"…his stories are always sharp and compact and interesting." ——Angel Martinez "(One of) the hottest authors in the independent horror scene…" —-Hellbound Books
Kept to my New Year’s resolution and wrote/finished six stories during this past period. Also did at least one QSF column. Didn’t write four pages every day, but I did some days. And I just vegged-out and didn’t write on a few days. I did have a few days busy doing something else.
Worked a little on “The Forest”/”Under The Gaze Of the Owl,” which started as flash fictions for the old Monday Flash Fiction Facebook page.
Speaking of which, I wrote the intro and part of the story for my tenth anniversary story of doing the Flash Fics about every week. (Yes, any more I do the anniversary story ahead of time. But it’s not quite cheating, I did the story in a few hours.)
Speaking of wonky stuff; I came up with the title “Flying Saucer Cat,” which was going to be a Friday Flash story but it got too long and didn’t have a flying saucer in it, so I changed the title. Then I tried writing a Friday Flash story with that title and thought of a better title: “The Little Dog Laughed to See Such A Sport.”
The big news writing-wise this period was that I started work on a longer story I’ve been meaning to get to for years. It’ll probably be a novella or a YA novel. I had the inspiration for it forty years ago…
And I did send off a couple of stories during this period. That’s progress, too.
The “Four Pages A Day” thing is a very successful motivator, in my opinion. And getting motivated was always one of my big weaknesses.
Finished Bruce Campbell’s “Secret of Skeleton Island.” It’s fun and is worth a blog post in itself. Maybe paired with the similarly-titled Robert Arthur book. Likable characters, action and mystery with characters who seem just a bit older than their high school years.
Read Mack Reynolds’ “Dog Star” in one of the old Barnes and Noble anthologies “100 Astounding Little Alien Stories.” Those reprint books are wonderful and I think I have all of them.
Read Rachel Ried’s story “My Dinner With Hayden,” the extra in the book “Heated Rivalry.” Sweet moments along with Hayden and Ilya acting like jerks. Oh, and a sex scene.
Read the online offerings by E.H. Timms and Kaje Harper.
Read a fine flash fiction by J. Scott Coatsworth: “Vibe Science.”
Read stories in anthology “The Young Oxford Book Of Christmas Stories,” edited by Dennis Pepper. (a fine selection but the introduction is loaded with spoilers.)
Among the stories I read were:
“The Imperturbable Tucker” by A.M. Burrage. (Burrage’s “The Waxwork” spooked me over fifty years ago.)
“The Night Is Freezing Fast” by Thomas Monteleone.
“Night In Paris” by Patrice Chaplin
“The Carol Singer” by Chris Naylor (which was first published as a Christmas Card)
“A Very Merry Christmas” by Morley Callaghan (with a wonderfully sweet resolution)
“The Adventuress” by Frank O’Connor. Maybe my first read of the great Irish author and maybe the reason I ordered the book in the first place. (I don’t really remember)
“Josef’s Carol” by Alison Prince.
“Mary’s Story” by Margrit Cruickshank
“The Nativity Bell And the Falconer” by George Mackay Brown, (a fine Medieval Christmas story.)
All those stories excellent.
I don’t feel like I read as much this last period probably because I bought and ordered several more books including two of the fun Bruce Campbell YA books. “Campbell” was the pen-name of husband-and-wife team of writers Sam and Beryl Epstein, by the way.
Luis Vella opened the apartment door on the first knock. Guy Weston was standing there, dark-haired and exhausted.
“Oh, man,” Luis said. “I wish you’d texted me, I would’ve picked you up!”
“Don’t worry,” Guy said. “It wasn’t a long walk from the bus stop. And I only have one suitcase.” He set the suitcase down on the floor. “And the overnight bag.”
The overnight bag looked like it had been packed for several nights, actually.
“I got it,” Luis said, grabbing the bag. He grabbed the bag. It was heavy.
Luis grinned at Guy. Under the jacket and sweatshirt he bet Guy still had rock-hard muscles like when they had been in High School. Luis had noticed.
“Hey, I got that,” Guy said, hoisting the suitcase and shutting the apartment door behind him.
“Thanks a million for letting me stay here,” Guy said.
“No problem,” Luis said.
“Where do I put my…”
“Uh, over here.” Luis said. “By the couch. It pulls out into a…bed. Bedroom’s through there.” Luis pointed. “Bathroom’s right next to it. You’re pretty much standing in the kitchen.”
Luis nodded at the stove and fridge against the opposite wall.
“Hey, I like it. A lot bigger than your old apartment,” Guy said.
“Our old apartment, you mean,” Luis said. “But there, the bathroom was at the end of the floor, remember?”
Guy laughed. It had been three years ago, just after they’d graduated college. They were starting to get together but then Guy had the opportunity to travel and see the world.
Luis had lied and said he was all for it.
During those years they had texted each other. A lot. Now, standing in front of each other they were wondering what to say next.
“Hey, I love this old building,” Guy said, breaking the silence. “Right in the middle of downtown.”
“I shop at the convenience store across the street a lot,” Luis said.
“It’s just after St. Patrick’s Day, why does the building have Christmas decorations up?” Guy asked.
“Oh, that!” Luis said. “They’re taking pictures for a city Christmas card tonight. Watch this.”
The apartment had been sort of dark with just the kitchen light on, even though it was just after dusk. Luis walked over to the window that faced the street and the corner that was partly in shadow and flipped a switch. A small Christmas tree on the little table in front of the window lit up.
“Oh, that’s cool!” Guy said.
“Yeah,” Luis said, grinning.
“Remember the little tree we had in that apartment?” Guy asked.
“Yeah,” Luis said drawing closer. “Dancing to Christmas carols on the radio.”
“Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree. Ya dee-dee-dee da dee-dee-dee…” Guy sang as they embraced and danced, both men laughing.
Hey, I got the tree on just in time,” Luis said, glancing out the window. “Looks like they’re here to take the pictures.”
“You want to…” Guy said, thumbing at the window.
“Sure,” Luis said with a grin.
The two men stood behind the window, just far enough back to not be that obvious but where Luis knew they could be seen from the street and kissed. Several times.
Luis looked into Guy’s eyes. “You wanna stay here for a while?” Luis asked. “And not go to the trouble of opening up the couch bed?”
Guy smiled. “Sure.” He kissed Luis again. Then he laughed.
“Remember the rest of the song?” Guy asked.
Luis shook his head.
Guy smiled and sang:
“Reminding me on Christmas Day
To think of you and then be Gay…”
The two men laughed again. Then Luis’ phone buzzed.
“Hello?” Luis said. “Yeah. Yeah, we could do that. Okay, thanks.”
He stuck the phone back in his pocket.
“That was Mr. Fell, my landlord. He’s out there with the photographers.” Luis said.
“Yeah?” Guy said.
“He wants to know if we could get right by the window and kiss again.”
Guy grinned.
“Oh Christmas Tree” ran through their heads as they embraced by the little tree.
The old farmhouse was filled with the quiet of a Summer night when Miss Kitty started awake from her curled position at the foot of Hetty’s bed, her whiskers twitching.
The soft whirring noise was coming from outside.
Miss Kitty’s soft “Mrrrp” caused Hetty to stir and then sit up in bed.
“What’s the matter, Sweetheart?” Hetty asked.
“Mrrrp.” Miss Kitty said.
Hetty scratched behind the cat’s ears and then noticed the whirring noise which had gotten slightly louder. Also there was a soft blue glow coming through the curtained bedroom window.
“Let’s go see,” Hetty said determinedly, quickly putting on her slippers and robe as Miss Kitty jumped to the floor.
The two of them walked through the house, its usual semi-darkness lit by the light from outside.
Hetty and Miss Kitty stepped outside onto the back porch. The light was bright enough that she could clearly read the date, 1916, over the door of the barn her Grandfather had raised. There was a gibbous Moon angling through the sky.
And a softly glowing blue and white disc hovering over the yard between the barn and the house.
The disc looked solid and metallic and was as wide as the barn and from what Hetty could see not as tall. There was a rise in the top of the disc, the disc being angled slightly downward as if to give them a better view. It was just hanging there in the air at level with the top of the barn.
“Mrrrp?” Miss Kitty said quizzically.
“I think this counts as a Close Encounter,” Hetty said, giving the saucer the once over. If it wasn’t an actual flying saucer it certainly looked like it. What sort of people were inside it, she wondered.
“Hello,” Hetty called out, feeling a little silly. “Welcome to Earth. This is the O’Hara farm. In Kansas,” she added wondering if the saucer had GPS or some kind of printed map.
The saucer just hung there, the Moon looking very small behind it. The gentle whirring noise quietly filled the yard. Hetty stepped off the porch and went across the yard to the saucer, Miss Kitty trotting along beside her. Hetty kept remembering the old rhyme about the cat, the fiddle, the dish and a cow jumping over the Moon. She wondered if the saucer had been to the Moon or if it maybe came from the Moon. This despite everything the astronauts had said about the Moon.
Miss Kitty sat there looking up at the saucer, making the gentle “Mrrrp” sound, which made a nice accompaniment to the saucer’s whirring. Hetty wondered if the saucer people wanted to take them up with them. She wished she’d had the foresight to cancel the newspaper and stop the mail delivery.
Could the saucer be seen from the highway? Hetty wondered. She knew she could see the lights from the big trucks at night on the highway and that she could see the top of the barn from the highway. Maybe the newspaper people would come to the farm if the saucer stayed there in mid-air.
But a few minutes later the saucer’s whirring became louder and it backed up into the sky and then streaked off, looking like nothing so much as meteorites she had seen.
Hetty stood there for a few minutes, not expecting the saucer to return, but still she felt like she was waiting. She turned and headed back to the house, the yard now lit only by Moonlight and starlight.
“I would have turned on the porch light except the saucer was so bright,” she said aloud. Miss Kitty trotted ahead of her and waited at the door for Hetty to follow.
When they were both back in bed, Hetty lay awake for a while, she realized the saucer would be back someday. And she remembered the one thing the saucer had said, just before it vanished into the sky.
“I hate these damn contact lenses,” Barry said, rubbing at his eyes as they walked down the Midway.”
“C’mon, buddy,” Jorge said. “You look great! Those glasses made you look geeky. Besides, you won’t lose these!”
Barry and Jorge were both in their early twenties. They had grown up next door to each other and kept telling each other they were “just friends.” They both were just over six feet tall and lean. They had played basketball in school (not that well.) Now, it was early June and they were at the County Fair.
“Just glad they’re holding this around the old Amusement Park,” Jorge said. “We get the roller coaster this year!”
“Oh yeah,” Barry said, unenthusiastically. He was glad he could see everything through the new contacts. His eye doctor had recommended some place to get them that he’d never heard of when Barry balked at the price. The place was at the other end of town in an old stone building. Inside had been dark and smelled funny and the diploma on the wall was written in a weird sort of Latin but he could see through the lenses and they were easy to remove and put in.
“How do they feel?” Jorge asked his friend, serious for a moment.
“Pretty good,” Barry said blinking a couple of times. “I barely notice they’re in.”
“Okay, let’s do the ‘Coaster!” Jorge said excitedly.
Barry nodded, not sure whether he was going along for the usual reason he rode the roller coaster; to squeeze close to Jorge.
“C’mon!” Jorge said. “You like this thing! And you can see the whole town from up there. It’s like a view from a hill!”
Barry grinned and nodded. He thought to himself, hills didn’t jerk them around while careening headlong into an abyss.
The two of them got their tickets and squeezed into the car and strapped in. After a few minutes the coaster started up, as usually very slowly.
When it reached the top, it almost paused then it roared down to the sharp curve then up again then back the other way as the landscape and the Fair seemed to sweep past them. But Barry wasn’t looking at that…
When the car slowed again, Barry saw, not the Fair or the town but a decimated, smoldering landscape with huge bug-things munching on a tall building and a slimy reddish-brown lizard the size of a city bus with something alive squirming in its mouth. Behind what looked like the ruins of the old shopping center a furry black appendage draped over it twitching like the limb of a spider.
Barry was too shocked to say anything and in the next instant the coaster roared back down and up and down and up with Jorge and the other people in other cars happily screaming. If Barry screamed it wasn’t because of the ride.
When the coaster slowed at the top again, Barry rubbed his eyes, even though he’d been told not to, and the lens popped out of his left eye—it had to be the contact lenses, reacting with the speed, maybe with the solution he’d used on them. Or something. Through his left eye, Barry saw a slightly blurred view of the town and the Fair. Through his right eye he saw impossibly thin snakes slithering through a burned out landscape. There were dark clouds in the distance and someone, some thing standing so tall on the horizon its head was literally in the clouds.
When the ride ended and the two of them walked back to the Midway, Barry managed to take out the other lens and clenched them both in his fist, discreetly stuffing them into one of the overflowing trash barrels painted with clown faces that dotted the Fair.
“That was great! Absolutely great!” Jorge said.
“Uh, yeah,” Barry said. “But my lenses popped out.”
“They did?” Jorge said, looking at him with concern.
“Yeah,” Barry lied. “I got my glasses back in the car.”
“Oh well,” Jorge said. “Those lenses were cheap anyway. Hey, I’ll lead you around.”
“You don’t have to lead me around…” Barry said.
“Yeah. Hey, let’s get hot dogs!” Jorge said.
Barry followed his friend, trying not to think about the other world he had seen.
At least hoping it was another world…
—end—
AUTHOR’S NOTE: The draws for the March Flash Fiction Draw challenge were for a Horror Story, set on a Roller Coaster involving Contact Lenses. I took the opportunity to homage the M. R. James story referenced by the shared title.
And I already think contact lenses are scary! —–mike
First, here’s the prompts for the March 2026 Flash Fiction Draw Challenge, then my usual long-winded explanation:
A Horror Story
Involving Contact Lenses
Set on A Roller Coaster
Now, on to the details.
Hi! I’m Mike Mayak, I also write as Jeff Baker and I’m the current moderator for the monthly Flash Fiction Draw Challenge, which was started by ‘Nathan Burgoine a few years ago and carried on by Cait Gordon and Jeffrey Ricker. It’s a monthly writing challenge mainly for stress-free fun that anyone can play.
Here’s how it works: the first Monday of every month I draw three cards; a heart, a diamond and a club. These correspond to a list naming a genre, a setting and an object that must appear in the story. Participants write up a flash fiction story, 1,000 words or less, post it to their website and link it here in the comments. I’ll post the results (including, hopefully, one of my own!)
As I’m no good making videos I did the drawing offstage. So, the results were the Nine of Hearts (a Horror Story), the Six of Diamonds (A Roller Coaster) and the Three of Clubs (Contact Lenses.)
So we will write a Horror Story, set in a Roller Coaster involving Contact Lenses.
We’ll have the results here in this same space around Monday March 16th, 2026.
So, get to writing and I’ll post the results next week! And I’m putting the 2026 Flash Draw sheet at the end of this message, again! (* indicates those have been used.)
Thanks for playing, and I’ll see you in about week!
The grass was green there and the sunlight glinted off the river as Craig and Kent held hands and listened to the Minister’s words.
“Do you Kent Alexander MacDowell take Craig to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
Craig grinned at the man he loved and tightened the grip on his hand.
Kent took a deep breath and said “I’m not sure.”
Craig didn’t believe what he was hearing. “Not sure?” he asked in a strained voice.
“No, I’m…I’m not.” Kent said, still holding Craig’s hand.
“Why?” Craig breathed, his legs feeling limp underneath him.
“It’s not you,” Kent said shaking his head. “Not you. It’s…well, everything.”
“Um…could you wait here a minute or two,” Craig said to the Minister. “Be right back,” he said to the small knot of guests as he and Kent walked a few yards away.
“What’s going on?” Craig asked when they were out of earshot. “What do you mean it’s everything?”
“Everything,” Kent said. “I was listening to the news in the car on the way over here. It’s all going to hell in a handbasket. The economy is shaky. The government is a mess. We’re probably going to war with Iran or Iraq or Denmark. They’re going after the ‘T’ in LGBT and we’re all next. It’s just…well…”
“You feel hopeless.” Craig said.
“Yeah.” Kent said. “I know we’ll be happy. I know we are happy but I don’t want us to be ripped apart if the court decides…”
“Honey, listen to me,” Craig said, putting his hands on Kent’s shoulders and looking in his eyes. “Nobody’s going to do that. Not to us.” He took a deep breath. “And even with they mess up the laws and take our rights away from us we will still be together. Like the ceremony says, ‘let no man put asunder.’”
“Yeah.” Kent said.
“You’ve been doomscrolling too much. We all have,” Craig said. “But people are standing up against all this crap. You saw the pics from New York City? People protesting weekly even in ice and snow and subzero temperatures. So every little bit helps, I mean this is for us but also for everybody else out there. And it’s a slap in the face to all the homophobes who are against us.”
“Yeah. It is.” Kent said. “I guess I’ve just been worrying a lot lately.”
“We all have,” Craig said pulling Kent close and holding him. They stood there together for a moment, feeling the breeze and hearing the river.
Kent started to laugh.
“Hey, remember that first Thanksgiving I took you over to Mom and Dad’s? And my Uncle told that story about how my Dad had snuck out of the dinner the night before his and Mom’s wedding and walked back to the motel because he was scared and didn’t know if he could be a good husband?”
“I remember,” Craig said grinning. He had only met Kent’s parents a couple of months earlier.
“Maybe that’s what happened to me?” Kent said.
“Yeah, making it official is a big step.” Craig said. “For both of us.”
“But I’m ready,” Kent said taking a deep breath.
“So am I.” Craig said.
They kissed and hand-in-hand walked back to their friends and family and the Minister and to the place where they would stand and say “I Do.”
—end—
TOPICAL NOTE: I wrote this just a few days before all hell started breaking loose again. I make no claims to being a prophet—-jeff
The two sixty-something men snuggled on their couch, the bowl of popcorn balanced on their laps watching TV.
“I dunno. I always loved the Winter Olympics but this year it feels different.” said Sander “Sandy” Kennison-Thurwell to his husband Brian Kennison-Thurwell.
“I know,” Brian said. “I keep expecting the camera to follow two of the hockey players up to a hotel room where they start scoring goals with each other.”
“It’s that hockey romance show,” Sandy said grabbing a handful of popcorn. “It’s spoiled us for the real thing.”
“Yeah,” Brian said. “I seriously thought about getting you one of the hockey jerseys from the show for your birthday.” He whistled. “Ex-pen-sive!!”
“Besides, they’re probably sold out.” Sandy said.
The two men laughed, watched TV and ate more popcorn snuggling closer.
During the commercial, Brian grinned and laughed again.
“What do you want to bet that there’s a couple of guys who put on hockey jerseys and roleplay?”
Sandy started laughing. “Yeah, and they go to a hotel room.”
“And get locked out of their room!” Brian said, laughing harder.
“Wait, wait, wait!” Sandy said gasping for breath. “They go to the front desk and ring for the desk clerk…” He took a deep breath and got a hold of himself. “…and the desk clerk turns around and goes ‘Yeeesssss?’”
“Oh, my God! Frank Nelson!” Brian laughed.
“Wellll now,” Sandy said in his best Frank Nelson voice. “We were playing so hard we lost our key card didn’t we?”
Brian laughed.
“Let’s see,” Sandy said still doing the voice. “I have lost socks, spare hockey pucks, various safety devices packaged of course…Ah! Key cards! That’ll be twenty dollars.”
The two men laughed and kissed.
“Remember Albuquerque?” Brian said.
“Oh yeah!” Sandy said.
“We checked into that motel and then we drove down the street to get something to eat?” Brian said.
“Somewhere that we could sit down and leave a tip instead of eating in the car,” Sandy said.
“When we drove back to the motel the room key didn’t work,” Brian said. “So we went to the front desk….”
“That skinny little desk clerk!” Sandy laughed.
“…and we tried to get him to give us our key but he said he couldn’t find our names.” Brian said.
“I thought I was in the Twilight Zone.” Sandy laughed.
“And it turned out we were at the wrong motel!” Brian said laughing again.
“Yeah, faded neon cactus and sun on the sign.” Sandy said. “On every other motel in that part of town.
The two men lay back on the couch and munched the last of the popcorn.
“I’m getting pooped.” Sandy said when the games were over for the night.
“Me too,” Brian said hitting the OFF button on the remote.
“Sack time!” Sandy said, kissing Brian and standing up.
They both stood in the living room and kissed happily.
“So, are you coming to the cottage?” Brian said dead seriously.
“Only with you. Always with you.” Sandy said.
As they headed up the steps Brian said “It’s all our cottage as far as I’m concerned. Hey, I could learn Russian if you want.”
Of course I read the usual weekly stories by Kaje Harper and the monthly flash fiction by E. H. Timms. (Thanks for posting to the Flash Fiction Draw Challenge, E. H!)
Read the Kuttner/Moore story “Rain Check,” which I’m pretty sure I read years ago. It’s in their fine collection “A Gnome There Was.” I’ve seen the ending gimmick in at least a couple of other stories but this may have been the first written, from 1946.
Started reading Abraham Merritt’s 1932 novel “Burn, Witch, Burn.” So far, so good!
Read the Kolchak comic books “Devil In the Details” and “Kyrie.” Pretty good. From Moonstone Comics.
Read/skimmed through Rachel Reid’s Gay Hockey Romance “Heated Rivalry,” source for the TV show. Wrote the February Queer SciFi column about it, check there for more. Also read a little of her books “Game Changer” and “The Long Game.”
Got Frederik Pohl’s autobiographical “The Way the Future Was,” mainly for what he says about his habit of writing four pages a day like I’m trying to do now. Did me good to know that he didn’t always make that goal and he sometimes skipped it for a month or two. I may have this in paperback but I ordered a signed copy.
And I stumbled across a reference on a bog post to a Young Adult series of mysteries by “Bruce Campbell” (pen name of Sam and Beryl Epstein) about “Ken Holt,” a reporter’s son who’s off at boarding school and who gets involved in mystery and adventure with his extended family. I ordered the first “The Secret Of Skeleton Island” and started in on it. Great fun! A nice boy’s adventure/mystery from 1949. Not sure when my copy was printed; the series ran for about thirteen years.
Looking at this, I’m surprised I read this much; the new writing schedule means I have cut back on the reading time but still I read a lot!
And I’m sure I read another story or two and didn’t write it down.
authorjeffbaker 