I Can't Possibly Be Wrong All the Time

It’s the first of May, 2021 , so I went through my social media feeds and grabbed all of the MicroStories I’d tweeted during – oh, the month of April (as well as the month of March, I’m cheating and combining those months) and have collected them here.

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. April (and March) 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.)

---

The app was simple: one uploaded sufficient audio of (usually) a departed loved one and could then input text to hear those selected words in the person’s voice. It was thought that one might find closure.
Randomly, the free version of the app would say something else.
#MicroStory

The viscount sighed. It was his son’s first time to sit at council, and would have to gently learn.
“The count has publicly insulted our House, true, and we have the legal right to employ sanctioned assassins. But so many unsanctioned assassins have failed already.”
#MicroStory

The Colonial Management bureaucrats slashed the budget for far-colony support, citing their new frugal creed that Earth’s subsidized exo-colonies should pull themselves up.
They were outraged when aliens from nearby jump-points began delivering humanitarian aid.
#MicroStory

The first law of the station was “we all breathe the same air.”
From the spacedocks to the admin dome, no one should have better or worse quality air.
An enviro-technician tipped me off that someone was breaking that law, and now that tech was missing. Was I next?
#MicroStory

Wizards measured ages as the time a society rediscovers magic, develops it into organized practice, raises monuments to their hubris, and experiences end-of-age ruin.
The best wizards eventually learn of these previous ages. The worst wizards simply do not die.
#MicroStory

The king swore his troops would not retreat until the barons were crushed. Not even an orderly retreat when nightfall would suggest a cessation in battle.
Dawn witnessed the ruinous aftermath.
The barons had quietly withdrawn in the dark, as the king’s men fought on.
#MicroStory

Ideally, when a wizard grew powerful enough to consider people nothing other than destructive annoyances, they would tend to self-isolate to a remote locale to forever enjoy the wonders of the unseen.
Things were not ideal at the moment.
#MicroStory

There’s no mention of this spell-locked keep in the annals of the witches (who had dominated the Third Age.) My fellow wizards of this Fourth Age feel that we can unravel the second age wards, and since we of this era know so much more, there will be no real danger.
#MicroStory

“If you stab a witch, you might as well throw the blade away after.” The old witch-hunter was in a chatty mood. “Witch blood ruins the edge, and it’ll never be sharp again.”
He pulled out his dirk. “But this one’s never gone dull.”
“It’s only stabbed non-witches?”
#MicroStory

Harvest had not been great, and the king was told not to expect much in the way of taxes. And the yield in the eastern march farms should not be taxed.
The king demanded to know why; he was told that the Peasant God was there and it was wiser to just wait him out.
#MicroStory

---

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 my wife, from a trip she took recently to Pittsburgh. I stole her photo from Facebook without asking permission, because I am a rogue.

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 2021 Some Rights Reserved