Check out this story in Freaky and Fantastical 500 Words or Less today!
Welcome back to another short and sweet freaky and fantastical feature. Today from my anthology I will highlight the story "Light-years for Love". This story is a science fiction romance with a morbid twist. When a young bachelor takes a trip on an exploratory vessel to escape his humdrum life on Earth and discover himself, he finds something more on a planet inhabited by various alien races. This is a story about finding love in unexpected places and also how love, or rather infatuation, can blind us.
Check out this story in Freaky and Fantastical 500 Words or Less today!
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Today from my Freaky and Fantastical 500 Words or Less anthology, I will take a look at my story "Family... Food?". This is a first-person POV story told by a zombie. The tone of the story is meant to be tinged with dark humor but the horror of the story comes from the irony of the main character's situation, from his transformation to into a member of the undead to his perception of others and his outlook on life. Besides a book/movie like Warm Bodies it seems uncommon for a "zombie" to undergo any type of character arc in stories, even though the horror genre has been over-saturated with decaying, shuffling brain-eaters along with masked slashers and sexy bloodsuckers. As a fan of shows/movies like The Walking Dead, I just don't tire of writing about walkers, but the fun of writing them into my own stories is finding a new way to share the narrative.
That is all for now. Please go to Amazon to pick up your copy of my ebook today and see if my zombie tale and 98 other stories resonate with your grey matter and visit again soon because there is more to come! From my book Freaky and Fantastical 500 Words or Less, now available on Amazon, I'm bringing another double feature to round out the week, taking a look at the stories "Revenge & Love" and "Playdate".
"Revenge & Love" is one of the simpler stories in my anthology. It's straightforward, there are no strange terms or concepts, and the only monsters are bullies and the monster that they create. People of any age can be cruel, even in this time of "wokeness" we are currently experiencing. Every person has someone who loves them, and possibly even someone who would kill or die for them... When someone is harmed physically, emotionally, or mentally, the person(s) responsible for the harm often does not think about the impact on the people connected to the victim, but only the victim they desire to hurt. Harmful actions such as bullying can have a ripple effect and can rebound back, and in "Revenge & Love" we see one way that plays out. "Playdate" is one of the shorter stories in the book about puppy love (pun intended). Friendships and love can come from anywhere and can be expressed in many forms. "Playdate" will hopefully remind readers of when they went through that awkward phase and had their first crush or the first friend they made after moving to a new town or school. That is all for today in regards to my first solo book, but if you want to check out a book with some creations by Yours Truly and many other independent creators, MEGABOOK 5 is finally here! You can download a copy today on DriveThru Comics. It features my short comics "David and Goliath" and "Terrors of Oz" along with a short story titled "Rite of Passage" from the upcoming Chimera Chronicles anthology created by myself! So check out M5 and Freaky and Fantastical 500 Words or Less and there will be more to come soon! Do atheists believe in anything supernatural or do they only deny the existence of a divine being? Is there a Grim Reaper or an Angel of Death or do we simply pass on to our afterlife without a guide? Are you meeting your full potential or are you being stagnated by the doubt of others? Are those of us who aspire to be great lacking capacity or only lacking in effort?
These are the kinds of questions one might ask when reading my stories, “Speaking to Your Death”, which involves an elderly atheist’s encounter with a grim visitor in his nursing home, and “One Bubble”, a story of a young man ridiculed by his community, but who may very well be the savior of his town. One is a story of death and the other is a story of unexpected magic, but both are stories of hope. To read these stories and find new hope and inspiration for your future, please check out Freaky and Fantastical 500 Words or Less on Amazon today! We are now ten days in, but we’ve got plenty to cover and much more to come. This time around I will be breaking down the story "Gamer's Life", a tale about retribution, immortality, and the misuse of life.
Disclaimer: I am guilty of spending hours on video games that could be used to produce more books or anything else that could benefit myself or others long-term. It's my method of unwinding and sometimes a way to get my mind going when I engage in competitions online. Not much more justification beyond those two reasons... The story is more of a commentary on how we fail to find our purpose. Some of us, like myself, indulge in video games or other entertainment online. Some of us find other vices, such as drugs, that bring us down the wrong path and cost us more than our time. In fact, in the digital age, people seem to find comfort in damaging other people online, whether on social media or other communication channels, especially under the cover of anonymity. But in the future, what if punishments for such negative activities were designed to hurt the perpetrators for long-term? What if irreparable damage was rewarded with eternal torture? How terrible would it be to live your life in an artificial world where you don't have your God-given power of choice? What would you do if you could only live remembering your worst accomplishments, only living in the moment with nothing positive left behind? Side Note: I wrote this story about a year ago, but the newest Jumanji film and the episode of Black Mirror titled "Black Museum" both explore similar ideas to my story as far as life in a video game and digitization of consciousness. So, if you've seen them and liked them, you would definitely enjoy "Gamer's Life". Pick up Freaky and Fantastical 500 (Words or Less) today! I've got 91 more days/stories to go, so there will be more to come! Today, I'm back with a double feature for you, spotlighting two (kind of) horror stories "Hell on the Sea" and "Camy and Cameron". Both of these stories both originate from my own fears as a child, one from being unable to swim and the feeling of being helpless while on a cruise ship, and the other from a fear of killer dolls (a la the movie Child's Play). "Hell on the Sea" also comes from my appreciation of the mystery of the ocean. There are so many myths of undersea civilizations, deep sea monstrosities, and hidden dimensions scattered through the bodies of water covering our planet. My fear comes from how much of it could be true and what could I possibly do if I were to face something from the deep. What would you do if you were on the ocean and suddenly found yourself in another world facing a leviathan that blocks out the sun and could swallow your ship whole? Seems pretty hopeless, right? "Camy and Cameron" on the surface seems like its about a child dealing with grief after the death of a loved one, just acting out, but it is really about the family member who refuses to move on. These two stories like others come from a more personal place rather than just observation, which is why I think people will relate to the characters
Check out the stories "Hell on the Sea" and "Camy and Cameron" in my book Freaky and Fantastical 500 (Words or Less) and experience the fear of the unknown waters and creep dolls shared by Yours Truly! Welcome back friends and family! On this day I will be highlighting the first love story in my anthology, titled "Loveless, Immortal". I imagine immortality can come in many forms--digitization, reincarnation, or even a curse with specific conditions. But what if your longevity was contingent on the sacrifice of our basic human needs? What good is it to live forever among mankind if you are unable to connect with another human being? These are the questions I like to ask myself when searching for story ideas. While I think of how awesome it could be to live without limits, realistically there will be something lost in exchange, but what are we willing to live without in order to live forever?
Check out the story "Loveless, Immortal" in my book "Freaky and Fantastical 500 (Words or Less)" and see how Marion Cross enjoyed his timeless life and the choice ultimately made. Hello friends & Fam! So I missed a day in my promos, but I refuse to let up so easily, so I am bringing a double-header today, which sets the precedent going forward!
Firstly, I will spotlight "Good Boys and Bad Girls", one of a few shorts in my anthology that takes a jab at the superhero genre. I love superhero movies, TV series, and I will occasionally indulge in the comics and novelizations from time to time, but I won't seriously write in that fantasy subgenre. The reason being that DC and Marvel have the superhero game locked down and they have had it that way for decades! People will always compare superhero works to the creations from those "Big Two", and while there have been some successes outside of these two publishers in houses such as Dark Horse and Valiant Comics it seems a lot harder to find new ground in the superhero arena. Also, I believe there is a such thing as superhero fatigue... But even if we tire of certain tropes being overused, there is still a way to present them from a different perspective to make them feel fresh even if we are aware that there is nothing new under our yellow sun. My story, "Good Boys and Bad Girls", is a short romantic comedy-style story where an average guy meets a less-than-average girl with a mean streak and super powers. In order for said guy to attract this girl, he takes a page from the comic books and attempts to woo her--in capes and spandex! I enjoyed writing this story and it was originally intended to be a short comic for another anthology, but the possibility remains! Secondly, "Family Photo Opp" is more of a reflection story and a simple ghost story. I loved reading "Goosebumps" growing up and R.L. Stine made some follow-ups to "Say Cheese and Die". This story isn't that, but I just wanted to give Stine a shout out! The story is meant to be both saddening and eerie at the same time. We've all lost people we care about and continue traditions in their honor, but what if they could still continue those traditions with you, unbeknownst to you? That is all for today! There is always more to come and please check out these stories in my new anthology "Freaky and Fantastical 500 (Words or Less)", now on Amazon! Hey, hey, hey, it's another new day! Today, in honor of "Freaky and Fantastical 500 (Words or Less)", I will focus on the second story, "A Story of Broken Yellow Bricks and Ruined Emerald Cities". (I bet you can't guess what this story was about based on the title!) I love stories in any form of media that adapt those timeless classics and create something entirely different, even if the new creation is meant to be entirely satirical. For some reason, my mind often returns to one particular story that I don't think resonated very strongly with me when I was younger. However, "The Wizard of Oz" has many elements I like to cannibalize and recreate in my own stories, as evidenced by not only this story, but also in my short comic "Terrors of Oz". It is amazing to me how some movies, books, etc. present so many potential symbols, themes, or concepts if you look beyond the story presented to you, ask the all-important WHAT-IF, and try telling the story in reverse or from a different point of view. Reverse engineering something you love, or even something you don't, proves to yield some very satisfying results... At least I can say it does for me!
Check out my sci-fi, horror, and fantasy anthology today on Amazon! And check back here again soon because there is much more to come! Hello all! In honor of the release of my book, "Freaky and Fantastical 500 (Words or Less)", my posts will focus on my thought process and the themes behind the 99 stories featured in the book. The first story, "Horror From My Point of View", can actually be found here on the site on the "Clutter" page, if you want to read the unedited version I originally wrote for a contest. This very story was my inspiration for the entire book. It was my call to action, my challenge, to write a story in as few words as possible. And in the end, I chose to take that challenge for myself 99 times over with varying results, making sure every story's word count would be a multiple of 100 and also presenting a different concept or issue in the world in my own unique style. "Horror From My Point of View" was inspired by a certain lovable family member and how I imagined they would react when presented with a horrific supernatural threat to our family... which is all I can say without spoiling the twist. I tried to play with different storytelling elements in each story following this one such as voice, point of view, time, and other elements but this first story is probably one of my best because of the reveal of the cowardly storyteller's identity.
This is just Day 1, but there are 98 more to go, and as usual, more to come! Be sure to check out the book on Amazon here! |
Marcus E. T.I am a writer, a creator, and just a little bit of everything good in the world wrapped into a chocolate-covered, human-sized package for your convenience! Archives
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