PHOTO PROMPT © Nobbinmaug
Grandpa Ted was grousing to himself how kids these days didn’t know how to unscrew and drain a hose before the first freeze when he stopped mid-complaint.
“Now how the heck did that faucet get left on and how did flowing water freeze?”
He recalled old photos of Niagara Falls frozen over but it sure hadn’t been that cold last night over at his son’s house, even with snow on the ground.
He fumbled his smartphone out of his pocket, took a look at the news, and then laughed. Of course those damned politicians were denying the next ice age.
It’s Wednesday and time again to participate in this week’s edition of Rochelle Wisoff Fields’ Friday Fictioneers. The idea is to use the photo up top to prompt the crafting of a poem or short story no more than 100 words long. My word count is exactly 100.
The first thing I thought about was my recently “winterizing” my house including unscrewing and draining the hoses, closing outside vents, and all that. I had my sprinkler system blown out weeks ago, so that was another worry I could put away.
The next thing I thought about was my only self-published novelette called Ice. It’s set in a far distant future where the earth has become hot enough to melt ALL the ice and humans and the environment have adapted and even thrive in the heat. It also made the really big terrible thought of that era the coming of the next ice age.
The story presupposes the eternal battle between Ymir the Frost Giant and Surtur the Fire Goddess has long ended with the latter being the victor. Magic and dinosaurs reign among humans just because it’s so much fun, and a merchant sea captain and his crew stumble upon a long thought deceased horror at the bottom of the world.
You should check it out.
To read other tales based on the prompt or to contribute one of your own, to go inlinkz.
Cover image for my novel “A Wobblegong and His Boy”
My YA science fiction novel A Wobblegong And His Boy is part of a collection of novels written specifically for boys who want to read adventures crafted especially for them. That doesn’t mean my story isn’t a great read for everyone else so give it a whirl. Don’t forget to leave an honest review at Amazon and Goodreads.
The science fiction anthology Fangs Out: Aerial Combat Chronicles is available. It features my military SciFi short story “The Jupiter War”. You can read an excerpt of my story in this blog article.
A few days ago the anthology Relics, Volume one was published. The collection was curated by Heidi A. Hill, L. Jagi Lamplighter, and Michael Finney in coordination with Based Book Sale. It includes my science fiction short story “Legacy of the High Sojourner.” On a distant planet, a 5,000 year old corpse is revealed to be an ancient astronaut. Clues lead to an interstellar spacecraft at the edge of the solar system but does it hold the secrets of an alien race or lead to a hideous new reality?
Read an excerpt from my tale Here.
Happy Wednesday.
