SPECULATIVE ENCOUNTERS

By C. L. Nichols

Speculative Encounters: New Stories From the Slipstream
Is a lineman really transported to an alternate reality after a lightning strike or is he hallucinating? When vampires steal a man’s wife, he follows to seek revenge with the assistance of a female vampire who offers him eternity. Driving on a lonely country road at night, a man in a pickup sees a woman’s bloody arm reach out from the shoulder of the two-lane blacktop road. In the aftermath of a comet’s disintegration in Earth’s atmosphere, survivors must adapt – and was that an actual comet that exploded? These and other stories await, dark and suspenseful encounters within the otherly realm of the slipstream.
theSlipstream:
Speculative fiction is comprised of three related genres: science fiction, fantasy and horror. The slipstream intermingles these genres then plants imagination’s resulting seeds into the potting soil of mainstream fiction. In the realm of the unknown, all possibilities and even mutations flower and co-exist abundantly. Slipstream is a state of mind. It disrupts and distorts reality, surprising readers into seeing the otherness in all things. It breaks through the safe borders that rationality seeks to enforce.
Dr. Catherine Murray: (from a Goodreads review) SPECULATIVE ENCOUNTERS by C. L. Nichols is an excellent collection of stories that cross many genres. Some are science fiction, some are horror, some are speculative in nature but not easily categorized. Several are mainstream with speculative leanings. I truly enjoyed the short stories in this volume and look forward to reading more from this author. I also look forward to the novel excerpted here, REMNANTS, a post-apocalyptic novel written in the multi-character style of Stephen King. I don’t know if this is available on Amazon, or if he is still working on it. DEAD OF WINTER also looks to be very good.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9781716242434

Book preview

STORY ANGLES

caryandcate.com

SPECULATIVE ENCOUNTERS

New Stories from the Slipstream

Copyright © 2020 C. L. Nichols

ISBN 9781716242434

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This book is dedicated to my mother, Amy Ruth Nichols.

Contents

SHORT STORIES

Jump!

Orb

SILENCE, She Screamed

Childhood Encounter

The Silent Chatter

The Rise and Fall of Jenny Sky

Till Death Do Us Part

Violence is Blue

Two-Lane Blacktop

AFTER THE COMET

Harry and Sue

Eli’s Journey

Bullethead and Coonie

BONUS: Novel Excerpts

Dead of Winter

Murmurs

Killer on the Run

Search Party

Remnants

A Well-Told Tale

STORY ANGLES are those formed by the intersection of plot lines, character entanglements and story complications. Plots hang like spider webs upon characters caught up in situations and incidents, drawn tighter by such story elements as subplots and setting. The points at which these lines meet propel the action, ensnare the reader’s interest and climax in a thoroughly satisfactory read.

Point of view is the angle from which the story is told. A character’s reaction to other characters, situations or settings can reveal belief systems and traits that would not be made evident by the actions and speech of an otherwise static character.

Story Angles are essential to the creation of a well-told tale. In the absence of plot and character interactions, the resulting parallel lines that never collide mean no story ever exists.

Story Angles may be derived from the five elements of fiction writing: Plot, Characters, Point of View, Setting and Theme. The angle of each element is set by the worldviews, attitudes and behaviors of characters existing in a unique setting designed to showcase point of view within the confines of a consistent theme.

The narrative pathway is determined by the story angles chosen as a means to create the story. A myriad of plot twists and turns, character traits and flaws, and story situations and events may both delight and surprise the reader.

The responses of one character to others move your story in directions determined by that character’s traits, behaviors, and belief system modified by the events of the current situation. These story angles advance the plot uniquely.

A story narrates incidents in an author-chosen order, portrays a protagonist’s character arc and arrives at a satisfactory conclusion. Divergent paths make possible reader enjoyment and appreciation. Until the story climax, nothing is decided.

Stories crossing similar territory or covering the same subject matter are executed diversely depending on which story angles the writer embraces.

==> Story Angle: ATTITUDE

STORY ANGLES can be formed by attitude, the way a character feels about something – a place, a situation or another character. Resulting behavior influences decisions, leads the character in directions not otherwise taken. Story tension is heightened as the character reacts in unexpected ways to new or existing obstacles. Reaction drives plot, causing a rising action that brings about an inevitable climax. Attitude points that special character to a surprising and unique resolution.

==> the Slipstream

Speculative fiction is comprised of three related genres: science fiction, fantasy and horror. The slipstream intermingles these genres then plants imagination’s resulting seeds into the potting soil of mainstream fiction. In the realm of the unknown, all possibilities and even mutations flower and co-exist abundantly. Slipstream is a state of mind. It disrupts and distorts reality, surprising readers into seeing the otherness in all things. It breaks through the safe borders that rationality seeks to enforce.

Short Stories

JUMP!

Stinging rain pelted Tanner Sage and streamed down his vinyl raincoat, falling thirty feet to the ground below. The two-by-three bucket he clung to swayed on its long metal arm in the gusting wind. Lightning arced across the sky then thunder shook the night.

Tanner had worked many emergencies in his six years with Hadley Electric, but he still struggled to control his fear, high in the air during a big storm.

While straining forward against the steel cable to his safety harness, he opened the junction box. The powerful flashlight mounted in his helmet spotlit the transformer's innards, revealed a writhing mass of coils and wiring.

Already twenty minutes on the scene, he realized this was going to take some time to set right. Hundreds of homes were without electricity so he needed to restore power as quickly as possible, but Tanner knew to carefully think through each move before making it. Mistakes here could prove disastrous.

He wished to be already home in his recliner. Maybe a Miller Lite in one hand and the remote in the other, watching the radar go round and round on his big screen.

All by his lonesome, ever since the divorce. Single life sometimes left him bemused.

A ball of lightning surged around the bucket's metal rails, shearing his safety line in a shower of sparks. An explosion like a shotgun blast in his face deafened him. Paralyzing numbness coursed through his body and deadened his senses. He tipped backward then fell from the gondola. Was he flying?

As his back struck the ground, his breath exploded violently. Barely conscious, he faced the sky, frozen in shock.

Rain slapped his cheeks, puddled in his eyes. Smoke drifted from blackened fingertips.

Feeling returned, and intense pain rippled throughout his body. Violent cramps grabbed and squeezed, curling him into a fetal ball.

Tanner lay in a hollow filled with rainwater, jittering and cold and wet

And jumped!

#

The sun beamed brilliantly. His pain had left.

Tanner stood in a meadow looking down a grassy slope at a primitive cabin about fifty yards away. Tall spruces on each side, the cabin faced him. Heavier woods filled the background.

Peaceful as any painting. He still lay on the wet ground, he knew, a random victim of the lightning strike. The scene before him now couldn't be real.

The trees swayed in a gentle breeze, and Tanner realized this was no still-life photograph. He took a step forward, surprised to learn that it was even possible.

Why not? he asked himself, then headed down the incline. Dragging his feet through luxuriantly tangled growth, he watched the cabin. Its windows were raised, and he could see curtains moving. A screen door above a single-step porch beckoned.

Was anyone home? He recognized how ridiculous it was to ask such a question and smiled to himself. This was more enjoyable than lying dazed in reality's rain puddle.

Everything was so lush, so green. Tree branches tossed in a breath of wind, as if alive. Even the cabin seemed to grow as he approached.

When he reached the small porch, he squinted through the mesh of the screen. A woman's face gradually materialized.

Yes? she said.

Tanner stared at her. Did she look familiar, like someone he'd known? He didn't think so.

She watched him standing there. He was sure his face made plain his confusion.

Who are you? she asked.

Tanner, he said. Tanner Sage.

At least you didn't claim to be James Bond.

He raised his hands then let them drop.

Where am I?

She watched his face for a moment, then she opened the screen door and held it open.

Come in, she said.

Tanner looked back where he'd been and saw no one. Where else would he go?

He put one foot on the step and reached for the door. She backed up as he entered.

In the cabin's only room, one side had a couch and coffee table, and on the other side there was a small kitchen with a stove and dining set. At the rear of the space, a stairwell led up to a small loft, where he was sure there would be an overhead bed.

Tanner stared at the woman. Shiny black hair. A little of what might be called full-figured. A pretty face.