366 Squared Volume 1: January

By Michel Clasquin-Johnson

One day, one story, at exactly 366 words each, that is the promise of 366 SQUARED, the short-short story / flash fiction collection that raises the question "In the age of multi-novel book series, is this guy for real?" Yes, he is, and 366 SQUARED is the launch of a new era in literature for busy people. If you are tired of reading for an entire day, only to end up with yet another cliffhanger and an invitation to buy another book. 366 SQUARED is the book series for you! Dip into it, read a few days' worth, then get on with your life until you are ready for more. For January, we examine some historical events, with special attention to the weird and wacky. Highlights include (1)The dangers of technology to the moral fibre of the nation, as represented by the introduction of the electric wristwatch, (2) Why planetoids should never be named after sexy TV characters, (3) The futility of trying to change history, and (4) Equal rights for super-villains! What else have we got? A conspiracy theory here, a toe-dip into Singularity fiction / cyberpunk there ... Yes, I'd say January turned out to be a good month. Volume 1: January contains 31 stories, vignettes or mini-essays, each at precisely 366 words. Buy now, before they run out of electrons!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michel Clasquin-Johnson
• Release date: Jan 28, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301439201

Michel Clasquin-Johnson

Michel Clasquin-Johnson is a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of South Africa and was, until recently, the entire Buddhological establishment on the continent of Africa. He lives in Pretoria, South Africa with his wife, son and two motorcycles. Michel likes to think that he practices Buddhism (in his own way) as well as writing about it. The entire Buddhist world disagrees, but is too polite to say so. In his spare time, he writes what can loosely be called science fiction. Not a lot of science involved, and a fine disregard for the rules of fiction. He also writes application software, but only for utterly obscure and/or obsolete operating systems that are never going to lead to a payday. Let's hope he hangs on to his day job.

Book preview

366 Squared

Volume 1: January

Published by Michel Clasquin-Johnson at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 Michel Clasquin-Johnson

1st Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your preferred Smashwords reseller and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Background to cover image courtesy of NASA. All other graphics used in this book or on the cover are in the public domain or are Creative-Content-licensed.

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Introduction to Volume 1

January 1

January 2, 1860

January 3, 1957

January 4, 2004

January 5, 2005

January 6

January 7, 1999

January 8, 1889

January 9, 1839

January 10, 1927

January 11

January 12, 1966

January 13, 1957

January 14, 1967

January 15, 1493

January 16

January 17, 1806

January 18, 1892

January 19, 1983

January 20, 1885

January 21, 1793

January 22, 1927

January 23, 1897

January 24, 1624

January 25, 1890

January 26, 1808

January 27, 1832

January 28, 1911

January 29, 1845

January 30, 1948

January 31

Day References for January

About the Author

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Introduction

This book series comes from a challenge I set myself in September 2012: write a story a day for a year (and include a bonus story for February 29). I wanted to reinvent myself as a writer, and things were going … slowly. I needed a shock to the system, something to get myself to open that same file day after day and pound away on the keyboard. Even if I didn't work on anything else that day, at least I would have done this one little thing. By the end of one year, I would have created the equivalent of a 130 000 word novel.

And so, day after day, I opened up the usual This Day in History websites and saw what had happened that was interesting, that I might be able to weave a tale around. Naturally, the best-laid plans of mice and men ... Soon enough I found myself behind schedule. People get sick. People's kids get sick. People get fired up writing on other projects. It also became clear that the Table of Contents for such a book would become ridiculously unwieldy.

I just decided to be kind to myself: as soon as I had a month's worth of stories ready to go I would put them out there in a collection. If it took me more than a year to fill out the entire calendar, so mote it be! Whether the whole lot will ever be reassembled into an omnibus remains to be seen. If there is a demand for it, sure. Let me know.

Almost every story in this volume is based on a real event, a celebration, a birth or a death associated with a specific day. But you may have to read carefully to figure out just what that was. I'm certainly not going to give it away in the title: if you need to know in advance what the story is going to be about, then the story itself is a flop. But if the reference is too obscure, you can look it up in the back of the book, where all the day references are listed.

And it is just a reference to that day. The actual action in the story may take place slightly earlier or later in time. It may even be a reference transposed centuries into the past or future, or into an alternative universe influenced by what did (not) happen that day, in true science fiction style. And historians will sometimes disagree about the