52 Short Stories

To begin with, you must know that Virtual Reality didn't work out as planned. In fact, it went horribly wrong. Everyone started out very excited about their over-sized virtual reality goggles strapped to their heads. Eventually, someone was able to port the technology into more normal sized glasses. Then, came contact lens. And then came the day of the great fusing. No one is really sure quite what happened, but something went horribly wrong. By this point, basically everyone was using virtual reality contact lenses. So when they fused onto the corneas of the human population, on that day virtual reality became reality. It didn't take long for folks to forget what life was like not being an animated avatar running through a pixelated world that became increasingly more lifelike after every update. In fact, people began to worry that if they had children who didn't have "reality" lenses fused onto their corneas, the parents would not be able to relate ...

I was born with a reptilian tail. My mother was not injured during the delivery, so I am told, but two nurses fainted, and the doctor begged my parents to let him write a journal article about me. My parents declined, and instead, they left me at the hospital. Imagine if they had let the doctor write that article about me, maybe then I would have been the famous "Lizard Boy," and everyone would have loved me. Or at least, I wouldn't have to keep my tail cramped inside my pants all the time. It hurts a lot and makes a lot of recess pretty un-fun. I don't have adoptive parents like some kids get. I don't think I'll ever get parents like that. I just live at a house with a bunch of other kids that no one really wants. But I don't usually stay at the same house for more than a year because the foster parents get sick of having me around. I guess they think I'm boring. I've seen the other kids that live there. Some of them have been there for y...

Everyone Likes a Good Origin Story But that doesn't mean that this one will slake your thirst Ray Bradbury said if you write one story a week for a year, then by the end of the year you'll be a good writer because it's impossible to write 52 bad stories. Even if the first 51 stories are bad, then at the very least, the last one will be half decent. Practice makes better. So that's my goal with this blog. I'm hoping that if I write one short story a week -- or 52 short stories over an indeterminate period of time -- then I will become a better writer. Maybe, I'll do this over the course of a year...more likely it will be a while longer. Some parameters: These stories will be in rough draft form They will be ones that I don't intend on formally publishing They are practice exercises, not pieces to be perfected They will be fiction, anything that sounds real is used fictionally Hopefully, the stories will still be entertaining. No promises.