I Can't Possibly Be Wrong All the Time

It’s the first of June 2022, so I went through my social media feeds and grabbed all of the MicroStories I’d tweeted during the month of May.

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. May was no exception. I guess?

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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Astrophysicists studying the system couldn’t properly explain why asteroids and comets would unexpectedly accelerate when drifting near the moonless gas giant. Some theorized that a temporal anomaly was at work but in truth, the planet was just terrifying.
#MicroStory

“Ok, kids. Let’s review. April showers bring … ?”
“May flowers.”
“And what do May flowers bring?”
“Demons”
“And demons bring?”
“Death”
“So in May we – ?”
“Hide. Until the demons kill all the flowers and leave.”
“And then?”
“We plant more flowers.”
#MicroStory

“On behalf of Earth, allow us to express our gratitude for this sharing of technology.”
“Of course.”
“We were wondering, since FTL drives exist, is there something like instantaneous communication?”
“There is, but no one uses it. The Interstellarnet was a mistake.”
#MicroStory

Once humans invented language, the gods finally could speak to one another.
Humans invented art, and crafts, and movies – that was good for the gods too.
Humans invented spaceflight, so the gods followed suit and traveled into the depths of space.
Godforsaken space.
#MicroStory

It was so old, it didn’t have a name, since the gods hadn’t yet learned from humans about naming and language when they last faced it.
The gods had no stories about it – just remembered the disastrous encounter.
But this time, it wanted to negotiate their surrender.
#MicroStory

As we entered the chamber, our torch guttered out. But our mage had no need to cast a spell to light our way, we could easily see.
“This isn’t good,” the old mage stated. “Whoever made this crypt, they destroyed the very natural concept of darkness within it.”
#MicroStory

Wizards knew that the greatest magic was ritual magic, sustained over years, and fed by sacrifice -for example the efficient return on investment of the masses sacrificing freedom in the belief of the divine right of kings. It just cost the odd sword-in-a-stone.
#MicroStory

The planet had been seeded decades before by ‘benign apex predators’ – creatures bio-engineered to out-compete local fauna, but instinctively refrain from attacking humans. They’d serve as good eating too.
But something else had changed them. They were still apex tho.
#MicroStory

The system was fascinating. Everything was composed of classic organic molecules: rings and chains of carbon, with the customary H, O, and N elements.
It became worrying on the third day, when it was clear that two of the planets were following us.
#Microstory

She was the most beautiful woman on the Internet, two years in a row.
#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 picture I took of my pug, Chi Chi, who I caught mid-yawn. She’s looking like Marvel Comics’ VENOM there.

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 – I might need to put together another 3 year’s worth of microstories soon.

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 2022 Some Rights Reserved