The Eyes of Argus Open for Friday Flash Fics by Jeff Baker. (June 18, 2022.)

Posted on June 18, 2022 by jeffbaker307

AUTHOR’S NOTE: A day late with this, and I’m dipping here into my love of Mythology. And I have been around peacocks.

Argus Panoptes

by Jeff Baker

I served Queen Hera.

For her I spied, kept information and protected the transformed Io who was really the lover of her faithless husband Zeus. He had transformed her into a cow so Hera would not suspect another woman. But Hera knew; I had told her.

I am Argus Panoptes, “Argus the All-Seeing” or “Argus Many-Eyes.” And I did have many eyes. I was a Titan. I was mighty. And none could catch me by surprise.

Even when I slept, some of my eyes remained open.

But there was one stealthier than my sight. Hermes. Lord of swiftness and of travelers. He who could travel between Earth and the Underworld of the Dead.

He also practiced magic.

One day when I was guarding Io, Hermes passed by, I believed on one of his many missions.

I did not know his mission involved me.

Hermes called upon the power of slumber, made the sunlight drowsily warm, made the grassy ground look comfortable and inviting and before I realized it all of my eyes were closed and I was asleep.

An instant later, I was dead.

It was, of course, Hermes who escorted me to the Underworld, and he explained and apologized for what had just happened. But at the gate to Elysian Fields, there was a message for the Messenger. Hera wanted me, and I felt myself vanishing.

So, now my eyes and I still exist. I am on the feathers of the decorative bird, the Peacock. And I could still see wherever the peacocks were, I was, still spying for Queen Hera. Not a bad afterlife at all. The Peacock was Hera’s bird, her emblem and through me it became her avatar.

Now Hera and the other Gods are gone, ascended to what realm I do not know but I remain, witnessing the endless parade of life on this world. And wherever a peacock is, there I and my eyes are.

The peacock’s cry is a howl, but beneath it if you listen closely, you can hear my laughter.

Be seeing you!

—end—

Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Friday Flash Fics, Friday Flash Fictions, Short-Stories | Leave a comment

Romance, a Sopping Wet Sponge and a Country Road. June 2022’s Flash Fiction Draw Challenge Results!

Posted on June 14, 2022 by jeffbaker307
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Here’s the results for the June 2022 Flash Fiction Draw Challenge.

The Draws for the stories were:

A Romance

A Country Road

And a Sopping Wet Sponge.

E. H. Timms wrote “Returned With Interest.” https://thinkingthinking123.blogspot.com/2022/06/flash-fic-challenge-returned-with.html

And I wrote “The Road Home.” https://authorjeffbaker.com/2022/06/14/the-road-home-for-the-june-2022-flash-fiction-draw-challenge-by-jeff-baker/

(And I botched big time! I posted E. H.’s story instead of mine! I just fixed it!—-mike 2/16/23)

Thanks for participating and remember, it’s never too late to do a story for any of these challenges and post it to the challenge blog post and I’ll add it.

Since July 4th is a long weekend, I’ll do the next draw on Monday July 11th. See you then!

Posted in Fiction, LGBT, Monthly Flash Fiction Draw Challenge, Romance, Short-Stories | Leave a comment

“The Road Home” for the June 2022 Flash Fiction Draw Challenge by Jeff Baker.

Posted on June 14, 2022 by jeffbaker307
Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

The Road Home

By Jeff Baker

AUTHOR’S NOTE: The draws for this month’s Flash Fiction Draw Challenge were:

A Romance on a Country Road including a sopping wet sponge. Here’s what I came up with.

There should have been a Moon, Shawn thought as the horses pulled the old wooden wagon full of hay down the old dirt road in the starlight. Trees to one side, open field to the other.

“Bet the horses would go this way even if you weren’t holding on,” Lonnie said sitting next to Shawn on the wagon’s front seat.

“My Dad always told me to hold on to the reins anyway,” Shawn said with a grin. “Anyway I think Summer Hayride ‘22 has been a success. Everybody seemed to have a good time.”

“Yeah, we didn’t even have to use this,” Lonnie said tapping the bucket full of water and a sponge on the floor beneath the seat with his foot.

“Still not sure why we bring a wet sponge along on the ride every year.” Shawn said.

“Tradition,” Lonnie said. “When my Granddad ran this ride his Dad kept a wet sponge around to throw at girls who got too fresh with their boyfriends.”

Shawn laughed. “Wish he could have seen the necking going on tonight.”

“Yeah, now that’s tradition,” Lonnie said. “Hey, what time is it, anyway?”

“About eleven-thirty,” Shawn said.

“Let’s make our own tradition,” Lonnie said sliding close enough in the seat to kiss Shawn on the cheek. Shawn turned around and kissed Lonnie’s lips. They lingered. The air felt warmer.

“That’s about the first time we’ve done that in public,” Lonnie said breathing heavily.

“What public?” Shawn said. We’re here alone.”

“Alone, my butt!” The voice came from behind them. “Get a room, guys!”

Shawn’s brother, Sky stuck his head out of the straw, his girlfriend hanging on to his neck. They were both laughing.

Shawn and Lonnie joined the laughter.

“Hey, you two behave back there,” Shawn said. “Or I’ll use the sponge on you!”

“I gotta work tomorrow morning,” Sky said. “Just decide. Either neck or get us home.”

“We can do both!” Lonnie laughed, kissing Shawn again.

The horses pulled the wagon down the well-worn road.

They had seen it all before.

—end—

Posted in Fiction, LGBT, Monthly Flash Fiction Draw Challenge, Romance, Short-Stories | Leave a comment

Mergen. Friday Flash Fics for June 10, 2022 by Jeff Baker (as Michael J. Mayak.)

Posted on June 11, 2022 by jeffbaker307

Mergen

by Michael J. Mayak

Damn!

Mergen spun around too late as the rings surrounded his head like fallen halos.

They were screened somehow, still were. Even with Mergen’s advanced sensory powers he couldn’t make them out clearly.

He tried hitting them with a telepathic bolt and doubled over in raging agony, clutching his head, his fingers stinging with cold from the rings.

Damn, again! He’d known not to touch those things; the rings floated around his head without touching him, blocking the use of his powers.

“Who the hell are you?” Mergen yelled.

“William Gaynes Turner, Junior,” the first figure said. “You seem to have gone to the other side since your youth in Othcault.”

“Trying to stop guys like you!” Mergen yelled, his head throbbing.

“You were a very successful criminal at such a young age,” the second figure said. “They could call the movie ‘I Was A Teenage Mesmerist.’ But your powers were far more. Your telepathy and telekinesis made you a formidable foe.”

“That is our problem,” the second figure said. “You endanger our operation as you have been capturing our criminal operatives in the act, as it were.”

Mergen fought against the pain, aimed a psychic blast squarely at the mind of the second figure.

The pain nearly blinded him.

“I advise you not to try anything like that again,” the second figure said.

There was a clicking as blueish chips formed around his body, starting from the legs and moving up to his torso.

“In a moment you will be prepared for transport,” the first first figure said. “The blue shielding will hold you until we have you at our facility where you will be held in our suspension tube.”

Through a fog, Mergen could make out a smile where the face of the first figure registered as a foggy silhouette.

“The same tubes used to hold our adult colleagues incarcerated in Nix Olympica,” the second figure said.

“Understanding how these worked and making our own is crucial to our plan,” the first figure said.

Mergen, by now, was covered in the small blue chips. He felt cold and woozy as if he was falling asleep.

“You’re showing off that body just wearing a tight pair of cutoffs,’ his brother had said of his superhero costume.

That wasn’t what made him feel cold.

He was nearly unconscious and felt hands lifting him when his subconscious mind, long trained and programmed, sent out a fleeting, desperate telepathic burst.

No pain. Just the message which he realized had been sent, but where.

He remembered the god Mergen, where he’d gotten the name, was depicted as an archer.

His last conscious thought was of a poem: “I shot an arrow in the air…”

—end—

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Another excerpt from a larger work I need to go back and finish some day. I posted another bit of this right here https://authorjeffbaker.com/2016/10/24/unbreakable-monday-flash-fics/ about six years ago.—–jeff baker aka michael j. mayak

Posted in crime, Fantasy, Fiction, Friday Flash Fics, Friday Flash Fictions, LGBT, Mike Mayak, Science Fiction, Short-Stories, Underlords | Leave a comment

Flash Fiction Draw Challenge Draws for June 2022. (Halfway Through the Year!) Jeff Baker, June 6th, 2022.

Posted on June 6, 2022 by jeffbaker307

First the results:

The June 2022 Draw results are:

A Romance

On a Country Road

Involving a Sopping Wet Sponge

I’m Jeff Baker:https://www.facebook.com/Jeff-Baker-Author-176267409096907

I also write as Mike Mayak: https://mobile.twitter.com/MikeMayakAuthor

I’m the current moderator for the Monthly Flash Fiction Draw Challenge, which was stared 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 each month I draw three cards, a club, a heart and a diamond. 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/blog and link it here in the comments. I’ll post the results next week, sometime around June 13th. (But take as long as you want!)

As I have no idea how to make a video, I did it offline. The results were a six of Hearts (a Romance,) a three of diamonds (a country road) and a three of clubs (a sopping wet sponge.)

So, that’s it for the draws! Good luck! Have fun, and I’ll see you next week!

Posted in 'Nathan Burgoine, Cait Gordon, Jeffrey Ricker, Monthly Flash Fiction Draw Challenge | 2 Comments

Rainbow Snippet (June 4, 2022) “Spiders and Snakes” by Jeff Baker.

Posted on June 4, 2022 by jeffbaker307

Every week we post six lines from a work of ours, a work-in-progress or a work of someone else’s that has at least one LGBT character, posted on the Rainbow Snippets page, here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RainbowSnippets

This week, something special, that breaks a bunch of rules; I’m celebrating my sixth anniversary (since May, 2016) of doing (and usually posting) at least one flash fiction story every week (or at least writing 52 a year.) Since I’ve been doing Rainbow Snippets for about half a year, I wondered if I could do a six-word story to go with the weekly picture? This week I did! And I grabbed the title from a song title (I do that a lot!) Enjoy!

Spiders and Snakes

by Jeff Baker.

Jack had been kissing Kevin when the spiders appeared, hanging in the air.

“Uh, that’s this thing I have,” Jack said. “My thoughts manifest sometimes, like my anxieties, which I guess are spiders.

Kevin smiled. “You don’t have anxieties about us do you?”

They kissed again and the spiders disappeared.

—end—

Here’s a link to the original post of the story (which may be a little redundant this week!) https://authorjeffbaker.com/2022/06/03/like-spiders-and-snakes-friday-flash-fiction-for-june-3-2022-by-jeff-baker/

Posted in Anniversary, Fantasy, Fiction, Friday Flash Fics, LGBT, Science Fiction, Short-Stories | 4 Comments

Like “Spiders and Snakes?” Friday Flash Fiction for June 3, 2022 by Jeff Baker.

Posted on June 3, 2022 by jeffbaker307

Spiders and Snakes

by Jeff Baker.

Jack had been kissing Kevin when the spiders appeared, hanging in the air.

“Uh, that’s this thing I have,” Jack said. “My thoughts manifest sometimes, like my anxieties, which I guess are spiders.

Kevin smiled. “You don’t have anxieties about us do you?”

They kissed again and the spiders disappeared.

—end—

AUTHOR’S NOTE: I’ve been celebrating my sixth anniversary of posting these weekly flash fiction stories, so I wanted to do this one: I’ve been posting excerpts of my stories on “Rainbow Snippets” where we post six lines of fiction with at least one LGBT character. I’d been tickled by the idea of doing a six-line story, so this one fit! And the prompt picture was from early on in Monday Flash Fucs before I joined in 2016. Special thanks to Theo Fenraven, Helena Stone, ‘Nathan Burgoine and Brigham Vaughn.

——-jeff baker, May 27, 2022.

Posted in 'Nathan Burgoine, Anniversary, Fantasy, Friday Flash Fics, Friday Flash Fictions, Helena Stone, LGBT, Science Fiction, Short-Stories, Theo Fenraven | Leave a comment

Rainbow Snippets “Old Man River,” by Jeff Baker. May 29, 2022.

Posted on May 29, 2022 by jeffbaker307

Every week we post six lines from a work of ours, a work-in-progress or a work of someone else’s that has at least one LGBT character, posted on the Rainbow Snippets page, here:https://www.facebook.com/groups/963484217054974

This week from an accidental series that I wrote for my weekly fiction blog posts, but didn’t intend to do any sequels to. Set in a magical mall on a magical world and involving Skid and T’amec, two twenty-somethings who work at the Food Garden Court. Here’s the snippet from “Old Man River.”

“Comin’ thru! Comin’ thru,” Skid said pushing the swinging doors open with his foot. He was carrying a big tray with an assortment of smaller containers on it at an awkward angle, ready to put in the slots on the counter where they could throw together the made-to-order food the Food Garden Court was famous for. T’amec gave Skid an appreciative glance; Skid was shorter, darker and muscular where T’amec was tall with grubby blonde hair. They had been good friends since they started working there part-time after graduation. They had only pushed the friendship somewhere else when a spell by the fae had required them to make out in the moonlight but that had been almost a year ago.

“Hey, c’mon!” Skid said. “Wake up and help me with this!”

Something else I didn’t intend; I didn’t plan to indicate that Skid and T’amec might have any real attraction to one another besides friendship, but that just popped into the story. So where do they go from here? Keep reading! Here’s the link to the original story:https://authorjeffbaker.com/2022/05/20/old-man-river-walks-the-mall-friday-flash-fics-by-jeff-baker-for-may-20-2022/

——–jeff

Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Food Garden Court, LGBT, Rainbow Snippets, Short-Stories | 4 Comments

Walk Along the Beach at the End of the World; a Friday Flash Fics Anniversary Post by Jeff Baker, for May 27, 2022.

Posted on May 27, 2022 by jeffbaker307

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is my sixth anniversary post. I started doing weekly flash fictions from picture prompts in May of 2016 off the old Monday Flash Fiction Facebook page. There have been a few breaks for holidays but I’ve also written for more than one prompt site as well as the Monthly Flash Fiction Draw Challenge ‘Nathan Burgoine started a few years ago. It all adds up to over 52 stories a year (that’s around 348 stories so far!)

And right now, I am moderator of not only the monthly Flash Fiction Draw Challenge but Friday Flash Fics as well! (I gotta be out of my mind!)

When I found this week’s picture it made me think of a story I dreamed up for a magazine in the 90s, but I got lazy, didn’t write it and didn’t get published anywhere until now! Enjoy!

The Beach at the End of the World

by Jeff Baker

The tall young man walked along the beach, glancing occasionally at the desolate muck that had been the ocean. He noted the position of the sun in the murky sky and turned around trying to figure exactly where the compass point was. He knelt on the sand and bowed toward the East.

After he was done, he tried to rise but his left knee hit something hard. A rock?

He stood up and pulled at the object. Not a rock, a misshapen cylinder with lines carved on one end. He cautiously pulled at one end and what looked like a cap came off. In another instant, there was the sound of a thousand bees and a blob of dark nothing surged from the cylinder.

In another moment, it formed into a tall, dark man, muscular where the other man was thin. Wearing a flowing robe where the first man was wearing ragged pants and a torn shirt.

“Mortals! Show Fear! I, Attos, am free once more to wreak chaos in this world after millennia!”

The skinny man in the torn clothes stared upward at the apparition.

“Ho, Attos!” the skinny man said. “I am Mottrea, he who has released you into this world. You will find much has changed since you walked the Earth last.”

“I shall destroy you first, then I shall ravage this world!” Attos said, glaring down. “For I am a Lord of the Dal-Huer, one called the Jann by those of this world. Behold my power!”

Attos raised one hand and the wind roared and fire crackled and a column of sand rose from the beach and solidified into a jagged column of dirty quartz.

“Behold, Attos,” Mottrea said. “I am also of the Dal, and my power is the equal to yours!”

With a gesture, Mottrea summoned lightning which shattered the crystal. With another gesture, he restored the crystal shards to sand again.

“I bow to no power!” Attos shouted. The pair of them raised their arms summoning fire, lightning and roaring wind. The ground shook. The mucky water receded.

Attos’ robes flowed behind him in the wind. Mottrea’s eyes glowed green.

A pile of rocks hurtled toward Mottrea and shattered against the aura which shone brightly around him.

Tentacles tried to bind Attos and shredded at his gaze.

Mottrea’s voice could not be heard over the wind. This fight could go on forever. He glanced around. He saw the outline of the city in the distance.

And he conjured.

Visions of the world suddenly appeared before Attos. A world shattered by the wars and cataclysmic weaponry of mortals. Mortals who had wiped themselves off the face of the world they claimed to rule.

The two men lowered their arms, the wind and visions ceased.

“There are no more men?” Attos asked.

“None,” Mottrea said.

“And what of our race?” Attos asked.

“I have found none but you, so far.” Mottrea said.

The two men walked together and kept walking along the edge of what had been a beach, the shell of the city in the distance, sunset, moonrise, sunrise, moonset.

And when the hours came they knelt and faced East, their voices echoing in the empty world.

—end—

Posted in Anniversary, Fantasy, Fiction, Friday Flash Fics, Friday Flash Fictions, Short-Stories | Leave a comment

“Entr’acte” in Rainbow Snippets by Jeff Baker. May 21, 2022.

Posted on May 21, 2022 by jeffbaker307

May 20, 2022

I managed to miss last week, but I’m back.

Every week we post six lines from a work of ours, a work-in-progress or a work of somebody else’s that has at least one LGBT character at Rainbow Snippets here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RainbowSnippets

This week, I’m celebrating my sixth anniversary of posting at least one flash fiction story (usually on Friday Flash Fics’ picture prompt site) a week. Whew! I’ve posted the original picture above.

So here’s the very first: something called “Entr’acte.” I wasn’t sure what the guy was picking up off the floor…

“Excuse me,” Kent said, “I think you dropped these.”

“Oh, thanks,” Danny said. “Hey, you want one?”

“No thanks, I don’t smoke.”

“Good. I keep trying to quit, but, but…” Danny shook his head and held up the script.  “Look, are you people sure about this, I mean this dialogue is really lame.”

Okay, here’s a little more…

“Yeah,” Kent said. “We’re really going to talk like this?”

“Yes you are,” said the man behind the podium.

“And we fall in love?” Danny asked.

“Madly,” the man said.

Here’s a link to the original story which first appeared on Monday Flash Fics (Friday’s predecessor) in May of 2016: https://authorjeffbaker.com/2016/05/25/monday-flash-fiction-on-wednesday/

Take care!

——-jeff

Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, LGBT, Monday Flash Fiction, Rainbow Snippets, Short-Stories | Leave a comment