The Infinitesimal Collection: Bureaucracy, Stuffed Bears and Alien Duels

By Daniel J Lyons

A collection of the earliest complete works of Daniel J. Lyons, four first-person short stories:

"A Visit to the Licensing Department" - a science fiction story about what life might be like if human lives were cheapened to the point where they could be taken legally as long as you get the correct permit.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Daniel J. Lyons III
• Release date: Aug 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9780578728902

Daniel J Lyons

Daniel J. Lyons is a life-long fan of science fiction and fantasy, especially Star Trek and the works of Isaac Asimov, who grew up along the east coast of the U.S. as a Navy brat before settling in Massachusetts. He started writing fan fiction in high school then earned a degree in journalism with a minor in creative writing before unexpectedly focusing on a career as an IT professional, eventually specializing in web and mobile communication.He can be found on the web at DansFormers.info.

Book preview

Introduction

The following stories were originally written starting in 1989 while I was in High School and college and have been left as originally written with only minor tweaks where noted.

After college my writing was largely neglected, publishing only two pieces of Harry Potter fan fiction on SugarQuill.net (both written for their Forbidden Forest Exploration Mission contest in 2003) and a short-lived column for the now defunct MacBC.com.

I’ve thought about releasing my completed short stories now and then over the years, especially after eBooks and self-publishing emerged, but never worked up the courage.

While writing my first novel the thought returned again so I went through my writing projects folder and gathered all of my finished stories together.

Having always privately considered myself as something of a writer I was shocked to realize that, in total, they comprised less than six thousand words.

The name of this collection was inspired by that realization and the hope that it will motivate me to not allow my writing get pushed aside again in the future.

There is one aspect of these stories as a group that came as a bit of a shock. I will forgive any disbelief on your part - I’m not sure I’d believe it if I hadn’t written the words myself.

There is one name that I reuse between two stories, once as a name of a ship and once as a character’s surname. I considered renaming the ship but quickly decided to leave both references alone.

That name is Corona.

To add to the irony: it took sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic to move me enough to write my first novel which served as therapy for and reaction to my experiences during the onset of that virus.

Without that novel I would have never found the courage to release these stories to the world.

It may strain your willing suspension of disbelief before we even get to the fiction but, nevertheless, it is entirely true.

DJL, 20 June