Welcome to Sparkadia!: An Anthology

By Ran Walker and Matthew Garcia-Dunn

Welcome to Sparkadia! It's the most fantastic city inside, outside, and in between the grand kaleidoscope known as the multiverse. This handy traveler's companion showcases the splendor, the joy, and the wonder of the only metropolis that transcends time, space, and reality as we know it. 

 

Longtime resident (and tennis ba

• Language: English
• Publisher: WorldSpark Studios
• Release date: Jun 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9798218233594

Ran Walker

Ran Walker (he/him) is the author of 31 books. His short stories, flash fiction, microfiction, and poetry have appeared in a variety of anthologies and journals. Prior to becoming a writer and educator, he worked in magazine publishing and practiced law in Mississippi.He is the winner of the Indie Author Project's 2019 National Indie Author of the Year Award (selected by judges from Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, IngramSpark, St. Martin's Press, and Writer's Digest), the 2019 Black Caucus of the American Library Association Best Fiction Ebook Award, the 2018 Virginia Indie Author Project Award for Adult Fiction, and the 2021 Blind Corner Afrofuturism Microfiction Contest. Ran is an Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at Hampton University and serves as a Contributing Editor with Writer's Digest. He lives in Virginia with his wife and much better half, Lauren, and his amazing daughter, Zoë.

Book preview

ABOUT A TENNIS BALL

It all started with a tennis ball. Which tennis ball? Why, mine, of course. It was pleasantly squishy from lots of chewing, fuzzy fibers that tickled my nose, and it smelled of dirt and me!

I last saw it soaring across the sky in my favorite park, which was always filled with picnics waiting to be crashed. The sky, I’m told, was the color blue, with the sun that I heard is yellow over grass described to me as green. I was soaring too, enjoying one of my finest leaps. My eyes were closed because my jaws were ready to snap shut on my tennis ball in another perfect mid-air catch.

But there was no pleasant squeeze from my teeth sinking into my fuzzy, stinky, squishy tennis ball. My paws didn’t feel the grass. Every fluff of fur felt alive and tingly, like each strand was being rubbed and scratched and being called good boy by the air itself.

I opened my eyes as I landed on a thicket of soft red vines. My fur got knotted with little square brambles.

When I looked around, the park wasn’t in front or behind or anywhere around me. Wherever I was, this sky was swirly and purple. It twinkled with strange lights that blended into each other or turned to glowing streaks. There were trees shaped like beehives, flowers that danced to some unheard music, and the grass was purple. This was definitely not my favorite park.

A scent caught my nose, like static dancing through fur. Humans called it ozone, but how did I suddenly know that word?

I stood up on my hind legs to scratch my head, and suddenly felt comfortable standing upright. My front paws even had the dangly finger Humans called thumbs!

I should have barked. I should have howled. But the first sound out of my mouth was… Flabbergast! In hindsight, I wish my first spoken words were more profound, but I was experiencing a lot of new things at once. And then a tennis ball fell from the sky and landed at my feet. It was all shiny and new and never bitten. Another bounced off a rock near me. Another fell into a pond with a splash! I looked up, and it was raining tennis balls. I had never felt such delight!

I chased them all, but none were mine.

But I know it’s around here somewhere, in this strange, colorful place. I can feel it. I can’t leave until I find my tennis ball. The one that smells like dirt and me, and my favorite park.

Missing

MAX HAS THE ANSWERS

Do any of you know how you got here? Gloria asked. 

I chased the wrong ball apparently, Max responded. 

Error 404, Snooker’s robotic voice said. 

Hotpaws wish for place like Avonova, Hotpaws responded. One-way ticket. 

We’re all curious about how to get home, Max added, since no two beings arrived the same way. 

Oh, Gloria said, panic creeping up on her. 

"But be opti! It helps. Enjoy all that you see," Max said. 

Opti? 

Optimistic! It’s the Sparkadian way!

Max, Hotpaws said, no one going to say that. 

Gloria smiled. I like the word, Max. 

They all looked at each other, admiring their differences: the Machina, the Fabled, the Human with her talking parka, and the erudite dog that walked upright. Somehow this group had arrived at the same place in the multiverse, and they instinctively knew they were stronger together than apart. 

Let’s go, Max said. The great city of Sparkadia awaits us! He pointed his paw to the shimmering buildings in the distance. 

Max a smart dog, Hotpaws offered. 

Yes, I’ve been told I am far more intelligent than I look, Max responded. 

Everyone froze for a second, then burst out laughing. 

What? What did I say? Max asked, trying not to bark his own laughter. 

How do we know where to go? Gloria finally asked. 

"We go where the ball goes. That’s always been my