Not One, Not Two, But Three Microfiction Stories

This week we have three microfiction stories for you and their diverse subject matter features Jack Hillman on the need for Parental Control, even if your are God – then it's over to Edd Vick with Christmas Gift and the horror that would follow if your wish "it could be Christmas everyday" really did come true (thank you Roy Wood and your 1973 hit song with Wizzard). And, finally, we have Holly Schofield with Breaking Up Is Hard To Do (another title with a pop music reference – originally by Neil Sedaka in 1962) on to the limitations of even the most sophisticated 3D printers. 

Wescosville, PA, based Jack Hillman is an underwriting consultant and freelance writer whose credits include a fantasy trilogy from MUSA Publishing and a story in the initial issue of BuzzyMag, along with appearances in Sorcerous Signals, Amazon Shorts, Jackhammer,  Nuketown, Brutarian, the Ruins Extraterrestrial anthology and most recently in the Strange Mysteries III anthology. He can be found at www.jackhillman.com 

Seattle-based Edd Vick is a Clarion grad with about thirty published stories. The most recent are Red Bait with Plan B Publishing, Senseless in Dark Bits anthology, the Certainty Principle in First Contact Cafe anthology, and Ashfall is forthcoming in Analog. 

Holly Schofield is based in Canada and her work has appeared in many publications including Lightspeed, Crossed Genres, and Tesseracts. For more, visit http://hollyschofield.wordpress.com/


Parental Control
by Jack Hillman

The sun exploded in a sphere of fire, eating away each atom of matter in its path, leaving only cinders as it spread into the solar system.  He watched from a fold in space as it reached the third factorial of its expansion.  He tapped the control key and the sphere collapsed, only to blaze forth again in the programmed sequence. 

Suddenly a voice interrupted.  He shut down the cascade.

“You boys quit signaling with flashlights or you’ll be sorry,” Father called up from Heaven’s stairs.



Christmas Gift
by Edd Vick


Just like every morning, the pattering thuds of her parents' feet overhead woke Annie. She had gone to sleep under the decorated tree, next to all the wonderful presents. Now here it was, the most wonderful day of them all. Christmas! She waited until the footfalls came from above and behind her, at the top of the stairs. Then she chose a present to open.

The present. It was the best one of them all. It wasn't the biggest, hardly the best wrapped, really more of an afterthought, she'd heard her mother say. Just some piece of costume jewelry from a garage sale.

She tore at the wrapping, revealing the repurposed cottage cheese container. Popping the lid off, she rooted in the shredded paper to find the ring she knew was there. She'd found it so many times before.

Her mom and dad pounded down the stairs. "Stop, Annie," yelled her mother. Sometimes they fell, but not today. "Annie! Don't do it!" screamed her father.

She put the ring on and blurted the habitual words. "I wish every day was Christmas!"

Her parents skidded to stops. Grins forced themselves onto their faces. Her father walked into the kitchen, yawning, to start making waffles, while her mother sat on a hassock and said, "Why don't you open the rest of your presents, dear?"



Making Up is
Hard to Do
by Holly Schofield


After Jerry's girlfriend threw everything he owned off their apartment balcony, he silently piled up the smashed pieces of his life. Then, he rented the largest portable 3D printer available.

While a crowd gathered on the sidewalk, he fed in the broken items. The printer whirred, refabricating layer by layer. His favorite speakers; their photo albums; his coffee maker.

Above, Melinda's curtains twitched occasionally.

Finally, he drew a red symbol, slowly ripped the paper up, and fed it into the machine. An error message flashed.

Just as he'd thought. The printer could put back together almost anything.

Except his heart.