Short Attention Span Fiction Volume One

By James Dillingham

Included are 50 very short stories; most are a page in length. Several different genre's are included ranging from dark to humorous, drama to sci-fi. All of the stories were initiated by a prompt - the author was given a word or setting and challenged to write a story that would include the prompt. Prompts are included with each story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: James Dillingham
• Release date: Feb 15, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452400556

James Dillingham

By day, I am a management consultant specializing in shift work operations. By night, I write.

Book preview

Introduction

If you are like me, you love to read but often find yourself with less time to do so than you would like. The stories contained in this book are designed for just such a situation. There are fifty stories here that are only about one page long (300 words or less).

I have included two longer stories (about 5 pages long) just in case you have a little extra time to spend.

I have found that my stories are more creative when someone gives me a prompt. A prompt is basically a writing challenge. For example, someone may say, Write a story with a brick, a duck and a thunderstorm. The trick then becomes to write a complete story using 300 words or less that includes the prompts in a seamless manner. They should be woven into the story in a non-intrusive yet necessary way. For example, using the above prompts, it wouldn’t be fair to write, Brad walked out into the thunderstorm and saw a duck carrying a brick. That is a bit like someone saying, Use ‘bucket’ in a sentence, and I reply I looked up ‘bucket’ in the dictionary.

Just for fun, I have included the prompts for each story. They can be found just after each story title.

I hope you enjoy my stories. If you have any comments (good or bad), I would love to hear from you. My email is [e-mail]. I have two other eBooks that are currently available for Kindle only. To find them, you can search for my name on Amazon .com. They are titled Nano Flash Fiction Volumes One and Two. I also maintain a portfolio on Writing.com where all of my stories can be read free of charge. Simple go to the website and search for Hyperiongate.

If you feel that you got value for your money, please tell a friend. If you don’t feel that way, please tell me.

All storied contained in this book are copyright protected under my penname, Hyperiongate.

Coming the summer of 2010!

ARTIFACT MAN

By James Dillingham

In the desert east of Reno, a badly burned man is found near a strange object. The man is rushed to the hospital while the object, which soon becomes known as the Artifact, is secured by the military.

The man and the Artifact begin to exhibit abilities and characteristics that defy explanation.

Once he is healed, the man goes out into the world. His mission, unknown even to himself, is to usher in the next level of consciousness for mankind. It is time for us to evolve. As his influence grows, governments and religions alike, begin to see him as a threat.

Meanwhile, physicists are beginning to believe that the Artifact is a Rosetta Stone. Could it hold the secret to the Theory of Everything or is it a quantum version of Pandora’s Box?

If you would like to be notified when this book is released, please send a note to [e-mail]

Contents

The Musician

War's End

Channel Blocker

Precious Cargo

God's Snowball

William Tell-ish

Command Decision

Pirate Secrets

Choices

Library of Souls

Dubious Upgrade

Townies

Too Lucid

The Captain's Coup

Leftovers

REM Warfare

The Warning

The Life of Cronkite

Predators

Spooky People

Do Not Enter

Halloween Dare

Defragmented Memories

The Temporalnaut

The Siege

Behind the Scene

The Craft of Automobile Maintenance

Small Town Knowledge

Hot Pursuit

Final Observations

The Director

Born of Frustration

Survivor

Return Trip

Undercover Finale

Simple Pleasures

What Women Want (or so I heard)

Coupled

Wigglers

Quiet Memory

The Pursued

Higher Calling

The Hunted

Savioress

Path to Manhood

According to Plan

Narcissus at the Beach

Opportunity Knocks

Soul-Mates – longer story

Indigo Girl – longer story

The Musician

By James Dillingham

The prompts: This story must contain the words: beard, silk, trumpet

The musician swayed to the imagined background orchestra as he stood on the steps of the long empty government building. At the appropriate time, he raised his trumpet and began to play.

The skillfully fingered instrument soliloquized to an audience of abandoned cars and cracked pavement. The tune was a sad, wavering and drawn-out affair; appropriate for the welcoming of a dawn colored red by the paintbrush of Armageddon.

He paused, allowing the instrument to hang down at his side. The rising sun struggled against an atmosphere of ash to push back the night. Slowly, the darkness receded down the walls of the building to be replaced by an appropriate bloodish hue.

The musician stroked his tangled beard thoughtfully. It felt gritty from the dust that was everywhere.

Looking down at his arms, he saw the inevitable blisters. Radiation poisoning was not a pretty sight.

He knew it wouldn’t be long. All that remained was to plan his exit.

Should he sit and cry? Maybe he should take his life and be done with it.

He turned to the building behind him as if there might be answers inside. Many wise people had passed through those doors. Right up to the end, we’d looked to them for the answers. Right up to the end of all endings.

He chuckled to himself. Alas, there was no one to share the irony of looking for wisdom amongst those whose best ideas had brought about such a complete demise.

His chuckle grew to a laugh.

It was decided. With a flourish, the musician pulled a silk scarf out of his pocket. He wrapped it gypsy-like around his head. Then, with a jump and clicking of his heels, he happily marched down the center of Pennsylvania Avenue playing When the Saints Come Marching In.

War's End

By James Dillingham

The prompts: This story must contain the words: igloo, aurora and midnight

Queen Aurora stood before the group of top generals. Her hands were on her hips as she looked out over the attentive audience. In full battle dress, she was an imposing figure.

The Yeti wars have gone on long enough.

As one, the seasoned soldiers gasped.