Speculative Fiction Writing Prompt #173

Since it has been so long between prompts, how about a second one today? I'll give this one more of a science fiction bent, but you, of course, can twist it which ever way you'd like.

An extra-dimensional portal has opened up in your grocer's freezer.

As always, no need to credit me with the prompt. I'm more than happy to simply provide with ideas. But if you do want to give me credit for the idea/prompt, I certainly won't say no!

Speculative Fiction Writing Prompt #164

Here is this week's speculative fiction writing prompt. I'm labeling it as science fiction, but, as always, take it whatever direction you choose. Have fun! 

An alien invasion has started, but only you see the misunderstanding and can fix it.
 
As always, feel free to use this in any way you choose. There's no need to give me any credit for any story you come up with. Of course, I never mind if you do give me credit for the writing prompt, but it's not necessary.

Speculative Fiction Writing Prompt #152

Here is this week's speculative fiction writing prompt. I'm labeling it as science fiction this week, but, as always, take it whatever direction you choose. Have fun!

You discover the secret of the Bermuda Triangle, but is it too late?

Writing Prompt #145

Here is this week's speculative fiction prompt. I'm labeling it as science fiction this week, but, as always, take it whatever direction you choose. Have fun!

Your new grandfather clock turns out to be a time machine.

Upcoming Book Giveaway

I recently realized I have a few paperback copies of two of my books, Way Over the Line and Ghost Betweens, sitting on my bookshelf. They're not doing any good there, so I've decided I'm going to have some giveaways in the coming months. The first one is going to happen next Thursday, July 4th. It's a big holiday here in the United States, but this giveaway is open to everyone around the globe. Obviously I hope the winner (and winners of future giveaways) will read the book and put a review up on Amazon, but that's not mandatory. I simply want to get my books out to new people.

Let's get to the meat of this first giveaway, shall we? Since, as I said, it's the Fourth of July (or Independence Day, if you prefer), and baseball is still considered America's pastime, I decided I'll give away a copy of Way Over the Line, a young adult (specifically targeted at 'tweens, though it's good for all ages) science fiction story about aliens and baseball. To enter to win your very own paperback copy, simply leave a comment below on this blog post (saying whatever you want - even if you just say "Enter me in the drawing," that's good enough for me), one on this Facebook post, or follow me on Twitter and retweet the appropriate tweet when I call for it (I'll specifically say to RT to win in that tweet).

I'll conduct my random drawing next Thursday, July 4, and alert the lucky winner soon after. I can sign it for you, too, if you'd like; we can discuss that when I get the address of wherever you'd like me to send it. Good luck, and tell your friends! 

Friday Flash: A Brief Encounter

A Brief Encounter

by Eric J. Krause

That moment didn't register with me until years later. Now when I tell the story, someone will invariably ask if I wish I had a time machine, and I can truthfully say I do. But it's never for the reason they think. I don't want to kill the guy, but befriend him. That statement loses almost everyone. If looks could kill, as the old adage goes, I'd be dead a hundred times over.

I ran into him 20 years ago, and nothing about our meeting stood out. We shared an elevator down and made brief small talk. That was the extent of my encounter with the evil that would one day construct a neural bomb and release it over the Internet, resulting in the death of half the world's population. Why I even remember those three minutes from all those years ago baffles me. I'm the type of guy that can barely remember what he did a few weeks ago.

So why wouldn't I want those moments back to put a bullet in the monster's head before he had even the seed of the idea to decimate the world's population? Think about it. What if I could have made him my friend? What if that's all he needed? What if I could have turned him in a direction to help humanity instead of hurt it? He obviously had the smarts; he obviously had the drive. He only needed direction. Instead of this hell, the world could have been in a much nicer place. We may have been in or on our way to a utopia. Think about it. Kindness stops violence, not more violence.

#FridayFlash - Millennium Ship

Millennium Ship

by Eric J. Krause 

Matt's eyes flickered open as the seal of his hibernation pod cracked. He wiped the sleep crust out of his eyes and stretched. Damn. His turn for upkeep. Why they couldn't trust the computer to run the ship the entire way was beyond him.

He pushed the pod open and stepped out. It was amazing how limber he felt after 300 years of sleep. He yawned. Even though it did a perfect job of stimulating his muscles, it did little to get his mind ready for the awakening. Ah well. The faster he ran all of the diagnostics and made any necessary repairs and maintenance, the sooner he could return to another 300 year nap.

As he walked out, he didn't spare a glance to Amanda or Carlos. He stumbled out of the hibernation center and headed for the galley. A stim-drink would get him to full power quick enough.

Halfway down the curved hallway, a shadow danced in front of him. He blinked hard, but saw nothing to have caused it. Footsteps sounded from the other end of the hall, near the galley.

"Hello? Carlos? Amanda? Why are you awake?" Maybe he should have checked their pods. Maybe the computer had some problems and it needed all of them to fix it. The scientists said it was an unlikely situation, but certainly possible.

No one answered. He shook his head and continued on. If he was imagining things, he needed that stim-drink more than he thought.

Taps and bangs sounded throughout the ship, but he couldn't pinpoint them. The lights died in the galley, and the emergency lights flashed on. He slugged down the rest of his drink and rushed to check the main computer. As he ran, footsteps followed him. He turned his head, but saw no one.

The problem was easy enough to catch from the main terminal. Somehow the reset button had been pushed. The lights would be on again in less than an hour. But how had it happened? The system needed the safety key to be turned at the exact moment the button was pressed. It couldn't be done by accident. If Carlos and Amanda were both asleep, that was impossible. Unless there was an intruder or a stowaway.

The footfalls again sounded behind him, and a shadow passed the doorway when he turned. He leaped up and pursued whoever was there. He found no one, but a lingering scent of Amanda's perfume filled the hall. It was unmistakable; he'd smelled it enough that first year before hibernations. They'd slept together almost every night.

Matt sprinted down the hall to see if she was still asleep. He peered through the tiny porthole in her pod and saw her face. Something was wrong. It looked as if she'd been jammed in there. He cracked the seal, and she tumbled out. He caught her before she smacked into the ground, and checked her pulse. It should be slow but strong, but he felt nothing. He hugged her before laying her corpse on the ground.

He stood, looked in Carlos's pod, and found him in a similar state. Before he could open it up to examine his body, a presence filled the doorway. He turned and found Amanda standing there. He let out a yelp when he realized he could see right through her.

Matt's blood ran cold. A horrified look was etched on her face. She mouthed something, and it took a few seconds for him to catch on. Over and over she said a single word: "Run."

A burst of energy behind her dulled her ghost. He should take her advice, but couldn't. He had to see what this was.

"Carlos!" Matt yelled. It wasn't him, not exactly. His crewmate and good friend was now an energized alien being. His body was nothing but a blob of unformed mass, though his head remained. He stumbled into the room with no grace until he spotted Matt. Then he moved smoother than lightning.

Matt screamed as this Carlos-monster gripped him with its oversized hands. The energy bled off and encircled his chest. Precious oxygen seeped from his lungs, and he realized he wouldn't survive this. Before he drifted off to death, visions of what happened permeated his mind.

Wires worked loose under the ship's main terminal. As Carlos welded them together, the ship glided through an unknown energy deposit. Some sort of being launched itself through the wires and snuffed Carlos out before he knew what was going on. It took his essence and jammed his physical body back into the hibernation pod. Then it waited. 100 years later, Amanda emerged. It killed her and did the same with her body. 100 more years passed, and Matt woke. Now it had eradicated the entire crew and had the ship to itself.

He had no clue what it planned. As soon as his soul released from his dead body, Amanda grabbed him and they fled. Interestingly enough, one does not need to be on Earth to travel into that bright light that leads to the afterlife.

Friday Flash: Shooting Stars

Shooting Stars

by Eric J. Krause

Timothy and Abby lay on the soft grass of Towerbell Hill, ready for the start of nature's firework show. Tonight was the night of the Quinn-Baines Meteor Shower, a once in a lifetime event. There were other meteor showers that could be tracked, but this one took the scientific community by surprise. Once it was determined that the rocks would burn up in the atmosphere, the event captured the population's imagination. Everyone wanted to view the spectacle. All around the half of the world where it was night, even in major metropolitans, the shower would be visible. And for the other half of the world, or if there were clouds in the area? The Internet, of course, had viewing options.

As luck would have it, Timothy and Abby both had the evening off, him from his job at Milton's Burgers 'N Ice Cream, and her from school. She technically had class until ten, but her professor knew he'd get no sort of attention out of his students, if they even bothered to show, so he canceled. They agreed that he wanted to watch the show, too. And it certainly was a spectacular night for it. Not a cloud in the sky, and their town, not large, but large enough to pollute the sky with its multitude of man-made lights, made way for the special night by turning off as many non-essential lights as possible. That brought out more stars than either could remember seeing since their senior class trip to the mountains three years ago.

"What time is it?" Abby asked, and Timothy held out his phone for her to see. A quarter after nine. The sun had set, and the stars were in full bloom. According to the media, the show would begin right about now. It would be a few trickles here and there, and then by 9:30, the meteor shower would begin in earnest.

Timothy pointed up. "Did you see it? A short one, but that was the first."

"Yeah, cool. Did you make a wish?"

He kissed her neck, murmured that he had, and squeezed her breast. She giggled and knocked his hand away in case anyone could see. Not that everyone wasn't focused skyward, but a girl couldn't be too prudent.

As the minutes ticked away, dozens upon dozens of shooting stars flashed across the dark night sky, some at the same time, previewing the awesome show to come. The ooh's and ahh's came from all over the hill, and Abby couldn't help but smile. The crowd reaction reminded her of a Fourth of July Fireworks Extravaganza. And, truth be told, this would likely blow any man-made show away.

More and more shooting stars streaked across the night sky, but then Timothy's arms stiffened around her. "What?" she whispered back to him.

"One of them changed directions," he said. "And I don't mean like a light bend. It turned a hard right."

"Maybe two collided. Or it hit something else."

"Another one did it," he said, fear in his voice. Why would that upset him? She noticed others around the hill shared his worried tone, though she couldn't hear their conversations.

She stared up, determined to see one change directions with her own eyes. She didn't have to wait long, nor did she have to concentrate hard. A half-dozen of the shooting stars turned, as if on cue, a hard 90 degrees to their right. The crowd on the hill now raised a ruckus.

"It's on the news," someone shouted. "They aren't just falling rocks."

"What does that mean?" someone else yelled. "What are they?"

Before the first man could answer, the shooting stars stopped and hovered in the sky. All hell broke loose.

Writing Prompt #129

Here is this week's speculative fiction prompt. I'm labeling it as science fiction this week, but, as always, take it whatever direction you choose. Have fun with it!

A strange new social movement was actually started by space aliens (or time travelers). 

Writing Prompt #124

Here is this week's speculative fiction prompt. I'm labeling it as science fiction this week, but, as always, take it whatever direction you choose. Have fun with it!

Those toy laser guns at the amusement park souvenir stand aren't toys.

Writing Prompt #121

Here is this week's speculative fiction prompt. I'm labeling it as science fiction, but, as always, take it whichever direction you choose. Have fun with it!

Unbeknownst to you, an alien has been visiting you in your sleep for years.

Writng Prompt #113

Here is this week's speculative fiction prompt. I'm labeling it as science fiction this week, but, as always, take it whatever direction you choose. Have fun with it!

A new app for your phone bends the laws of physics.

Writing Prompt #110

Here is this week's speculative fiction prompt. I'm labeling it as science fiction this week, but, as always, take it whatever direction you choose. Have fun with it!


An alien society seizes control of your tablet computer.

Writing Prompt 102

Here is this week's speculative fiction prompt. I'm labeling it as science fiction this week, but take it whatever direction you choose. Have fun with it!

Space aliens built the pyramids.

Writing Prompt #98

Here is this week's speculative fiction prompt. I'm labeling it as science fiction, but, as always, take it whatever direction you choose. Have fun with it!

If a top-secret government computer is shut down, the entire universe is shut down.

Writing Prompt #93

Here is this week's speculative fiction prompt. I'm labeling it as science fiction, but take it whatever direction you choose. Have fun with it!

There's a new app available that lets you control minds.

Writing Prompt #89

Here is this week's speculative fiction prompt. I'm labeling it as science fiction, but take it whatever direction you choose. Have fun with it!

The light from a sun in a distant solar system has strange effects on a crew of astronauts.

Writing Prompt #88

Here is this week's speculative fiction prompt. I'm labeling it as science fiction, but take it whatever direction you choose. Have fun with it!

A rabbit-eared television set can control time and space.

Writing Prompt #74

Here is this week's speculative fiction prompt. I'm labeling it as science fiction this week, but take it whatever direction you choose. Have fun with it!

The tender, tasty meat at that new restaurant comes from space aliens.

Writing Prompt #66

Here is this week's speculative fiction prompt. I'm labeling it as science fiction this week, but take it whatever direction you choose. Have fun with it!

A packed commercial airplane flies through a mysterious wormhole into a different dimension.