I Can't Possibly Be Wrong All the Time

It’s September, so I went through my social media feeds and grabbed all of the MicroStories I’d tweeted during the month of August.

As a reminder, these represent story-essences composed using no more than 269 characters (so I could tweet them with the hashtag #MicroStory.)

Usually, I only tweet Science Fiction and Fantasy #MicroStories. August was no exception.

For really great #MicroStory action, please follow @MicroSFF, the Twitter account that inspired me to participate in this minimalist writing exercise. That feed puts out great science fiction and fantasy MicroStories all the time.

(I want to make it clear that @MicroSFF is *not* a Twitter account of mine. Their flash-fiction tweets are excellent. Mine are okay.)

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The city of Lor Ghasa was a city of wizards. One could not stay for long within its walls if one was not magically self-sufficient. It was serene and sterile.
That was true of the inner city; outside were thousands who curried the wizards’ favors.
And also crime.
#MicroStory

From the orbiter we dropped the submersible colony pod, into a deep spot where the turbines would passively get juice from prime ocean currents.
The pod detected an existing undersea habitat, similar to the one NASA had studied off of Bermuda.
But inhabited.
#MicroStory

He was not her First Kiss (whom she had forgotten) but after he dispelled the over-zealous guardian Shoggoth who watched over her like a stereotypical parent, with her enthusiastic consent he became her first ever Second Kiss.
(Whom she would try in vain to forget.)
#MicroStory

The skeleton sentry observed the nearby villagers, who weren’t actively farming at the moment, but more importantly weren’t trying to storm the castle.
“What are they doing?” he asked his fellow creature.
“Dancing.”
“Why?”
“They sometimes do.”
“Should we? I want to.”
#MicroStory

“Paulo, just stay. The Burgher has ordered a curfew,” the bartender pleaded. “You can sleep on the floor.”
“The floor be damned. And the Burgher too. My Freedom!” Paulo left the tavern and into a night lit by the full moon.
“And damn this lycanthropy epidemic hoax.”
#MicroStory

With a wave of his hand, the Dread Justice summoned a ghost.
“Tell the chief inspector who murdered you, oh shade.”
“The chief inspector did it,” wailed the chained spirit.
“And that,” the Justice said as he released the ghost, “is why such testimony is inadmissible.”
#MicroStory

We carefully intercepted the ship, whose markings indicated it was a deep space vessel from Earth’s optimistic space age.
Inside were a dozen cryogenically sleeping astronauts, unaware that they’d outlived their planet or knew of their tremendous value to collectors.
#MicroStory

The protocol when discovering derelict alien ships or structures was to not disturb them, but call for a XenoSurvey team. A bonus and cut of future profits was guaranteed by XS, provided the site was undisturbed.
Unfortunately, our colony wasn’t likely to get a cut.
#MicroStory

The mayor was not going to be happy.‬
‪While enforcing his new anti-vagrancy initiatives, cops mistook a gathering of tech giants in the park for a homeless campout.‬
‪They were silently having a wireless gestalt call while charging their cyberware.‬
‪Then things got weird.‬
‪#MicroStory‬

The lad presented three heads to the demons who patrolled the curfewed city at night.
The year before, he had been chained out-of-doors by the three, but the demons had not harmed him.
“We’ve rules,” they said, and trained him to kill.
There was a rule for murderers.
#MicroStory

The city was so ancient that many of the street beggars could trace their ancestral line to a former noble house that had had their fortunes overturned by time.
The city didn’t have citizens as much as it had princes and deposed princelings.
And foreign visitors.
#MicroStory

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Thank you to everyone who reads and enjoys my small stories. I tweet flash-fiction at irregular intervals on my Twitter account, @patman23. At more regular intervals on Twitter, I’ll be talking about my dogs, or television (mostly Game of Thrones), or raking leaves off of my lawn.

Header image was taken by me, while walking my dog in the neighborhood park. It has that sense of the shadows of Fall creeping up into the sunlight of Summer. Or something like that.

Want to read my earlier MicroStory collections? I have my first three years’ worth of stories HERE and the second three years’ worth of stories HERE

In general, I’m fine with anyone using the text of my MicroStories for non-commercial use. (Look how cute I am, thinking someone wants to make a t-shirt from one of my flash fiction bits. I say cute, but you can substitute in some other, more appropriate, adjective. I’m not the boss of you.)

© Patrick Sponaugle 2020 Some Rights Reserved