The Vanity Project

I discovered an old Reddit account I had for posting stories and writing prompts was somehow still active and decided to raid it for some of the older stuff I wrote while trying to get better at writing.  There isn't much but here is what there is... "Wait! Wait…what’s wrong with it?" The small figure holding several books in his tiny hands asked. "Everything!" The angry voice replied. "For one thing it violates the rule of threes!" "Oh for @#$%!" Cried the oversized bunny rabbit throwing its paws up in the air. "You shutup Bugs !" The earlier angry voice shot back. "You know as well as I do that this whole scenario violates the rule of threes, never mind what it does to the law of equivalent exchange!" The smallest of the party placed the books down, not bothering to save the place in them he had previously held with his finger. He looked over at the complainer and sighed. "Danfole," he rasp...

 I discovered an old Reddit account I had for posting stories and writing prompts was somehow still active and decided to raid it for some of the older stuff I wrote while trying to get better at writing.  There isn't much but here is what there is...   Temporal displacement via avatar overlay is not a recommended version of time travel. Of course, since I was the first to travel in this manner and was completely ignorant of how it functioned that was unhelpful to me at the time. Accidental time travel; it’s a thing. Most people don’t know it’s possible and the powers that be are happier if it remains an unknown to prevent panic. Imagine if you could go to bed and wake up ten years old again? Or if walking out the door of a pub could land you in another continent before you left? Or if you went on vacation in France and discovered you had slipped through time to the days of the French Revolution? I’d fantasized about time slips before. Most everyone I know ...

 I discovered an old Reddit account I had for posting stories and writing prompts was somehow still active and decided to raid it for some of the older stuff I wrote while trying to get better at writing.  I suppose this was a bit funnier eight years ago.  There isn't much but here is what there is... People talk about the power of the presidency but it’s really not all it’s cracked up to be. Sure it sounds great—become the most powerful man on the planet, head of state to the most greatest nation on Earth, change the destiny of millions with the stroke of a pen, etc. What no one tells you about are the meetings. That’s what being President actually is—meetings. Every day, at all hours of the day or the night I can get called into a meeting at any time to discuss such items of major import as the migration patterns of northern caribou. Or to talk about how Senator Bob got caught again texting pictures of his junior assistant rising through the drawers at his...

I discovered an old Reddit account I had for posting stories and writing prompts was somehow still active and decided to raid it for some of the older stuff I wrote while trying to get better at writing.  This one went on for a while, to where I had to break it into two sections to make it work!  Hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it... We never meant to take it as far as we did. It was supposed to be a lark, a laugh, just for fun. In the end…? In the end it’s led us both here, to this place. How did it start? Well Johnny and I had just left the theater and—huh? It was the Admiral. Well that’s what it used to be called—I don’t know what they call it today. It’s a what? Well I don’t think Mom would be too happy about that! It certainly wasn’t a peep back when I was a boy! Any way, we’d just got watching one of the Sci-Fi flicks, one of the cheesy ones with the pie tins for flying saucers and Johnny and I were laughing and carrying on, like boys ...

I discovered an old Reddit account I had for posting stories and writing prompts was somehow still active and decided to raid it for some of the older stuff I wrote while trying to get better at writing.  There isn't much but here is what there is...     I used to be a writer. Science fiction was my genre of choice because of the sheer level of possibilities it opened to me as a writer. I could build anything in a science fiction story if I wanted. I could bend, fold mutilate the very fabric of the universe to make it fit my whims if I so choose. What kind of writer doesn’t relish that kind of freedom? Other writers had to worry about historical accuracy, or be careful to get the languages of foreign characters correct. Not I! All I had to do is make up something and nine times out of ten it went right over people’s heads. Say I want to set a story with intelligent cats? I made up the race of cats and described everything from their fur color to the way t...

I discovered an old Reddit account I had for posting stories and writing prompts was somehow still active and decided to raid it for some of the older stuff I wrote while trying to get better at writing.  There isn't much but here is what there is... It was with a mighty blow Ser Blaonwen A'lbaop struck down the evil despotic Henry Ford, ending the villain’s reign over his fair land. There had been much misery under the rule of the dictator and the country had borne the brunt of it since the mad man had attained his power. Striped of their natural habitats and pursuits both man and animals had run wild, grown cruel and twisted. Worse dark creatures from desperate planes of reality had smelt the stench of corruption and been drawn to the place, further destroying the very atmosphere and tainting the people with an oppressive aura. Now that the head had been slain, the rest of the beast that was choking the life out of the realm had gone quiescent. Dark roots pers...

 I discovered an old Reddit account I had for posting stories and writing prompts was somehow still active and decided to raid it for some of the older stuff I wrote while trying to get better at writing.  There isn't much but here is what there is... Charlie Misslef Ms Grace’s English Room 322 Wibble….Wobble….Wibble….Wobble…. The sound the alarm makes is slightly apologetic, and I force my eyes open and sit up before the second stage activates and the creeping vine completes its snaking movement around my left foot. If I hadn’t sat up I’d have had my leg hung in the air, then released. Tomorrow it will be my right leg which gets ensnared. I’ve trained my alarm clock well. I reach over and stroke the vine as it moves its way back into place next to the foot of the bed. It shivers with pleasure and completes is movement back to its warm spot. I pat the mouth affectionately and it makes a slight raspberry sound before settling in a ‘Mona Lisa’ half smile. I’m g...

I first encountered the concept of Kamishibai as part of an application published by Accursed Toys and placed on the otakuworld.com website. It was a small application that used simple animations, music files and sound files to create an interactive experience as defined in a very simple script saved in a text file. It was this simplicity that made it so great and some very sophisticated stories embraced the options in its scripting to create a sort of game play reminiscent of visual novels which would later become popular. I've often thought it a great disservice that no one has managed to resurrect the system as an Android application with updated formats to save wear and tear on file sizes. Instead of BMPs use JPGs or PNGs. In place of MIDI for music use MP3 or OGG.  And of course replace those ancient WAV files with MP3s or OGG again.  Though you could certain keep the music as MIDI, though there seem to be very little places that use those these days... Accursed Toys nev...