I Can't Possibly Be Wrong All the Time

It’s the first of October, 2021 , so I went through my social media feeds and grabbed all of the MicroStories I’d tweeted during the month of September.

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. September was no exception. Maybe? You be the judge.

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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During the last Terran-Alien war, the independent Liberty Colonies made a profit selling off their prison population to the aliens (who used them for bioweapon research.)
With a new war on the galactic horizon, the Terran president was reluctant to warn the colonies.
#MicroStory

At 1:18 ship-time, the outer door for airlock 3 opened, then closed. Roughly 5 minutes later, this was repeated.
The inner door never opened.
The science team was curious, but our captain was not.
“We’ll let Titan Station check this at dock. No one uses that airlock.”
#MicroStory

It was space-faring folk wisdom that the lone survivor of any spaceship accident was not to be trusted.
So we were concerned when our salvage ship detected two large escape pods floating near a wreck, each with only one hibernating inhabitant.
#MicroStory

And I alone survived to tell the tale.

Although, if my mortal enemy escaped at the last moment…

That would be awkward for me, and possibly have legal consequences.

Perhaps I’ll omit the tale.
#MicroStory

The old kingdom had been reclaimed by wilderness long ago, so long that no one remembered the names of the once-great citadels of wonder.
But the wonders were remembered.
But the terrors were not.
#MicroStory

The old kingdom had been reclaimed by wilderness long ago, so long that no one remembered the names of the once-great citadels of wonder.
The specific wonders were also not remembered.
But the terrors were.
#MicroStory

The old quartermaster could have argued on behalf of the usual ceremonial sword for the upcoming knighting ceremony. The requested sword of the Marcher Kings was truly cursed; but the old soldier was not overly fond of the knight-to-be.
Gloved, he fetched the sword.
#MicroStory

The granddaughter was relieved to find her grandmother safe at home.
“I heard that they’re burning a witch in town!”
“Oh, if someone is being burned, they’re not a witch. Maybe they’re a wizard.”
“Truly?”
“Wizards are loners, to their disadvantage. Not like us.”
#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 (one time it was mostly about Game of Thrones), or complaining about raking leaves off of my lawn.

Header image is a screenshot of the videogame HADES, which came out a few years ago, but only played by me starting in September. I spent SO MUCH time trying to escape from the lair of Hades. Like, so much time.

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