort of a horror short story combined with a mystery short story. So, I guess it would count as a free horror ebook? Or perhaps a free mystery ebook? Well,  I don't know. I'll figure out a genre once I finish writing it, yeah?

Hm, I should write some kind of summary, huh? To see if you guys would read it?

Wallace Beaumont is a detective. In the late summer of 1875, he is called in to solve a case that has mystified the police: the disappearances of several men. Disappearances that happened in the span of mere seconds, in the midst of daily activities, with friends and loved ones and neighbors mere feet away. Baffled, Wallace painstakingly searches for some kind of connection between the missing men, but he only comes up with a single fact: every last one of them went to the same photographer three days before they vanished.

So, sound like a short story you'd be willing to read for free?

Short Story: The Division & The Conqueror, P3 (REN3)

(Part 1)(Part 2)

The Division & The Conqueror, Part 3

Amadeus Fitzer stood hunched over his latest invention. His generator design had gradually improved over the last few months, and he was about to make another breakthrough. He was almost tempted to describe himself as giddy, but, he knew, in order to be taken seriously in the scientific field, one had to be composed and refined. And brilliant. That too.

Short Story: The Division & The Conqueror P2 (REN3)

(Part 1)

The Division & The Conqueror, Part 2

                  Naylor stormed through the door, slamming it closed on its creaky hinges. He’d been fuming all the way home from the post office, enraged at the very idea that he, of all people, hadn’t been paying his bills on time. He had an exact schedule for bill paying, and he always followed it, even when he was near broke. He’d never missed a single payment of any bill, and yet here the bank was telling him he’d missed six straight months!

“What a load of bull!” 

Review: "The Doll" by J.C. Martin

Warning: This review will contains spoilers. And opinions. Lots of them. 

Bet you weren't expecting any literary reviews from me any time soon, huh? Well, neither was I. Until I received a free copy of the ebook, "The Doll", by J.C. Martin for my participation in REN3. Seeing as I just finally got around to reading it, I figured I owed the dear author a review.

Short Story: The Division & The Conqueror (REN3)

The Division & The Conqueror, Part 1

“God blast it all!” Naylor choked out. He stumbled backward out of the house, his lungs burning. The acrid smoke filled his nostrils, and he turned away in disgust, heaving for fresh air. He swore to himself when he got his hands on that no-good, God-blasted, mother-fu—

“Naylor Beckett, what did you do this time?” 

Naylor straightened up, wiping his soot-covered hands on his fraying trousers. Eland Brann, Fitzer’s snooty little assistant, stood just beyond the gate, one eyebrow raised above his spectacles. Naylor grumbled under his breath. First, Fitzer had called him over, claiming something “urgent,” which turned out to be yet another proposal by the crazy self-proclaimed inventor for buying his property. How many times did he have tell that blasted imbecile that he wasn’t selling? He had the best piece of the ol’ Culdees there was left, and he wasn’t handing it over to some idiot who was liable to blow it sky high.