A group of us were sitting in the bar at a con, talking about different lengths of ‘stories, and Ben Yalow brought up Fredric Brown (Bio HERE). He was a master of the ‘short’ short story, as little as a single page or even shorter.
That kicked off the Three Moms of the Apocalypse and they started plotting… Which is always ‘interesting’ for versions of interesting, and your proximity to their plotting…
They decided to do a challenge- Get a graphic prompt and write a 50 word (Exactly 50 word) short story. And… away they went!
The first one was from entries at Marscon- Postcards from Mars
Click on the cover for the Amazon link!
And the second was from Louisiana’s Steampunk World Expo in Lafayette- Steam Powered Postcards
The blurb-
Can you tell a story in exactly 50 words? The Three Moms of the Apocalypse went to Louisiana’s World Steampunk Exposition and Makers Faire in Lafayette, LA and issued a challenge.
Tell us a story that could fit on the back of a postcard. Use 50 words, no more, no less. We’ll provide the postcards.
The response to this challenge was huge!
So many wonderful authors decided to take up the challenge that it was a real struggle to pick the 20 best stories.
Steam-Powered Postcards, the second Postcards anthology from Raconteur Press, contains our favorite stories, the pictures that inspired them, plus a few exciting extras. We hope you enjoy the stories as much as we did and maybe take some inspiration to try one for yourself!
I finally got a story that was acceptable, but I’ll tell you trying to write a coherent exactly 50 word long story is…HARD!!! 🙂
My prompt-
And my ‘story’…
The ladies are continuing to do these, so feel free to jump in on them, even if you can’t make the cons! You can find the lead ups on the North Texas Troublemakers Page on FB HERE.
Who provides the postcard that you have to write a story on?
One of the three Moms, John. We do it both in-person and digitally during a con we’re attending. I think the next one will be LibertyCon.
Excellent idea. In some cases, the 50 can become a short story, or idea for a novella at next stage.
John- See Cedar
PK- Exactly!
ONFO: Well done, author of few words.
Although, that apostrophe… Sigh.
Robert- Thanks…LOL
Excellent!
I’ve been getting a kick out of short sci fi films. Some are really good and if they’re not, they’re short.
Reads like the back cover or front flap. Now I’m left wanting to buy the book.