Flush the Fiction

By D. E. Park

25 short tales of twisted fiction, from the broken mind of the ParkInkSpot's blogger.

Aimed at the busy, active reader, Flash Fiction story lengths ranging from Micro-flash (100 words) and up. Each tale can easily be read in a half hour or less, perfect for a lunchtime snack.

A variety of genres, including Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, even Fairy Tales and Other. What Heinlein chose to call "Speculative Fiction".

10.8k words, plus a free bonus tale.

• Language: English
• Publisher: D. E. Park
• Release date: Dec 27, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311685377

D. E. Park

Dave is a vigilant champion against the magniloquent periphrastic battalions of blowhard, on the front lines daily protecting the virtues of brevity and whimsy. He's also demented and won't ever amount to anything.

Book preview

Disclaimers

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author.

Copyright ©2014 D. E. Park All rights reserved.

Dedication

For my fictional characters—Alexander James DeGriz Mundy, E. Nelson Bridwell, Lemandria d’Verethin, Leofred, Elanus, GM Elnath Betatauri, et. al.

All parts of the shared collaborative escapism that got us this far.

(I know, those names, right)??!

For Annie and Brad, my mom and dad, and my Aunt Marie (my first fan).

Foreword

This book contains stories of Speculative Fiction, including some that maybe aren’t so good. Wait! Come back!

This is part of the emergent artist process. I’m gleefully making every mistake an artist can make, I’m forging ahead at full speed and damn the torpedoes. There are several reasons for that approach.

I’m enjoying the hell out of doing this (so far)!

I can use the practice (some of these Short Shorts may have skid marks, I’ll freely admit).

I can use the money (assuming there ever is any of it).

I’m in a hurry. Post-50 and fading fast. Already past my ‘first Major Event’ (as my Doctor calls it).

If you’re still here—welcome to the convolutions in my brain. Don’t worry, the naughty bits are sealed off behind iron doors, mostly. What’s left may be twitchy and scary, but it (probably) won’t do you any permanent harm.

Speculative Fiction includes Science Fiction, and Fantasy, and Horror, and the whole kitchen sink of Other Stuff. Basically, I just wanted to write and not get pinned into a single genre. I love all of the above (and more).

The rules I first established on the Blog:

No set length, but under 1000 words, generally less than 300. Short-shorts, we used to call them way back when. Or Flash Fiction maybe (depending who you ask to define flash fiction).

Fantasy, Science Fiction, maybe a bit of dabble at Horror themes (because these are my favorites to read). Heinlein covered this overlap (and more) with the larger label of "Speculative Fiction". Works for me.

I reserve the right to modify or change my own rules if I wanna, damn it. More practice may encourage me to go for the long term goal, the Great American Novel Writer Rolling in Dollars. Or pennies. Or debt. Or misery.

So there you go: barely controlled chaos is the theme.

A number of these stories are micro fiction, exactly 100 words (as measured in Scrivener… It’s come to my attention that word count may be slightly different in Word or in WordPress, go figure).

It’s a challenging format to write for, actually. I’ve tossed out a bunch of tales that I couldn’t make fit into the micro-fiction format. Others fit, but only by being really choppy. I’m in real admiration of the format and writers like Adam Ickes who use it frequently.

Other tales I’ve just written the way they rolled out naturally. Including botched commas and ellipses and whatnot. Some efforts have been